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Author: Thundarpants
8,750 Views
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Thundarpants’s shocking guide to Electricity
First off I have to add a disclaimer about this guide. Of course these are just my opinions about this power set. As with all guides, no one should tell you how to build your heroes. I’m an old RPG’er, so my hero builds do not always follow the “perfect build” mentality. Of course you want to be effective, but this power set will give you a lot of choices.
A brief overview of Electricity:
You deal mostly Energy damage. Not as much overall damage as the Energy pool, but a close second. You have decent backup control powers in both the primary and secondary power sets. Not as good as Ice, but again, a close second. Overall it is a very well balanced power set. You can effectively solo if you are good, and you are a great asset to groups as well. I consider Fire and Assault Rifle completely different animals, and hard to compare.
This guide is also based on my experience as Elect/Elect. Some things I am going to say will not jive if you are combining different primaries and secondaries, but hopefully the information I do have will still help you some. A couple of prime examples are my preference for the melee attacks in the secondary. The statement about these being the only powers with different types of damage is based on my build. If you were Enrg/Elect, you have smashing damage in some of your primaries, and if you were Assault Riffle/Elect, you might think twice about any power that makes you put the gun away because of the extra animation time required to pull it back out again. The list goes on. Use this with those kinds of issues in mind.
This guide was written prior to the PvP arenas. I may change some of my advise for that type of character build once I have had a chance to experience that aspect. I do not expect my opinions to change much because your job is damage output more than anything else. I think that Endurance Drain may play a part of that part of the game, and I will add comments to that effect.
This is also the only Blaster power set that will give you a MOBILE pet. We will discuss Voltaic Sentinel in this guide. It has been a very controversial power since the beginning of the game.
I’m going to cover the powers individually, and let you decide about your own build. I delved heavily in the primary and secondaries, so I had a chance to try most of the powers in this set.
I started this guide at level 36, after 1 respec, and finished it up at level 39. So slots and utilization will be based on my experience up to those levels. I mostly solo’d him to level 32, but then started playing more heavily in teams after that with my SG Bedlam. Props to Bedlam for the advice and playing experience that helped me figure this guide out. You made me a better player. I will adjust this as I continue developing the character.
I am also using information from the Prima Strategy guide for range and available enhancements for the powers. It’s pretty old, so might not be 100% accurate. I don’t think they nerfed this power set much, most changes were improvements like making Voltaic Sentinel a moving pet. All stats will be listed without enhancement improvements. Thank you Prima for your information.
Enhancement Abbreviation key:
ACC = Accuracy
DAM = Damage
RNG = Range
REC = Reduce Endurance Cost
RCHRG = Recharge Rate
INT = Interrupt Time
END DR = Endurance Drain
HOLD = Hold Duration
IMOB = Immobilization Duration
ACC BUFF = Accuracy Buff
DEF BUFF = Defense Buff
DIS = Disorient Duration
KB = Knock Back
FLY = Flight Speed
RUN = Run Speed
JUMP = Jump Height
HEAL = Heath Recovery Rate
STAM = Stamina Recovery Rate
Charged Bolts (Primary)
Available at Level 1
A “must have” IMO. Light damage (for a Blaster), quick recharge, quick animation of a one handed blast, single target attack, with light endurance cost. To keep the damage output flowing, this will be one of the attacks in your primary damage output routine. Grab it first when you create the character. Because of the quick recharge time, you will be able to keep attacking in the early levels.
Range: 70 ft
Recharge: 4 sec
Activation time: 2.1 sec
Cost: 6.0
Available enhancements: ACC, DAM, REC, RNG, RCHRG, END DR
I recommend slotting: 1 ACC, 3 DAM
Lightning Bolt (Primary)
Available at Level 1
A “must have” IMO. Moderate damage, quick animation of a two handed blast, single target blast. This one recharges a little slow in my opinion. This too will be part of your primary damage output routine. Due to the slow recharge rate I will recommend a recharge rate enhancement be used, and kept on it, even after you get Hasten. The endurance cost isn’t too bad, but constantly throwing this and Charged Bolts is still going to drain you at the early levels.
Range: 80 ft
Recharge: 8 sec
Activation time: 2.0 sec
Cost: 9.8
Available enhancements: ACC, DAM, REC, RNG, RCHRG, END DR
I recommend slotting: 1 ACC, 3 DAM, 1 RCHRG
Note: The devs must have been smoking heavily when they named the powers. Charged Bolts(plural) only throws 1 bolt, and Lightning Bolt(singular) is a 2 handed blast, with lightning coming from both hands. LMAO. I don’t rag the devs much, but I gotta get a little dig in every once in a while!
Ball Lightning (Primary)
Available at Level 2
A “must have” IMO. This will round out your 1-2-3 ranged attack set for a while, and will be your only really good AoE+DoT until your Alpha Strike. It’s a quick animation of you pulling your arm back and whipping a ball of lightning. Sort of looks like you’re throwing a Frisbee. It also has a moderate recharge rate, and heavier endurance cost. Be careful when throwing it to get a runner. You might get another mob.
Range: 80 ft
Recharge: 16 sec
Activation time: 1.1 sec
Cost: 17.5
Damage Radius: Foe + 15 ft sphere
Available enhancements: ACC, DAM, REC, RNG, RCHRG, END DR
I recommend slotting: 1 ACC, 3 DAM, 1 Optional
For the last slot this could change as you develop. Early on, you might want to use an Endurance reduction. Later when you get a little stronger, and start “Snipe hunting” with Zapp, you might want to use either a recharge rate, or range on it for a while. The early documentation reports that Lightning Bolt and Ball Lightning both have the same range of 80 ft, but it appears to me that Ball lightning has greater range. I was able to hit targets with this attack having no range enhancements before I could hit with Lightning Bolt, so I upped the range in the optional slot to help with snipe hunting.
This is not the attack to start the battle off with unless you are grouping with Tankers or other AoE heroes. You can easily over agro with it, if you start off with it. You will have some ability to pull with your single target attacks, so wait until a smaller group is coming away from the main mob. In small groups of enemies, as in 3-5, you can start off with the single target attacks to take out the first enemy. Probably the Leut or Boss, and as the group pulls away, or your third attack gets thrown, you hit your primary target, and start softening up the rest of the group. This will make your melee attacks more effective once you have the right opportunity to use them.
Short Circuit (Primary)
Available at Level 6
This one’s a toss up, but has some very useful attributes. This is where we are going to talk about the endurance draining powers in this set, and you’ll see why I haven’t discussed it yet. I consider this a “good to have, but wait” power. Don’t grab it right away. In the later levels of the game, it becomes more useful. It’s sort of a slow animation, but looks great! You do PBAoE+DoT with this power, but it’s minimal, so do not waste any damage enhancements on it. That’s not what this is for. You gather your strength up, raise your hands and expel a huge flash of electricity. The recharge is moderate, but don’t worry about that. You won’t want to pull it off often, and the endurance cost is moderate too. Again, a reason not to do it too often.
