Local_Man

I made my Kin/Elec with the intent to be the ultimate Endurance Drainer -- but he was made back in the days when Endurance Drain was more effective than today. One shot of Short Circuit used to drain most of the blue bar, but not any more.

Draining Single targets is easy . . . Transference to drain them, Short Circuit to keep them drained. The hard part is AoE end drain. I'm able to accomplish it in one shot, not quite as often as I would like, by firing off Power Build Up before Short Circuit or Thunderous Blast.

One of the main reasons Elec Blast is lacking damage is the lack of a third, more powerful blast. Instead, we get Sparky, who fires off ten Charged Bolts. A lot of folks hate Sparky and skip him -- I like the "set it and forget it" nature of a short-lived pet. He does enough damage to make it worth while in my opinion.

On my Kin/Elec, I actually took the Snipe to add to his damage. If a foe is drained and unable to attack, I have enough time to fire off my snipe before having to drain him again.

Does the damage buff from Fulcrum Shift make up for Electric's lack of damage? Some, but not entirely. But there are some other benefits. Having a hold (Tesla Cage) is wonderful for a Kinetics defender -- you get your own battery who sits there doing the "zappy dance."

(My Kin/Elec is an Egyptian-themed character named "Sultan Battery." Say it out loud.)

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They can be excellent teammates when they actually want to be. Sadly a large number of fire/kin players, when on a team, will continue to play as if solo farming, to the point that if I join a team that I see has a fire/kin on it I do not form any expectation that they will bother to actually control enemies or buff the team

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Well if they are playing like they're farming that means they DO control enemies, throw transfusion and transference, and have very high kill speed. To me that is a great contribution to the team *shrug*

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A great contribution to the team is doing stuff that helps everyone have more fun. You farming a map while your teammates sit back and watch or trail behind trying to keep up is boring. Mezzing foes, Speed Boosting your teammates to let them help with the killing spree and do their jobs? Healing and giving Endurance to teammates, pulling them from the brink of death? That becomes fun for everyone.

Hmmm, let me take a look:

OK, I have some different preferences than you seem to have. I like to slot powers for their main use, then try to fit in bonuses as, well, bonuses. For example . . .

Char: You don't have any Hold or Damage in this power. I'm not a fan of putting damage procs in a power that takes damage. (The exception to that is the purple damage proc, which hits a lot more often.) I think you get more damage overall from a damage enhancement. I have mine slotted with Hami-Os - 1 Acc/Mez, 1 Acc/Dam, 2 Dam/Mez, 2 Common Recharge IOs. That gives me capped Hold and Damage, good Accuracy (and Char gets a 10% accuracy bonus) and very good Recharge. No bonuses, though, but the Damage is consistantly there . . . if it hits, it does real damage instead of a "chance for damage."

Rad Infection: you previously had 3 Enzymes in this power. That max slots all three aspects of this power, and saves a slot. That's what I prefer.

Enervating Field: Why do you have Enzymes in this power? The only aspect of the Hami-O used will be EndRdx, and not as much as common IOs. Enzymes are a complete waste here. You cannot buff the Damage or Resistance Debuffs in this power. Best slotting is 2 common EndRdx IOs, or three if you think the small difference is worth it. See my Ill/Rad guide for the exact numbers (in my sig).

Hot Feet and Choking Cloud are badly underslotted for their main purposes. First, have you priced that Armaggheddon proc? Not worth it. I like to max slot Hot Feet for Damage and EndRdx, with some Accuracy and a little Slow. Why the Slow? It has to do with the interaction of CC and HF. Keep the foes in the area longer, and it gives CC more pulses to try to get a hold on the foes. Currently, my Hot Feet has Dam/EndRdx and Acc/Dam/EndRdx from Scirrocco's, Dam/Slow and EndRdx/Rech/Slow from Tempered Readiness, Acc/Dam Hami-O and a common EndRdx. That caps EndRdx and Damage, has OK accuracy and some Slow. With your Accuracy bonuses, you don't need more accuracy.

Choking Cloud: Take a look at my Ill/Rad guide on Choking Cloud. It explains why it is important to fully slot for ED capped Hold or you lose a lot of benefit from Choking Cloud. It also has some suggested slotting. I was able to get capped Hold and EndRdx, and still fit in the Lockdown +2 Mag Proc and the Unbreakable Constraint damage proc. I love that Lockdown proc in CC, as it will hold bosses.

Again, my "philosophy" is to slot for the main purpose first. Fire/Rad does plenty of damage on its own, and the main thing is to enhance its control by extending the ability to mez. While a damage proc might help kill things off a little faster, the longer mez will keep me alive longer and let me provide more benefit for the team.

I had Leadership in my build, but dropped it. It really doesn't provide enough benefit unless you are on a team with stacked leadership -- other control powers will do more good. I have Air Superiority/Fly and Hasten/SS (Super Speed was my level 49 power, and with a Stealth IO, I get full invisibility without wasting a power choice on Smoke, which I found underwelming.

