Does anyone Channel?

[(PSN)drpunk-yo]

Every so often, after a mission, I'll have picked up some channeling mod and I wonder how many different channeling mods I've got now and wonder what kind of builds might be possible and what kind of channeling shenanigans you could get up to in missions.

Then I get back to my ship, I start a new mission and I just melee stuff to death with my primary weapon equipped again. It's not broke (well, technically my War is but that's besides the point) so why bother fixing it?

But I wonder if I'm missing out on a part of the game I should be having fun with instead.

So, does anyone actually channel? Are there different builds to play with or is it "just stick this and that on and be done" even if you do channel? Or is it a total waste of time and not even worth pursuing?

Edited March 21, 2017 by (PS4)drpunk-yo

[Miser_able]

I use it when farming stealth xp but not much more than that. 

[Cephalon_Ordis]

life strike. life steal when channeling. 

 

that's the only reason i ever channel

[Latiac]

Melee weapons don't have enough slots for those mods in my opinion.

I could add the channelling damage and effeciency, but then I have to miss out on crit + elementals.

If it had more slots, i'd probably use it, but as it is however I don't.

Edited March 21, 2017 by Latiac

[Voltage]

Only time I channel is with my Rakta Dark Dagger on my Ash when I utilize my unranked life strike. Other than that nope.

[redeyedtreefrog]

channeling is only properly useful if you've got life strike equipped, and even then I mainly use that on frames that I've built for rage. The main problem with channeling mods is, most of them decrease channeling efficiency so if you equip more than one or two mods, the energy consumption for doing it will quickly outstrip any benefits you get from the mods.

On the other hand, the trails channeling leaves behind are really cool.

[BansheePrime]

Waste of energy.

[(PSN)abbacephas]

13 minutes ago, Cephalon_Ordis said:

life strike. life steal when channeling. 

 

that's the only reason i ever channel

QFT.

[Xekrin]

17 minutes ago, (PS4)drpunk-yo said:

I wonder how many different channeling mods I've got now and wonder what kind of builds might be possible

The majority of channeling mods are pretty useless, if only for the reason that they cost way too much.  5 energy cost per attack is fairly expensive as-is just for normal channeling.  Add in various obscenely underbalanced mods that decrease that efficiency for very little return and it could cost 20+ energy per strike, and that's just to add in a few channeling mods for what?  

Using channeling mods in place of straight damage mod just isn't worth it in the long run, or even the short(?) run.  Only if a mod or weapon offers a unique concept that can't be overachieved by regular attacks is it even barely worth it.  Life Strike is the best and usually only reason to channel for most frames.  A few weapons offer channeling mechanics that make it fun to use but those are rare.

I tried a semi-mostly channeling build a few times and the only frame that even has a chance at keeping it viable is trinity with her Energy vampire keeping her energy full, and even then I found myself running low on energy fairly often.  You either have to EV an enemy every other attack to keep energy up or run out completely after a dozen enemies.

There is also the tiny factor that 99% of weapons all have the same exact channeling stats, its pretty clear DE has held little interest in making channeling a diverse and viable alternative to normal attacks.  

In short, channeling mods are just endo fodder and there to muddy the loot pools.  Until they decide to rewrite the entire system, that's all they will ever be.

 

Edited March 21, 2017 by Xekrin

[The_Mustachio]

14 minutes ago, Cephalon_Ordis said:

life strike. life steal when channeling. 

 

that's the only reason i ever channel

^ this

But, there are so many other health regen mods now. I rarely use Life Strike these days. 

[Hammahness808]

I truly doubt if spirits leave enough of an impression of themselves as to be able to communicate through other people. I think anyone who claims they can channel are in it for the easy money, they probably only have short time periods before they're caught as frauds.

[(PSN)drpunk-yo]

While it's a shame to hear I have to thank everyone for saving me from wasting any time I might have spent on this 

Edited March 21, 2017 by (PS4)drpunk-yo

[shut]

If I'm channeling and I happen to get hit by two or three bullets while aimgliding, then boom, half of my energy is gone.

So nope, I don't channel. I've avoided it like the plague since the godawful "channeled blocking" mechanic was added in U17.

[Kuestenjung]

Only by mistake. The energycosts and the outcome doesn´t justify using it.

Edited March 21, 2017 by Kuestenjung

[ArchPhaeton]

Never, not even life strike. I just tap F3 to drop a health pad if ever needed.

13 minutes ago, TGKazein said:

I truly doubt if spirits leave enough of an impression of themselves as to be able to communicate through other people. I think anyone who claims they can channel are in it for the easy money, they probably only have short time periods before they're caught as frauds.

^Well played, well played.

[(PSN)ATreidezz]

I channel for lifestrike, sometimes for armor, sometimes For parrying, but most of the time for a show off on extract, cos prime targis/edo/citadella, thats why..

Hope you understand what im saying

Edited March 21, 2017 by (PS4)ATreidezz

[GrayArchon]

I put a channelling build on my Synoid Heliocor because of the spectre it creates on channelled kills. The mod they released somewhat recently that gives you a massive boost of speed every time you kill while channelling is helpful for that, because the hammer is so slow. Other than that, I don't use it much.

[Evanescent]

Well if I have a rage+lifestrike build on a frame I will use it because let's face it, when they start doing damage I'm going to be channeling all the time anyways,

[OniDax]

I don't channel.

[Djego27]

I use killing blow on my glaive prime, since I mostly use it with Ember where it directly scales up fire damage if you use it only channeled anyway(for life strike) and you do not need crit or the shadow dept mods on it.

Other than that, the mechanic is useful for solo at high levels without invisibility, frame based massive damage bonuses or insta kill weapons like daggers. While it is to expensive for what it does without rage on the frame that takes a lot of damage, channelling finishers and certain highly multiplied hits in your combo gives a decent extra damage output. The mods however are in general not that good given that melee weapons with the shadow dept mods got far to many mandatory mods and even before that there where far to niche and most of the time only useful because you did not want to add another element(like on Ember or when you aimed at maximizing slash and corrosive procs for example).

[(XBOX)SweatyPick3L]

I channel with Zenistar. Couple damage mods and channeling mods. Vary beast  with Sayrn and Nova. 

[Zeclem]

1 hour ago, redeyedtreefrog said:

channeling is only properly useful if you've got life strike equipped, and even then I mainly use that on frames that I've built for rage. The main problem with channeling mods is, most of them decrease channeling efficiency so if you equip more than one or two mods, the energy consumption for doing it will quickly outstrip any benefits you get from the mods.

On the other hand, the trails channeling leaves behind are really cool.

you can have that trail permenantly through some stuff at gameplay options without actually channelling if you didnt knew.

[(XBOX)Grimsley Clause]

I do it to signal to my Tenno brethren in the dark. Haven't used Lifestrike in ages.

[Crashen]

I only really use channel on limbo, when I pull an enemy into the rift to execute it. Thats about it.

[(XBOX)CannyJack]

Only by accident.