The reason NOT to get this early on is that it’s a PBAoE. You have to be up close and personal to use it, and you will agro everyone you hit with it. At the lower levels, that’s going to mean debt. You really do not want to be that close to a battle until you have better developed control powers, and Health slotted a little. The early Bosses and Leuts do not execute many powers that drain their own endurance enough to make this effective at the lower levels any how.
Here’s what it’s good for: Those nasty bosses that hit you with very expensive and damaging attacks after level 26 or so. You will notice they are almost out of endurance, but you are probably almost dead too. If you can survive the beginning onslaught, they will not be able to throw all of that at you again. Currently I’ve seen this to be useful for Death Mages, Vampires, Freakshow Bosses, and Crey Protectors. Nothing is more annoying than a Crey Protector going MoG after you have worked so hard to get him down to minimal health. Time this attack right, and he doesn’t have enough endurance to do it! And, he sits there hitting you with Brawl, Brawl, Brawl, etc because he doesn’t have enough endurance for anything else. It also keeps them from being able to recharge any endurance for a short period, and they will just stand there, and look stupid while you blast them a new one! If they run, you will probably have a control power to keep them around long enough to finish the job.
I had the benefit of a wealthy benefactor leave the game and dump a lot of influence on me before he left. I have tried the endurance draining enhancements on almost all of the primary powers to see if it made a noticeable difference. I could not see any reason to slot Endurance Drain over Damage or Accuracy. You will still do a little endurance drain with every blast, it’s inherent to the power set. So, once you have them drained, it’s easy to keep them that way. The other powers you might consider adding an Endurance Drain enhancement would be Havoc Punch and Shocking Grasp. Once you have them drained, Havoc Punch Shocking Grasp do a better job of keeping them that way than any other powers I tried. As my Blaster continues to develop, I am going to try to spare one more slot for an Endurance Drain enhancement, but won’t loose any sleep if I cannot.
There are many forums and guides that I have seen that discourage you from getting this power because you have to be so close to the action, and you are after all, a squishy Blaster. Timing is important with this one. If you pull this off while they still have almost full endurance, you wasted it, and could potentially over agro if you are running with a team that does not have a Tank taunting the enemies. Wait until they are at least half way down on endurance. The more the better. I have seen this take up to 50% of a minion or Leut’s endurance, 25-30% of a Boss when they are white or yellow. This is best used when you have either a Tank drawing a lot of attention, or a Controller managing a crowd. This can be a great help to your team healer as you can reduce the number of endurance expensive devastating attacks that the enemies can still cast, at a time when your healer could be running low on endurance.
It’s a bit tricky to learn when you should execute this power, and it has cost me a death or two, but I am confident that this is a useful power solo or in teams. Now it is just a benefit to my build.
Range: PBAoE 15 ft
Recharge: 20 sec
Activation time: 3.0 sec
Cost: 17.5
Available enhancements: ACC, DAM, REC, RCHRG, END DR
This power has a +20% accuracy built in. You should be able to skip any accuracy enhancements, and go for all out effect.
I recommend slotting: 2 END DR
Note: I have seen on several forums where it is recommended that you slot this heavier. I just don’t see how, without skimping on your primary damage attacks, or the better control powers.
Aim (Primary)
Available at Level 8
This is where I’m probably going to get some contention from my friends in the game. We do not agree about this power. I agree with their viewpoints, but not enough to drop one of the other powers I like. I have 2 melee attacks, one of them being Thunder Strike, so this is easy to work into your build if you want it.
With this power you increase your aim for a short time. With all Blasters, a miss might mean death. We’ve all been in a battle and missed 3-5 times in a row, and start cussing! You have already seen my primary power builds. You have no choice but to enhance accuracy IMO. The recharge rate is similar to Build Up, a little faster. The effect lasts about the same amount of time, 2 to 4 attacks depending on the animation time associated with those attacks.
My reasons for leaving this behind: The effect does not last as long as an inspiration, and the online research I have done reports that it does not work much better than the largest yellow. It also has to take the place of one of my control powers or melee attacks.
Now, in defense of my fellow team mates that use this. I’ve seen them execute their Alpha Strike many times. In combination with Build Up, that I am going to list as a “must have”, they never miss. For the Alpha Strike power alone, this enhancement power earns its place in your power set. I do not have experience using this myself, so I will query them for information. I can also see where I could use this to lock down that Boss that is one level high enough to be Purple to me, by enhancing my to hit buff on my hold powers. I may still pick this up at after level 40 if the Epic pool powers I have are not all keepers.
Recharge: 30 sec
Activation time: 1.2 sec
Cost: 6.0
Available enhancements: ACC BUFF, REC, RCHRG
My advisors at Bedlam report that the power comes up every 10-15 seconds with Hasten 6 slotted, and Aim 6 slotted. Slotting recommendations for AIM are similar to Build Up: 6 RCHRG
Props to Torids for the info.
My own personal recommendation for slotting would be a little different. Most holds take at least 2 casts to hit an even leveled Boss. I would try to slip an ACC BUFF or two into the slotting myself to help with my control powers. Torids does not have any holds in his primary power set, so his use of this would be a little different. Look to the section on Build up for more possible slotting combinations.
Zapp (Primary)
Available at Level 12
A “must have” IMO. This is one of those powers you will want to 6 slot A.S.A.P. You can dispense massive damage from a distance that no enemy will detect you (not counting Snipers at the higher levels). It’s the attack that you will want to start almost all battles with prior to the Alpha Strike, and then still some. This has a long animation, but you are usually out of the battle when you pull it off the first time at least. I find with the proper slotting, you can use it multiple times in a battle when teaming properly. You lean back, stick out your arm, watch the power build then ZAPP! A single target extreme damage attack. This is what you will use to “pull” an enemy from the main group. Pulling is a whole other topic that we are not going to cover on this guide.
Some advice on using it. If you are solo, put it away after the first shot. It’s expensive, and you get charged the endurance every time you fire it up, even, and most importantly, if you get interrupted. Like all sniper shots, it’s interruptible. Otherwise people would ditch other attack powers, and just use this. If you are using a good hold like Tesla Cage, you can use it to work the last enemy. Proper slotting will help with that. It’s also good for getting runners that are getting out of range of your primary attack routine.
