Happy_Thoughts

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  1. If you like rain powers*, Storm/Ice would be fun. Just remember to bring a parka!



    * And who doesn't???
  2. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Wanderer View Post
    I want this character to be the ultimate support teammate. I'm not interested in having DPS. Let the other ATs handle that. This character merely exists to keep his/her teammates on their feet and fighting. Therefore, the Primary will be Empathy for the Heals.
    It sounds like what you really want is controller with empathy as your secondary. Disabling enemies as your first strategy provides much better team support than running straight for the first-aid kit immediately.
  3. Just a couple of details that Sailboat left out. The team is level 39, so we don't have little goodies like APPs or incarnate slots. Also, the task force itself is set at level 45 since we had an extra participant when we started; so we're artificially level 44 which may not make a huge difference but it's a slight handicap.

    I'm playing the tanker, and how it's typically gone is that I don't stay up long enough to get Dark Regeneration off a second time. Usually the electric/kinetic controller dies within the first few seconds of the fight, so a good chunk of our debuffing and our only source of external healing has been absent. Probably the biggest factor is the recharge debuffs that get piled on me, even with the debuff resistance and recharge bonus of Speed Boost. I think I was at -131% when I looked at one point during one of the fights last week.

    My own stats are 13-15% defense to any given damage type before the cold buffs (28-30% buffed), and about 60% resistance to smashing, lethal and negative energy.

    Thanks for the advice so far—tomorrow night we hurl ourselves at him again!
  4. Happy_Thoughts

    ?/son

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Netphenix5 View Post
    Drats, beat me to it. Yeah, LS does a very small AoE around its target, if they're bunched close. Hence my mention of a x8 spawn - you're pretty much guaranteed at least three hits per bolt. Some say it's splash damage (and so lower than what the actual target receives) but I'm not positive about it.
    The splash damage thing is a myth. All targets hit by Lightning Storm take full damage. My Ice/Storm controller enjoys this a lot.
  5. Happy_Thoughts

    ?/son

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Nightchill_EU View Post
    Lightning Storm does not AoE.
    Lightning Storm and Tornado both hit up to 5 targets each hit (or tick in Tornado's case) if the enemies are close together.
  6. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tahliah View Post
    While the others are correct that you can get some damage out of an ice secondary on a defender (more solo and on small teams), there is another option. You could slot for slows (the powers slow attack speed as well as movement), holds, and tohit debuffs and use the secondary very usefully as support to complement your primary.
    Just to clarify something here, slotting for slows only affects movement speed debuffs; it does not affect whatever recharge speed debuff a power has.
  7. Quote:
    And a AoE (area of effect) aura called Mud Pots that deals damage over time for any enemy in melee range which also immobilizes them and decreases their speed and recharge rate. So with the Combination of very high resistances and defence, you are also able to target the speed of which an enemy will attack you. A slower attack speed means fewer hits over time. Granted that when they actually do they must first try and actually land the hit by bypassing your defence and then if successful must try and cut through your resistance as well.
    Mud Pots affects run and jump speed of its targets, but has absolutely zero effect on recharge rate.
  8. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Narkor View Post
    As to keep the discussion going, if anyone is interested, I'd like to hear a little about Dark Blast and Psychic Blast, and if they could be considered worthwhile option for a solo heavy Defender. I've read that Psychic/ for Blasters is pretty meh. As for /Dark on Defenders, I remember reading that it's rather low on the damage side.
    Dark Blast does have some disadvantages compared to other blast sets.

    The set only has two single-target non-snipe attacks, where most sets get three. It also lacks Aim.

    Much of the damage it generates is damage over time. Some people really don't like that; if you're one of them, the set probably isn't for you. Personally, I love the crazy amount of damage spam it can generate.

    Dark Blast also trades some damage power picks for utility powers. I find the utility powers to be quite situational. Dark Pit is a minion-only stun, so unless I have another area effect stun to stack with it I usually skip it. Torrent, like all area knockback powers, ranges from highly useful to terribly disruptive depending on how the player uses it. Life Drain is a fairly weak self-heal that's somewhat useful if your primary lacks a self-heal and you have the slotting to support it.

    Now that that's said, I must tell you that I love the set. Where it really shines is large packs of enemies. Tenebrous Tentacles and Night Fall simply melt large numbers of enemies (as long as you actually slot them as the attacks they are, which some people seem reluctant to do).

    It's also a fantastic set to pair with one that uses toggle debuffs, as Tentacles can keep the bad guys immobilized within the debuff field(s) and prevent your anchor from running off.