I know one of the things you said was that you wanted to drop the Psi APP pool, but I found my #1 problem on my Fire/Rad was getting mezzed. Indomidible Will takes care of that most of the time. No, I don't have so much Recharge that I have perma-IW -- but with a speed boost or a couple more AMs, I do. Getting mezzed knocks off my toggles, and since my character is based around running CC+HF all the time, that is a problem. The AoE in Psi Tornado is mostly DoT, but so is Hot Feet, so that's not a problem. I think Psi Tornado does more overall damage when you take into account its recharge time. And Mind Over Body provides the armor and Psi Resistance I need.

There are lots of differing opinions on builds. I usually comment about how I play, rather than suggesting that you do it my way. Just wanted to give you a few things to think about. If you have questions about your Rad side, my Ill/Rad guide covers the powers pretty well.

Personally, if I didn't have the Psi APP, I would probably go with Ice. Two AoE damage powers, a Defense based armor (another place for a LotG +Recharge), a very good single target damage power and a great "panic button" power.

I leveled my Ill/Storm up using Steamy Mist + Super Speed . . . but have no interest whatsoever in PvP. I think that SI would be better overall in the PvP area.

I have been playing a Mind/FF mostly solo, and really find it has a few advantages:

1. Mind has so many good powers, it really doesn't need anything from the secondary. If everything is mezzed, you don't reallly need debuffs. Only one power is really "skippable," Telekinesis, and that one is situationaly useful.
   
2. Also, most secondaries have so many powers you really feel are needed, it is hard to fit in the key powers of the secondary with the key powers of the Mind primary. However, FF only has a few key powers. You have to take PFF. The two ally bubbles make you welcome on any team for when you don't solo. Dispersion Bubble gives you defense and mez protection. Everything else is optional. But if you are mainly going to solo, then the various knockback powers can be quite effective.
   
3. Mez protection. One of the biggest problems when you solo a controller is getting mezzed. Dispersion Bubble protects you from several types. Add in Combat Jumping for a little more defense and protection from immobilize. You have a big hole for sleeps, but other than that, it is pretty good.
   
4. PFF is one of the best panic button powers in the game. You get hit about 5% of the time, but that's it. (My Mind/FF got a Nuke in Warburg easier than any other character . . . )
   
5. Want a heal? It is easy to fit in the Medicine Pool.

While FF doesn't do anything to make your primary more effective, it is certainly effective as a secondary for soloing.

I want to echo the statements made by CelestiaCoH and Panzerwaffen. I have both a Fire/Rad and a Fire/Kin. I find Fire/Rad overall more fun to play, even though the Fire/Kin is faster. The fire/kin is also more fragile. While the Fire/Kin is probably more effective with fewer max-IOs, you don't have to fully IO out a Fire/Rad to have perma AM for it to be very effecitve.

I have often been running my Fire/Rad with three friends, all of whom now also have Fire/Rads at 50 (mine was first). Running 4 Fire/Rads simply wipes out anything and everything in this game, and stacked Choking Cloud + Hot Feet wipes out just about everything without having to wait for Flashfire to recharge. Stacked AM means that we can run though everything without stopping.

And, I have been on a team of 8 Fire/Rads -- never seen any team more powerful than 8 Fire/Rads. The speed record on the Statesman's TF was set by a team of 8 Fire/Rads. Simply amazing.

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It works because /kin requires a to-hit for most of its powers and earth has massive def debuffs. Also, there is plenty of damage potential after lvl 38 when you get FS by way of the APPs. Plus siphon speed allows for faster recharge of all the great AoE powers that earth has. /kin is not my favorite choice to pair with earth/ (that would be /storm), but it definitely has good synergy with earth/.

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Plus, a speed-boosted Rocky is very effective. Even though his attacks don't recharge faster, he was always rather slow. Speed boosted, he gets around pretty fast.

I actually prefer Earth/Rad first, then Earth/Storm. The problem I have with my Earth/Kin is that those AoE controls tend to draw a lot of aggro, resulting in me wanting to use corners and other hiding places. Easy to do with Rad, but with Kin, you really need to go into melee. I had no idea how accurate it would be at the time, but I happened to give my Earth/Kin a very appropriate name -- "Dirt Napper." (His back story involved him stealing soil samples from a museum.)

Telekinesis is one of two toggle holds in the game (the other is Choking Cloud). To keep from being overpowered, both of these toggle holds have high endurance cost and quirks about how they work. Those quirks make them both quite optional in most builds.

Mind already has three single target damage powers and a cone. While your concept of Telekinesis makes sense, your suggested change would not fit in to the set.

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So how is it?
It seems like it would have amazing control... but no damage...
I plan on teaming a lot, anyway...
Anyone have any thoughts?

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Earth/TA is the highest control build of any controller. If any combination could have too much control, it is this one. But it is very clicky.

I prefer Earth/Rad for more flexibility, but lots of folks love their Earth/TA.

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*Waves*

I'm back, with 100% bonus married-ness!