But, that brings up another topic on this power. The “Hit” roll for the attack. You will by now have seen some of your primary attack routine chase enemies over walls, and around corners. That’s because the “Hit” roll for those attacks, happens at the beginning of the animation. The sniper shots are not the same. The “Hit” roll for these attacks happens at the END of the animation. We already discussed that this is a long animation. If you have a victim you wish to target that is wandering around, try to make sure they do not go behind a pillar, or around a corner. You will miss. Luckily, this also works like “Target Blocked”, and you should not pull agro from it.
Other advice: Your position in the fight. Try to stay away from areas in battle that are gathering AoE, or Cone Range damage. Any hit is going to cause an interrupt. If this is not possible in the battle you are in, don’t waste the endurance. Also, do not try to move during the animation. This also causes an interrupt. And lastly, for your team mates. For what ever reason you might want to throw a snowball at a team mate in battle…… DON’T. This also causes an interrupt.
Range: 150 ft
Recharge: 12 sec (Does not seem accurate. More research to follow)
Activation time: 1.3 sec (Does not seem accurate. More research to follow)
Cost: 16.6
Available enhancements: ACC, DAM, REC, RNG, RCHRG, END DR, INT
I recommend slotting: 1 ACC, 3 DAM, 1 INT, 1 RCHRG until you have Build Up and/or Aim.
This power gets a 20% bonus to hit without any enhancements. Now that I have Build up slotted with accuracy in my power set, I am changing the slotting to 4 DAM, 1 INTERUPT, 1 RCHRG
I have kept the recharge rate on this even after I spec’d in Hasten. Now that I run in groups more, I can keep firing it off in battle.
Tesla Cage (Primary)
Available at Level 18
A “must have” IMO. A truly awesome single character hold. Not just because of the intense graphics of your enemy caught in a ball of electricity, but how well it hits. Now, I’m going to tell you this, and you might not believe me, but my SG members that were there saw it. I actually hit the Chronos Class Titan monster with it! Talk about one large ball of lightning! Believe me, I was as surprised as anyone. I didn’t even have build up yet, it was before my respec. It’s just part of my attack routine to keep something locked down and out of the fight, so I just use it out of habit. It only held for a few seconds, but that was a few seconds that he didn’t get to hit my team’s tank, or anyone else. It seems to hit “mech” bosses a little better, but in most cases 2 consecutive casts will hold down bosses. When used in combination with Shocking Grasp, the hold effect usually happens a little faster, and then you can cast it again, and you will have them locked down good. It will lock down almost any Leut in the game that I have seen so far. You put your hands in the air, and lightning flows from your hands, and creates the ball around them. The animation is moderate, but for what it lacks in speed, it saves your ass! It will keep that Leut locked down, and unable to attack until you can clear out the minions. Normally the effect wears off about the same time it recharges. Now, with Hasten, I can have 2 enemies locked down at the same time. I haven’t even slotted in any recharge speed, so you do the math.
Range: 60 ft
Recharge: 10 sec
Activation time: 2.2 sec
Cost: 7.9
Available enhancements: ACC, HOLD, DAM, REC, RNG, RCHRG, END DR
One key to this one is slotting. I currently have: 2 ACC, 1 HOLD
I recommend you put more accuracy on this if you can spare the slots. I plan to. Combined with Build Up, and possibly Aim, you could lock down almost anything.
Voltaic Sentinel (Primary)
Available at Level 26
Time for some more debate. I’ll explain why I think this is a good power to have, but it’s definitely just a fun power, not a necessity in a good build. First, it’s the only mobile pet in the blaster powers. It will stay where it is cast if there is something to attack. Once it is out of enemies, it will come to you, and wait. It will follow you, but it only moves at Hover speed. It looks like the Ball Lightning that you throw. I haven’t seen if a Kinetics player can cast speed boost on it. That would be an interesting test. My Kinetics controller cannot cast speed boost on other character’s pets, but I can my own. If there are any Kinetics/Elect Defenders out there that can answer that question, feel free.
It has a lot of drawbacks, so you are going to have to REALLY want it, to justify it. We’ll start with the drawbacks. Slow animation. You sort of point your hands and concentrate, and you get a placement ring for a “drop” power. Big time endurance cost. Without Stamina, you can’t afford it. Damage output is similar, but really under par with Charged Bolts, your weakest primary attack, and it does not cycle as fast. Cast recharge is really slow, but you could not pull up more than 3 of them at a time if it was fast, and then you would be out of endurance, and not really doing decent damage. The cast range is pretty weak. You are almost in agro range to your enemies. The best solution for that is to split the difference. If you do not cast it close enough for it to be agro’d to an enemy, it will just come back to you, on its own. Its attack range standard, is equivalent to your Charged Bolts. It draws agro directly to you, unlike some other pets. That being said…….
This is what I like, and use it for. Firstly, this is a huge part of my characters RPG build. I like it because I think it is cool more than thinking its effective. I use it for the shock factor for starters. Because so many people think it sucks, most people are not familiar with it. There are also not many high level electricity Blasters on Liberty that I have seen or know. I get a lot of “What the hell is that!”. You know, for me, that makes it worth while right there! I have actually taken advantage of it before though. While active it is still dealing damage. Granted, not as much, but damage none the less. All the while my primary damage output routine is still going on. It’s like having an electric secondary Defender there with you helping out. They corrected the fixed location problem, and the cycle rate of the attacks a long time ago. In solo battle I will cast it up before I get into it with a crowd when I know I’m going to get them all. I also pull it up before I attack a Leut that has a hold. Just in case my Tesla Cage misses. I’ve gone through my routine, only to be caught half way through by a hold, and in BIG trouble. If the minions that I had been working on have been softened up enough, the VS is finishing them off, and they are no longer doing damage to me. Hopefully I can get free of the hold in time to save my butt. It has saved me before.
I almost always will have VS summoned before I pull off my Alpha Strike for stragglers. Just be sure you cast it behind you, or stay a ways back for the cast because the Alpha Strike requires a little timing, and you do not want to pull agro too soon.
I have also cast into a room when my other team mates are in there, and blocking the door, or pets are blocking the door. I mentioned in the drawbacks that it draws agro to you directly. It also cannot be targeted by an enemy with ANYTHING. That includes holds. While it’s up, it’s up. It cannot be killed, it has to “time out”. It is kind of fun to cast it around corners. You would be surprised where the “valid drop location” will highlight.
Slots/Enhancements on this power transfer to the VS. There is no way to keep it from costing a crap load of endurance, so don’t bother. If you’re going to have it, it needs to hit. The drop is 100%, but the VS can miss when it fires at the enemies.
Range: 60 ft
Recharge: 120 sec (2 minutes)
Activation time: 3.1 sec
Cost: 30.0
Available enhancements: ACC, DAM, REC, RNG, RCHRG, END DR
I currently have it slotted: 1 ACC, 3 DAM
Now that I have Hasten, I can pull up a second before the first one drops, but I do not see me using any other slots to make it cast faster. I almost never do that in a real battle. I doubt this power gets any more enhancement slots in my build.