    Oh, and if you're into procs, you can plop 3 in Tentacles and 2 in Night Fall. They obviously aren't a constant source of damage, but each has its own chance to fire on each enemy so often one or more will get multi-procced. That's just beautiful when it happens.

    One last thing that's important to note: Tentacles is a cone-area immobilize, but unlike most area effect immobilizes it does NOT prevent knockback/knockdown. This means that you can't leverage it to make full use of powers like Tornado, but it plays very nicely with powers like Freezing Rain, Ice Slick, and other persistent knockdown powers as it keeps them in the patch but does not keep them standing.

    If you do try Dark Blast, I highly recommend playing it to at least level 23 before deciding whether or not you like it. That gives you the opportunity to play with well-slotted Tentacles and Night Fall, which to me is the true joy of the set.
  9. I've got my ice armor colors set to the color one below the top-left corner. You still see the outline of the ice armors, but even with all of them running (including icicles) my costume is pretty visible.

    Visually speaking, it's the stone tankers I feel sorry for.
  10. I'm a big fan of Rad/Dark. The tentacles help keep everything in your debuff fields (and at range) which is really helpful. While the Tentacles/Night Fall combination won't produce large damage numbers, they do produce tons and tons of little numbers and do, in fact, get the job done. Heck, if you get some recharge reduction in those two you've got a non-stop area effect cycle—especially with Hasten and Accelerate Metabolism running! And, you know, since Rad/ will let you grab bunches of enemies pretty safely, why not unload constant area effect damage?

    I won't say it's perfect or foolproof, but it's pretty effective at melting mobs of enemies. And if you love a storm of orange damage-spam numbers like I do, it's even better.
  11. "We" weren't comparing it to melee shields; you were just vague about what you meant by "defensive toggle." Since saying "...a [6¼% to-hit debuff click power] seems to give me nearly as much defense as a [5% defense toggle] would" isn't exactly a revelation, it didn't occur to me that that's what you could have meant since you seemed so excited about it.

    As far as the "main difference" between Flash Arrow and Shadowfall/Steamy Mist, maybe you should look at the resists those provide to you and your nearby (if 40 feet can be described as such) friends. Heck, slot it up and you're radiating about 30% resist to a few damage types that a lot of people can't get very high on their own. Where did that fit in to your comparison? We'll just have to agree to disagree on whether the 5-7½% defense they provide is the major benefit you get from them.

    Oh, and if someone wants to skip Steamy Mist or Shadowfall, why should I say anything at all unless they ask for advice? It's not my character, they can build however they want. Was there a point to that question other than to further derail this thread?
  12. You don't say what level you are, but if it's your "main" I'm going to assume high enough level to have access to the epic pools. Have you tried using Mass Hypnosis from the psychic pool? Being able to get yourself fully fulcrum shifted and zapping the heck out of them without the initial mass-retaliation should somewhat offset the lack of major debuffs and self-buffs in kinetics.

    Also—and I really hate to bring this up as this "optional" system has pretty much become the assumed standard—if you have the time and cash to invest, getting some defense through IO slotting will make a world of difference if you're just on SO enhancements currently.

    And a minor nitpick...
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tourettes View Post
    (yes, I know defenders weren't made to solo).
    This is a myth.
  13. Sheesh.

    First, how about we all agree on what we're talking about? My response was to a statement comparing Flash Arrow to defensive toggles in terms of effectiveness. When I hear the phrase "defensive toggles" I do NOT immediately think of power pools or toggles that have incidental defense in addition to their main function, such as Steamy Mist. I think of things like tanker/scrapper/brute/stalker toggles that provide defense . If the initial statement actually meant power pools and powers that have some defense but whose main purpose is something else, then I honestly don't understand what relevance that comparison is supposed to have.

    Second, we do all understand that it is possible to discuss Trick Arrow's strengths and weaknesses without hyperbolic misquoting, right? I'm rather tired of being attributed with saying TA (or components thereof) is "useless" or "sucks" or whatever. I never have.

    As for Flash Arrow, it does have some perks and complements other to-hit debuffs and defense buffs. Do those perks compensate for such low debuff values on a defender primary power in situations where those perks don't matter (such as the unresistable tag when fighting non-AVs)? That's really up to the individual.

    We now return you to your originally scheduled topic.
  14. Quote:
    Originally Posted by David_Yanakov View Post
    I suppose you're right. 60 seconds of 9.75 to hit debuff with even level SOs , auto-hit and no generation of agro isn't at all useful
    While intentional misinterpretations and sarcasm are fun, I guess, I'm sticking to my position that Flash Arrow doesn't actually provide as much defense as defensive toggles. Unless you were comparing a primary power to a pool power for some reason.