Thunderous Blast (Primary)
Available at Level 32
OK folks, this is what you have been waiting for! Time to evolve into a real damage dealing GOD! Now, don’t go thinking that you get to stop thinking while you are playing. They aren’t going to give you a killer power like this without some drawbacks. Extreme damage will have some extreme consequences.
First, the animation. Thunderous Blast has the slowest animation of them all. There are definite plusses and minuses for this one. The animation is you slowly curling your hands/arms into the air, and then pointing them straight forward. The attack is a PBAoE based on a targeted enemy, so try to get em’ in close, and hit someone in the center. Having a Tanker draw the crowd in close is a great asset before execution, but it does have a pretty good blast radius of 25 ft. The range isn’t all that great, that of Charged Bolts, but the other Alpha Strikes in Fire and Energy require you to be in the crowd because they are PBAoE. I would consider the short range still a benefit. Once the build up begins, they start attacking before it goes off. You are going to take a shot or 2 when you use this, so be very careful if using it solo. Anything left standing is going to very pissed off at you, and I mean VERY! You will pull the agro off of any Tanker, and they will have a hard time getting it back. Be careful where and when you do this even in a good team. You can pull an entire room down on you if you are trying to thin the mobs out first. Cornered areas, and dead end hallways full of enemies are your friend. It will also pull from above and below. The area of effect is a sphere that will go through walls, so take that into consideration. You know that you will be out of endurance when it’s over, and it takes about 1/3 of the endurance bar remaining to execute, so there are some tactics to let your team fight a little, and possibly soften up a tough Boss with a Zapp or 2 first. I have been toying with a routine for execution of Voltaic Sentinel cast behind me, Build up, Ball Lightning(to soften them up a little), and then Thunderous Blast. I’m still toying with this, and you have to do it all fast, or the mob will start to spread out an attack you after the Ball Lightning. The manual reports that you will be disoriented. As far as I’ve seen, I do not believe that to be the case any longer. I can start munching blues immediately. If your inspiration tray was almost empty when you started the maneuver, it’s usually full afterwards depending on the size of the crowd you use it on.
The plusses are well, awesome! The damage, of course, but as with all Electric attacks, it drains endurance. About 50% in fact. On par with Short Circuit. It doesn’t do any knock back, so if you are teaming, your team mates can usually quickly finish mopping up the few that survived.
This isn’t a power that you use in every fight. Recharge time is slow, but that’s not the point. You want to be very careful when using this power. It’s situational, so discuss it with your team about how they want it used, and keep them informed of when it’s ready. It is a great power, but use it wrong, and you’re face down yet again! But I have also used it as an “Oh Poop!” attack too. If things are getting a little too hairy, and you see your front line Scrapper or Tanker go down, I’ve cleared the room without asking to stop the deaths. Again, I stress timing, and awareness. If the only thing wiping your team out is on the bottom floor, and you agro the 2 floors above it, you’re all going to die anyhow. Survey the battle ground before the fight so you will know if an “Oh Poop!” blast is going to save your ass, or get the rest of the group killed.
Range: 60 ft
Recharge: 240 sec (4 minutes)
Activation time: 3.7 sec
Cost: ALL of your Endurance. Minimum of 36.0 left to activate.
Available enhancements: ACC, DAM, REC, RCHRG, END DR
As for slotting, to not 6 slot this one would be foolish. Right now I am battling with getting Hasten, Stamina, Build up, and Thunderous Blast 6 slotted. All important powers. I’m not there yet.
Currently I have it 4 slotted: 1 ACC, 3 DAM
The game plan is: 1 ACC, 4 DAM, 1 RCHRG (had it to this point by level 39)
Note: It is also documented to have a +30% to hit buff built into it. If you are using the Build Up and Aim combo before execution, you could exchange the accuracy enhancement for damage or another recharge rate. This may have gotten nerfed out, but I could not find any documentation that said it was.
For the Secondary power set, I am going to break this down a little differently. You get a lot of control powers of different types, but I consider the melee attacks almost a subset of this power set. I will address them together as a group.
Electric Fence (Secondary)
Available at Level 1
This is an OK power, and you have no choice but to get it. Keep in mind that I’ve been playing this character for a while, and I have a hold. In the early runnings, it’s a good root. Don’t waste any enhancement slots on it, but if you do, just 1. Always keep an active Accuracy enhancement in it. The cast time is very fast, so you can lock multiple targets down in succession. The animation is moderate, but not bad. You reach your arm forward, and then the enemy is caught in rings of electricity. The DoT is not worth damage enhancements, but will keep some damage flow going in the early levels.
The great thing about this power is that at the early levels, you are usually street hunting mugging victims for influence because you’re broke, and need enhancements. If one of the runners gets away, you do not get the reward from the mugging victim. Once you learn who the runner is going to be, you can target him with the Electric Fence right away to keep him handy, and kill him first. You will also see groups of different gangs fighting or negotiating. The guy with his arms crossed is going to bolt, and if you kill him he has the baggie (reward). You usually get a little more influence for him.
Range: 50 ft
Recharge: 4 sec
Activation time: 1.2 sec
Cost: 9.0
Available enhancements: ACC, DAM, REC, RCHRG, END DR, IMOB, RNG
It still looks cool inside the Tesla Cage, and is useful for keeping a second enemy rooted.
I would slot it: 1 ACC –or- 1 ACC, 1 IMOB
Your melee powers:
You will want to have at least 1 of these. It’s great to have a quick melee attack set on auto until you get Hasten, for that one nasty little jerk that wants to get up close and personal in a fight. These are also the only powers that will deal any dual damage effects(not including Endurance Drain that is inherit to the whole line). They all have smashing damage (Energy Drain effects were addressed with the power Short Circuit in this guide). You will find some enemies have resistance to energy damage, but I have found that if they are resistant to that, they are usually weak against smashing. So, it works out well. I’ve also noticed that they all deal considerable damage, on the par with Lightning Bolt. Just remember that these are BACKUP powers. You are a Blaster. You definitely do not want to get in melee range early in the fight. They usually send at least 1 enemy up close, and if you just keep attacking, when the last target falls, you will auto target the closest enemy, and then WHAM! He’s probably finished off if you have already softened him up just a little. If not, usually a quick Charged Bolts, or whatever your light duty primary attack power is, will finish the job.
Charged Brawl (Secondary)
Available at Level 2
A good punch. Deals Energy and Smashing. It has a quick animation of an undercut gut punch. I ran with this one for a long time. It DOES NO knock back. Recharges relatively fast on it’s own but I still slotted it with 1
Range: Melee
Recharge: 4 sec
Activation time: 0.6
Cost: 6.0
Available enhancements: ACC, DAM, REC, RCHRG, END DR, DIS
I recommend slotting: 1 ACC, 1 DAM, 1 RCHRG
Havoc Punch (Secondary)
Available at Level 10
A better punch. Deals Energy and Smashing. It has a quick animation of a 2 fisted overhead hit. It DOES knock back. The advantage to this is the additional, single foe, knock back, with slightly better endurance drain. You will not send a lot of enemies flying, but you can get a nasty Leut or Boss out of melee range for a sec. It DOES knock back.
Range: Melee
Recharge: 8 sec
Activation time: 1.5 sec
Cost: 9.8
Available enhancements: ACC, DAM, REC, RCHRG, END DR, KB
Also recharges relatively fast on its own. I picked this one up after a respec. I still recommend starting out with: 1 ACC, 1 DAM, 1 RCHRG.
This one is good for getting in a close hit in on a boss that you have already drained of endurance, and are trying to keep him that way. At the end of this section on the melee attacks I’m going to recommend dropping the recharge rate for damage, but this would be a power worthy of an Endurance Drain enhancement.
Thunder Strike (Secondary)
Available at Level 28
Deals Energy and Smashing. The real damage dealer of this set’s melee attacks. But, it’s a real toss up as to whether you will want it or not. The major drawback on this one is the extremely long animation. It’s the slow “jump up in the air with both hands over your head and come down hard” move. If you miss, you will have wasted the time you could have thrown 2 primary attacks or more. I rarely see it hit the whole group around you, but it does on occasion. It has a decent, single target, stun. It does knock back, so if you’re not a fan of knock back you may see this as yet another drawback. It’s more useful solo. Personally, I love the animation, so I kept it. They key is when to use it. I find it a great finishing animation to a long hard fight when you just want to put it to really put it to someone! If you are effectively using Tesla Cage you will also have plenty of time for the animation, hit or not, and then you can throw Tesla Cage again if you miss. The thing I have found frustrating in group play with this power is that by the time you get the animation off, someone else has already finished that enemy off. I have to find an enemy that still has pretty good health to use it on.
Range: Melee
Recharge: 20 sec
Activation time: 3.3 sec
Cost: 21.4
Available enhancements: ACC, DAM, REC, RCHRG, DIS, KB
I recommend slotting: 1 ACC, 1 DAM, 1 DIS
Shocking Grasp (Secondary)
Available at Level 38
I picked this power up in the process of creating this guide. This is also a melee attack, with a hold. They writhe in pain and are lit with electricity. The animation is quick, and looks like a straight forward jab. It deals DoT in the moderate range. This would be a good power to have as a backup, and after you have reached this level, you could respec out one of the other melee attacks if you have them to make room for something else.
Range: Melee
Recharge: 15 sec
Activation time: 1.0 sec
Cost: 21.0
Available enhancements: ACC, DAM, REC, RCHRG, END DR
I imagine that it will get slotted 1 ACC, 1 HOLD, 1 END DRAIN to start with. Depending on how much endurance drain it does with enhancements on it, I may swap out the HOLD for an END DRAIN. If I get the hold to work, I can blast them to finish the job. More to follow once I’ve tested it more.
After you get Hasten, I would drop the recharge rate on any of these, and drop damage in. Don’t waste too many slots on these, but they are good backups. ALL of these attacks will work while in hover mode, including Thunder Strike.
Lightning Field (Secondary)
Available at Level 4
This one is one of those optional powers that you choose if you want to look cool, but is really ineffective in battle. It doesn’t do great damage, it can suck your endurance dry, and keep drawing agro to you in a fight. I do like the effect, and tried it out on my very first Electrical Blaster when my friend showed me that game and let me create a character on his account to see if I wanted to play or not. The animation is moderate. You spread your hands out, and summon the field under you. Tons of lightning surges from under your feet. I really do like the animation while up and running, but it’s kind of noisy. There are several powers that you get like Swift, and Hurdle that are precursors to more important powers. You rarely slot many enhancements on them (I have seen forum posts where people like slotting those, this is not the point I’m trying to make). If you picked up this power, you could put the following level’s enhancements onto an attack power. I MIGHT pick it up as my very last power before 50, so that I can use the remaining enhancement slots on my other useful powers. But with Aim out of my power set right now, and not seeing what I’m going to get in the Epic pool set yet, it may fall to the waste side.
Range: PBAoE 20 ft
Recharge: 10 sec
Activation time: 2.0 sec
Cost: 2.4 (ongoing)
Available enhancements: ACC, DAM, REC, RCHRG, END DR
I recommend slotting: 1 DAM or 1 END DR
As it’s an ongoing damage aura, if it misses, it will keep trying.
Build up (Secondary)
Available at Level 16
A “must have” IMO. I actually ran my character to level 32 without this. Thinking back I can only thing one thing…… DUMBASS! I have played around with several Blaster types, and had created a couple of Blasters that had Energy as a secondary because Build up comes early in that power set. After seeing the increased damage alone on those test Blasters I realize I should have grabbed it as soon as I could. If it’s getting in the way of getting your movement power you can wait one more power, but get this, and start slotting it as soon as possible. This being available at level 16 is a good argument for getting your movement power by level 14. This is also my argument for not getting Aim early in your build. This power gives you an accuracy buff as well as a damage increase. This is why I skipped Aim. I know that Aim is more of an accuracy buff, but you get a two for one special with this power. The recast rate for this power is moderate to slow. The animation is quick, and looks the same as taking an inspiration. Timing is important with this one. You only get the buff for a few attacks, so hit it, and go immediately into an attack. You will have time for 3-4 attacks depending on the animation time involved with the attacks chosen, and when you see what it does to boost your Alpha Strike….. OMG!
Range: NA
Recharge: 45 sec
Activation time: 1.2 sec
Cost: 6.0
Available enhancements: ACC BUFF, REC, RCHRG
I recommend 6 slotting this power, but I’m not there yet. My preference for slotting will also sort of explain my wait on the Aim power. I currently have: 2 ACC BUFF, 2 RCHRG
The game plan is: 3 ACC BUFF, 3 RCHRG
If you put the Aim power in your set, then slot this 6 RCHRG.
With Hasten in my power set now, it comes up pretty often.
Another possible slotting combination if used with Aim, and you wanted to increase your control power’s effectiveness:
Build Up: 4 RCHRG, 2 ACC BUFF
Aim: 4 RCHRG, 2 ACC BUFF
They will still come back up a second time in the long battles, and are usually ready to go for the next mob if not. You could even continue to increase the amount of ACC BUFF, but don’t go too crazy with it. I would not recommend more than 3 ACC BUFF for either in any circumstances.