    I of course won't dispute how effective it seems to you.
  15. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr_Grumpums View Post
    If being able to solo effectively is your goal, I think you might like a Sonic/Radiation Defender for the following reasons:
    Just for clarification (especially since the original poster isn't as steeped in defenders as some of us) what you described after this statement is a Radiation/Sonic defender, which is very different from the Sonic/Radiation variety.
  16. Quote:
    Originally Posted by David_Yanakov View Post
    a defender's flash arrow seems to give me nearly as much defense as a defensive toggle would.
    It really, really doesn't.
  17. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Lycaeus View Post
    Level 16: Tenebrous Tentacles -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(19), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(19), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37), DampS-ToHitDeb(37), DampS-ToHitDeb/Rchg/EndRdx(37)
    Level 20: Night Fall -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(21), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(21), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39), DampS-ToHitDeb(40), DampS-ToHitDeb/Rchg/EndRdx(40)
    This may be part of why you're not killing as fast as you'd like. Tentacles and Nightfall are your mass killing (or mass melting) tools, but they're not really slotted for the job. I would ditch the dampened spirit enhancements in these; the extra to-hit debuff (~3%) won't be noticeable, and just about anything you do will net more than 4% (combined) extra damage in these two powers. Maybe consider recharge since they're only at 41% currently, and/or damage procs.
  18. Status effects are the scourge of the defender.

    (Including sleep so my FF/Sonic/Traps brethren don't feel neglected. )
  19. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gilia View Post
    Defender's with TA are going to dominate the AoE -res game. In other words, they will make their teammates do more damage to entire groups than most any other AT/Powerset is going to. It's not by too too much, however. Disruption + Acid Arrow will results in -40% damage resistance. Most of the other sets get -30% from a single power.
    This is only true in some situations.

    You can only get 40% if ALL of the following are true:
    - Two powers (which need to be slotted separately) are used
    - There are fewer than 10 enemies (Disruption's target cap)
    - All enemies are within Acid Arrow's teeny tiny radius (8 feet)
    - All enemies are hit by Acid Arrow (as it requires a to-hit check)

    In many situations, the resistance debuff advantage is either very slight or nonexistant. I certainly wouldn't describe it as "dominating."
  20. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood View Post
    However I do see people forming teams and specifically looking for a "Healer" so while I disagree with Klaw's assessment as to the utility of a "Healer" he does have a point about them being desired.
    Don't confuse ignorance with desire.
  21. Quote:
    Originally Posted by WingsOfGlory View Post
    ...my goal quite frankly is to be the most team friendly character possible and to be the most pure healer possible.
    I suggest choosing which of these two you want to be; they are mutually exclusive.
  22. Quote:
    Originally Posted by InUse View Post
    For the negative resist is Acid Arrow and Disruption Arrow better than Enervating Field. I enjoy watching my team kill stuff faster.
    Only in some situations.

    Acid Arrow's radius is really small, and requires a to-hit check. As such, you're much less likely to hit a lot of things with it.

    Disruption Arrow's maximum targets is, inexplicably, 10 rather than the standard 16 for that type of power. So if you have more than 10 enemies, some won't be affected by Disruption.

    If you have a tightly-packed group of 10 or less, and hit all/most with Acid Arrow, then, yes, you'll be debuffing resistance a little better than Enervating Field. But you're also taking and slotting two powers to do so, rather than one.
  23. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Streethawk View Post
    Yeah, the lack of damage on Dark/ is what made me go with Rad/ in the end.
    Dark/ is definitely *not* lacking in damage. It lacks big kaboomy numbers, but the tentacles/night fall combination simply melts large groups of enemies, and keeps them in place (and in your debuffs) to boot.
  24. I had to load up on defense and healing inspirations and just concentrated on the arbiter since he'll just resummon the drones you defeat.

    Keep Conductive Aura running and reapply Static Field whenever it's up to get his endurance drained. This helped me a lot on my Electric/Earth dominator, and as an /elec you should be able to drain even faster.

    Good luck with him!
  25. Happy_Thoughts

    Elec/Earth Build

    I made one in beta when (to my surprise and delight) there happened to be a level bump to 40 or 41. I set out armed with a bunch of new powers and SOs.

    The character was pretty fragile*, but the pulsing sleep and jumping confuse prevented a lot of damage. I ran around like a blapper with some controls and really enjoyed it. There is definitely one in my future now that Going Rogue is live.




    * In all fairness though, invention sets/bonuses were not in play, and I was doing missions at x3 heroes.