Lightning Clap (Secondary)
Available at Level 20
This is an optional, and situational power. It’s great for the Blaster that prefers to solo. I used it up until my respec, but now that I group more I don’t think I need it any longer. This is a PBAoE power with a knock back, and a decent chance to stun all that get hit. The animation is pretty quick. You clap your hands together, and send the enemies flying. They get a little flash of electricity on them if you hit. It works while in flight, so if you have a nasty flying chaser, you can try to stun him if you are running. The AoE effect range is pretty short though, and you cannot enhance that. It also does no damage whatsoever. I really did like the stun when I used it. Because I was a Blaster, I really didn’t care about the knock back either. Might not be good to use in a group because of that, but If you are getting overrun in the fight, this could save your front line scrappers and tankers by getting the mobs out of melee range, and leaving a few stunned and out of the battle. But you’re going to have to get up close and personal to use it.
Range: PBAoE 15 ft Sphere
Recharge: 30 sec
Activation time: 1.2 sec
Cost: 15.0
Available enhancements: ACC, DAM, REC, RCHRG, END DR
I recommend slotting: 2 ACC, 1 DISORIENT
Power Sink (Secondary)
Available at Level 35
I haven’t used this, so I will speak from my research and why I skipped it. IMO I think you should work on 6 slotting Stamina instead of using this power. I have yet to see the animation. Because you have to get up close and personal, this could be very dangerous to use to get your endurance back. Most of the research in the forums I did recommended Stamina instead, because it’s an “always on” power. I would be interested in the details of the animation, and the animation time if anyone out there has used this before. One thing to consider though is that your Alpha Strike leaves you out of endurance. Once the endurance recovery block has worn off, you could potentially charge back up, and get back into the fight if you do not have any blues to munch.
This is basically a Melee attack because you have to be close enough to the enemies for the attack. I have Stamina 5 slotted right now, and all enhancements in the green on that power. I’m still running out of endurance in the heavy battles. It recharges fast enough, but I am really considering swapping out one of my melee attacks like Havoc Punch, and adding this in. I already picked up Shocking Grasp at level 38, and there are only so many melee attacks that I really need.
My advisors at Bedlam do use this, and this is there report:
With 2 Endurance Recovery enhancements, you can go from approximately 15% endurance to full, if there are 5 enemies to draw from. Props to Torids for the info.
Potential slotting will probably be the slots used on the melee attack I am going to replace it with. That attack had 3 overall, so that’s what I plan to use.
2 END RECOVER, 1 END DRAIN
I see the use for this timing similar to Short Circuit. Near the middle or end of the battle. That is probably when you will need it. Of course after the Alpha Strike if there are any enemies still standing. I’m not sure if it will work if you have already drained all of your foes of endurance or not. I think it still will. I also do not know if the power will work properly if the endurance recovery block from the Alpha Strike is still in effect. I plan to respec, and test this soon.
Pool Power recommendations:
There are several pool powers that are almost all considered requirements from the Blasters I have run with, and post on the forums. Timing for some of them is important. Keep in mind that on my build for this Blaster I have NO stealth. Sometimes that is a problem for me, but I use Altitude as my protection. With snipers at the higher levels (Stealth doesn’t help anyhow), and the need to access mission doors surrounded by Purple enemies, you can make your own decisions. I do have a Super Jump Blaster, and he does have stealth, because of the problem of jumping through the zones, landing in a bad place and getting agro’d or “one shotted” because of it. That character has the devices secondary. But overall, I do not recommend mixing the Stealth power with Flight. It’s already slow enough. Now if you were to get Grant Invisibility, and then Superior Invisibility, you might be happy with that combo. This would also give you a power to share with your team mates. Just a note on Grant Invisibility though, you can only cast that on a member of your team. It also opens you up to Phase Shift, which at higher levels might just save you a death or two.
Movement:
Flight Pool:
I truly believe that Flight is the best movement power set for Blasters because of the ability to stay out of melee range. Hover has just an OK defensive buff, but you won’t get any more really until your Epic powers. You can still Hover above the fight in groups, and get heals. Healing Auras from every Defender or controller types I have seen are a Sphere effect. Be careful when hovering in a fight to stay close enough to your healer to get the group heals, and still stay out of melee range. Hover is unbelievably SLOW. It is already well known that the flight power pool is the slowest movement power. You will be very frustrated with it once you get it, but I recommend sucking it up, and getting it at level 6. This is why: The next level, take the 2 enhancements you get, and jack up your attack powers. You can enhance this later, if you bother at all. I have 3 total enhancement slots on this, and regularly get asked why because it such an ineffectual power. I will explain as we go.
Hover (Pool)
Available at Level 6
Here are some benefits of Hover:
Ever been in a Volcanic Vent, or Ice Patch, and can’t attack because you are on your butt? Knock back works differently on you when in hover mode. You will make a flip in the air, but will IMMEDIATELY be able to cast another attack. You do not have to waste the animation time of “getting back up”. You can stay in the fight much longer than your ground based counterparts.
When hunting on kill missions or otherwise, and at your level the groups are just too much. You can hover to the snipe range, hit one enemy, and you will pull the flyers from the group leaving you with a much more manageable group. I used this a lot with Clocks, and Freaks. Also, some of the enemy’s attack routines have different ranged attacks. This forces them to only be able to hit you with one or two of them, and they have a recast timer to deal with, same as we do.
Cost: 0.1
Available enhancements: REC, DEF BUFF, FLY
I have this slotted with 2 FLY, 1 DEF BUFF
Why you say? Because I like to hover in battle for the minimal defense buff, and with 2 flight speed enhancements, I can move around in the battle at a decent clip. You may want to slot this differently. The speed at which you hover will increase gradually as you level, but never be good.
Air Superiority (Pool)
Available at Level 6
I have heard good things about this power, but never used it myself. You could use this as a replacement for your melee attack as it also does smashing damage. I like the “flight stopped” effect it delivers. This could easily take an enemy out of the fight if you are snipe hunting, pulling a group airborne with you, and find yourself in over your head. It even reports that they might get a little falling damage to. Can you say FREEBIE! I do not have any accurate animation descriptions, but from what it’s been described to me as, sounds similar to Havoc Punch or Thunder Strike. You jump up and come down hard with both hands. It’s faster than Thunder Strike though. It was also reported to be similar in damage to Charged Brawl. I think the Smashing, and flight stopped characteristics makes this a decent choice, and I would slot it similarly to what I recommended for the secondary melee attacks. It works while you are not flying as well, if you were wondering.
Range: Melee
Recharge: 4 sec
Activation time: 1.5 sec
Cost: 7.5
Available enhancements: ACC, DAM, REC
Fly (Pool)
Available at level 14 (If you have one of the first powers in the pool selected)
I’m a real stickler about getting my movement power at level 14. It’s a huge endurance hog, so you will have to slot it for endurance right out of the gate. After you get Stamina well slotted, you can replace that with flight speed enhancements. I currently have 2 FLIGHT SPD enhancements on mine, plan to get a third, and it has been reported to me that it caps out at about 4 total. It also has a huge accuracy debuff, so make sure you switch to Hover, before beginning your attacks. You will miss 90% of the time if you attack a white enemy while in Fly. What will be frustrating is that you cannot chase down many mobs in hover mode, and cannot hit them in fly mode. The plus side is that you have access to every nook and cranny of the maps, high or low. For badge hunting it’s almost a must, but Super Jump and Teleport can get you to elevated areas too. Working the multi level cave maps is easier with the flight powers.
This is a little tidbit about fly that I learned from the forum investigations:
While in flight to your next mission with a team or otherwise, you can get some altitude, point yourself in the right direction, set it on run, and type away! Your Super Speed, Super Jump, or Teleport friends will have to choose between typing and moving. You can use this to get even with that smart ass friend that is always telling you “I’m at the mission. What’s taking you so long?” hehe Granted, I play mostly with people that use a voice over the internet service, but I thought I would share this with everyone else that loves to fly like I do.
I still think it’s the coolest movement power, but I have tried and liked all of the others too. I have every movement power available on my assortment of characters.
Range:
Recharge:
Activation time:
Cost: 1.0 (ongoing, I think it may be more now)
Available enhancements: REC, FLY
Group Fly
Available at Level 20 (If you have two of the powers in the pool selected)
I do not see a valid use for this power on this character type, but you may team regularly with a group that has no elevation management movement powers. It’s reported to be a huge endurance hog. If you were concerned about getting a team oriented power because you are in a devoted SG, and because you have to keep your Pool power sets limited to 4, this might be useful. I personally have Teleport Friend. I don’t recommend it, but imagine that if you do get it, you will need Stamina, and slot it for endurance cost reduction. I’m also not sure if your Flight Speed enhancements transfer to your team mates, but also make the assumption that this is like switching from Hover to Fly. When you activate one, it automatically turns the other off.
Cost: 2.0
Available enhancements: REC, FLY
Fitness:
A “must have” IMO. You will have weak defenses for most of your career, so the Health sort of works like defense, making your life bar recover faster. You will always run out of endurance before the fight is over too.
Swift (Pool)
Available at Level 6
If you have taken my recommendations of flight as a movement power, this is my choice. The beauty of this power selection is that you do not have to put ANY additional enhancement slots on this if you choose not to. Keep 1 active run speed enhancement on it at all times, and use the enhancement slots that come at the next level to boost your regular damage output routine.
Cost: None
Available enhancements: RUN
Hurdle (Pool)
Available at Level 6
If you have decided that Super Speed is your movement power of choice, this will help you with some of the elevation access issues you will experience. You do not need this with Flight or Super Jump movement powers because you already have elevation under control. I would try to get at least an extra slot or 2 on this.
Cost: None
Available enhancements: JUMP
You only need one of the first 2, choose wisely based on the movement power of your choice.
Health (Pool)
Available at level 14 (If you have one of the first powers in the pool selected)
This will help with the health bar regenerating between battles if you do not have any greens. Don’t count on it as a real defense, but it will help a little. I currently have 3 slots on it, I’m hoping for at least 1 more.
Cost: None
Available enhancements: HEAL
Stamina (Pool)
Available at Level 20 (If you have two of the powers in the pool selected)
A “must have” IMO. This why you choose this power set in the first place. In the early levels you found yourself out of endurance before the fight was over, a lot. This will give you some great staying power, and when we talk about Hasten, another must have for this build, you will really need this. Electricity is a very endurance draining attack set, but most character types have the same issues. I recommend this for every character in the game. I recommend 6 slotting this one. If you have to skimp on something else, so be it. It does not matter how much damage you do, if you do not have any endurance left to cast an attack.
Cost: None
Available enhancements: STAM
Speed:
The only power I am going to recommend is Hasten, but you may have other ideas, or take advantage of limiting your Pool powers early in your build, to make more room for Primary and Secondaries.
Flurry (Pool)
Available at Level 6
I recommend against this power. You’re a squishy Blaster, stay back and blast!
Range: Melee
Recharge: 3 sec
Activation time: 3.1
Cost: 6.3
Available enhancements: ACC, DAM, REC, RCHRG, DIS
Hasten (Pool)
Available at Level 6
From the Super Speed pool power set.
This is a “must have, but wait” power IMO. Until you have Stamina you are better off getting a good attack routine, and possibly a recharge rate enhancement on one or two of your slower attacks. Now, if you were to get Stamina at level 20, get Hasten at level 22. You want to have this one 6 slotted too, but now you are in a battle with Stamina and Build Up to do so. As you advance into the 30’s you start getting more slots, so this gets easier. I ran without this power until my free respec, got a little grief from some good players I know, and am extremely pleased with the power now that I have it. Once you get this, you will want to have it set on auto fire instead of your melee attack. It makes a huge difference in the recharge rate of your Alpha Strike attack, and I always found myself with little gaps in the battle when Charged Bolts, Lightning Bolt, and Ball Lightning were all recharging, and I’m just sitting there taking it. Once it gets 6 slotted, its almost like a perma-power.
Range: NA
Recharge: 300 sec
Activation time: 0.7
Cost: None
Available enhancements: RCHRG
Super Speed (Pool)
Available at level 14 (If you have one of the first powers in the pool selected)
Now if you wanted to stay a ground based Blaster, you could save on your Pool powers, and open the door for another. I still recommend Flight, but this power also has a little built in stealth, so It is a good movement power. I use it on other types of builds, not my Blasters.
Cost: 0.3
Available enhancements: RUN, REC
Whirlwind (Pool)
Available at Level 20 (If you have two of the powers in the pool selected)
Looks cool, but I would not recommend it. It could be a good lifesaver in a pinch to get the mobs off of you, but it seams a waste of a perfectly good level 20 pool power to me.
Range: PBAoE 5 ft
Recharge: 20 sec
Activation time: 1.2 sec
Cost: 1.8
Available enhancements: REC, RCHRG, KB
Teleportation & Stealth:
Recall Friend (Pool) -or- Stealth (Pool)
Available at Level 6
This is definitely an optional choice. Teleport Friend could be a great asset because of your ease at overcoming altitude related issues. I have also found it handy for those nasty CoT missions where they like to split the team up on the map. This is my “help the team” power. Granted, I’m usually the last one to the mission, so it seems kind of silly, but I have used it a lot. People go AFK, have to go sell, talk to contacts. I actually beat them to the mission on occasion. As it rounds out my 4 pool powers, it also keeps me from getting any stealth powers. Just remember to be considerate with this power. ASK before teleporting people. I have been yanked from a contact, or during a sell. Then had to go all the way back again.
Teleport Friend is part of my RPG build, and I have a keybind to operate it that says “NAME, Prepare to ride the lightning!”. Totally a fun power for me. But, if you have taken my advise about Flight as a movement power, you may want to exchange this power for Stealth. I know, Stealth will make you even slower, but it’s all about when you would use it. Fly as fast as you can to your objective or mission door, survey the entrance, go into Stealth mode and fly the remaining short distance in, un-noticed. Stealth is also a great power to be able to survey the room before an attack. You can sneak around corners, or go through CoT portals without drawing agro. It’s also an accuracy debuff, so with the almost complete lack of direct defensive powers in the set, Stealth combined with Hover would be a good combo.
Recall Friend:
Range: 10,000 ft
Recharge: 6 sec
Activation time: 1.9 sec
Cost: 20
Available enhancements: RCHRG, REC, RNG, INT
Stealth:
Range: NA
Recharge: 20 sec
Activation time: 0.7
Cost: 0.2 (Ongoing)
Available enhancements: RCHRG, REC, DEF BUFF
Leaping (Pool)
Not a bad movement power for a blaster, and if you are going to be a ground based Blaster, you will want to get Acrobatics after level 20 to help control knock back and holds.
Leadership (Pool)
I advise completely avoiding this pool power set on a blaster. Not only is it a constant drain on the endurance, but Blasters get the least benefit to themselves and the team with it on. Something in the line of 8%. Defenders and Controllers get the best buffs, I think 15% boosts for Defenders, and 10% boosts for Controllers.
Fighting (Pool)
Another one to avoid IMO. I just do not see the benefit to the power set. Although the total lack of good defenses for Blasters until the Epics are available could make this useful. I am not experimenting with them.
Medicine (Pool)
Don’t bother even trying! You will be drawing way to much agro to ever use these interruptible powers.
Presence (Pool)
A Blaster with a taunt power will soon die! Although, with the changes to the Fear powers this could be interesting. I still advise against it. You have better control powers in your primary and secondary power sets.
Your Origin:
I see a lot of advise on character powers, but not much on the correct origin to choose. I guess this gets down to being too “up close and personal” to your personality, and why you create your heroes, but I can offer some advise on what I have seen. I personally got lucky and choose Magic as my origin. Thundarpants was my very first character, and I knew nothing about the game when I made him. You will see why I feel lucky as we go on.
In the game, you will need to work certain contact’s missions to open up the ability to buy “odd” DO and SO enhancements for your powers like “Accuracy Buff”, “Flight Speed”, “Run Speed”, “Defense Debuff”, etc…. Of course, those contacts will send you primarily on missions related to the enemies that are of that nature. For me, keeping up with my contacts that send me on CoT and Banished Pantheon missions, opened up the inventory for these contacts. The reason that I feel lucky is because Energy damage is effective on those enemy types (in most cases).
My two best recommendations for Electricity are Magic and Technology. My holds are effective on all of the leuts in these enemy sets, and they are, for the most part, not resistant to energy damage. In some cases they are weak to it. YAY!
I recommend against Mutation and Science. Mutation leads you to Lost, and eventually Rikti contacts and missions. They kick my ass like it’s no ones business. Science will lead you to Crey. Another energy resistant enemy set. I have outlined some efficient strategies for dealing with the Crey in the section about Short Circuit, but you will be breathing pretty hard at the end of the fight even if you win.
This will also come in handy for Enhancement farming. It is well stated on the forum posts that the mobs will drop random enhancements, but the odds for getting a Magic enhancement from a CoT, and getting a Technology enhancement from a Freakshow are much higher. Influence can be an issue, and keeping your enhancements in the green can be a pain at certain levels (like 36 where I am now!). It seems a waste to buy enhancements to make them go to a ++ state. It’s easier for me to go street hunting, and see if I can get a CoT to drop a level 32 Damage enhancement after the fight, and mix it with my 35+ enhancement to get it back in the green. Save your influence!
We will call levels 6, 11, 16, 21, 26, 31, 36, etc…. your “weak” levels for this topic because you cannot buy the next upgrade to level 10, 15, 20, etc… enhancements. They are going yellow and white in your powers, and are starting to fail. I personally notice the accuracy drop once this starts happening to me. My strategy has always been to purchase new Accuracy enhancements as soon as I can. At level 37 I will continue with this, and all powers that have an Accuracy, get a new Level 40, first thing. Now for damage and effect, I like to wait until I can mix the new enhancement into the slot, not drag and drop. This buys me some time and influence at the next “weak” level. Now that is not the case for all of my powers. I will probably refit my primary attack routine first thing too. Charged Bolts, Lightning Bolt, Ball Lightning and Zapp will all get new damage enhancements, but if I have effects on them like interrupt time, range or recharge rate, that will wait until level 38 so I can mix them with level 40 enhancements. If you get lucky, you can get the odd enhancement to drop in your adventures. An example at my level, 36, is that I have several damage enhancements that are level 36, and 37. As other weaker enhancements have dropped, say level 32 Damage, I mixed these enhancements first to keep me from having to swap them out until later.
Another influence saving trick you can use is to mix your current enhancements, and use the opening made for a new level of enhancement that you cannot mix. Example:
Lightning Bolt has 3 level 35+ enhancements in it, and you just dinged to level 37. Try to mix 2 of them together to get a 35++. This leaves an open slot when you are done, put a level 40 in there. This should leave you with a 35+, 35++, and a 40. It should keep one of those enhancements, the 35++ from going red at level 38, and buy you some time to make some more influence, or be more effective until you can mix in your level 40 enhancements in at level 38.
The high level contacts for your enhancements:
After you get past level 32, you have to run a mission for a particular contact, and they become your “store” for enhancements. Exactly like Pandora’s Box was for me in the level 12 to 31 zone. The contact for Magic is easier to get to in Brickstown, but you will not be able to hunt CoT in Founder’s Falls until you hit level 34. The Freakshow are plentiful in Brickstown for low 30’s, but your “store” contact in Founder’s Falls is in a dangerous place. They love that little irony at the dev meetings I’m sure! lol. You could easily overcome your problems getting to the Technology contact if you choose Stealth instead of Teleport Friend as I stated earlier in this guide, but keep in mind that Founder’s is where you will first start having problems with snipers, and they will see right through your stealth. Be careful.
Natural is a toss up as far as origins go, and I cannot speak to it much. I cannot remember which contacts, or missions you will have to run to get what you need. I only have 1 hero that is Natural, and she is not very far along.
Prologue:
So in a final overview of an Electricity/Electricity Blaster I will summarize this. For maximum effectiveness, concentrate on your Primary damage outp
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