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Significant Gratz to you and the new Mrs. Red!
Now, get her to play, and you're all set.

Rad goes well with ALL Primaries, including Plant. If you have a tank teammate who can gather the foes to concentrate them, letting you cast Radiation Infection before Seeds of Confusion, the Defense Debuff lets you get just about everyone. Enervating Field and Ling Rad keeps them from doing too much damage to each other, letting you actually get more XP from the confused foes. AM helps Seeds and Carrion Creepers recharge faster, along with all the other buffs it provides. You get a self- and team- heal, one of the best Rez powers in the game, and one of the best Hold powers in the game as a great "panic button" power. Plus, you can blow up the dead bodies of your teammates if you want to. What more could you want that a little necro-explosive?

Just a couple of thoughts from a quick look:

Freezing Rain: The #1 thing you want to enhance is Recharge, as you want this up as often as possible. Tempered Readiness has almost no recharge. Also, if you use Snow Storm or Roots, the slow enhancement is doing you no good. If you want to put a set in it, look at the Lady Grey Defense Debuff set for some decent bonuses, but you will need to replace one of them with a Recharge to get enough Recharge.

Also with Creepers and Tornado, you want to maximize Recharge to get them out as often as possible. This is more important than any other enhancement.

Lightning Storm: Try Dam/Rech and Dam/EndRdx/Rech from Thunderstrike and Entropic Chaos, and Dam/Rech and Chance for Hold from Devastation. It allows you get get two Lightning Storms out at once, and the Chance for Hold is great in the Storm.

Well, the speed buff from Speed Boost and Accelerate Metabolism still applies but not the Recharge buff. (Watching Twoey a/k/a Audrey II run around on SB is highly amusing, even if it doesn't get the recharge buff anymore.) On the plus side, the Devs finally fixed the problem with the various pets and sub-pets from Carrion Creepers not getting the benefits of slotting and procs.

I have a Plant/Rad in the 40s, and he is a heck of a lot of fun to play. Rad provides very flexible team support, and great debuffs to make pets hit harder (while reducing the damage done by confused foes to allow you to get a little more XP). The other combo I am working on is Plant/Storm, with the added chaos/damage powers from Storm in late levels that will somewhat make up for Plant's lack of single target damage.

Most AoE control powers have a 20% Accuracy penalty, so slotting with 2 Accuracy first is a must. Then the hold duration and Recharge are both low, so you want to slot up both of those. With Enhancement Diversification, You get full value for two of any enhancement slotted, but the third begins to have slightly reduced benefit -- the fourth gets almost no benefit. So, you get the most "bang for your buck" by slotting 2 Acc, 2 Recharge, 2 Hold duration.

If you don't use it very often, you can change that to 3 Holds and 1 recharge. If you like to use it a lot, you can change it to 1 Hold, 3 Recharge. Ultimately, you want to use IO sets to get as much Accuracy, Hold and Recharge out of the power. It is fairly common for folks to "frankenslot" AoE Holds with Acc/Hold/Recharge from several sets.

If you are looking for more controller-like characters to play, two I have taken to 50 are a Dark/Elec Defender (Two single target holds to hold bosses! Two pets!) and an Ice/Ice Blaster (Three single target holds, AoE slows, an immobilize, two AoE Rain powers with slows.)

In your build, the Flight in Phantasm is wasted, and if you replace the Damage with a Blood Mandate Damage, you get 1.5% Recovery.

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Phantasm lights it half the time, so it's a semi-mute point.

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No offense intended, but I think you mean "moot" (an issue no longer needed to be considered) and not "mute" (unable to talk). I must admit I chuckled trying to imagine "semi-mute."

One of my favorite uses for Bonfire in the upper levels (like the STF and ITF) is throwing it under AVs and EBs with knockback protection . . . it becomes a nice 45 second patch of Damage over Time, while knocking back any lower level foes who want to intrude on your efforts to beat the snot out of the AV. In the STF and ITF, it is great to let you keep beating on the big baddies while being able to ignore spawns that happen along the way. On the STF, I love using it on Recluse's Towers -- it does damage on them while knocking back the Repairmen from being able to make repairs -- one of the best stratagies anywhere.

Yes, Fire Cages + Bonfire is decent damage if you keep spamming Fire Cages, but generally, I don't find that it is worth it -- spamming Fire Cages uses a lot of endurance that you could be using to do other damage. And as previously stated, you have to go chase the ones missed by Fire Cages.

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This guide is awesome. I came back to CoH after not playing it for about 4 years. I played several combos of classes and I feel I like this one the most. I was wondering do you happen to have an IO Slotted version of the build or possibly what yours looks like currently/in the future that you can share? Thanks

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I don't claim to be an expert for IO slotting. But Here is a build that I am working towards for my Earth/Rad . . . in between all of my various alts . . .

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Earth-Rad Ideal: Level 50 Mutation Controller
Primary Power Set: Earth Control
Secondary Power Set: Radiation Emission
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Ice Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Fossilize -- HO:Nucle(A), HO:Endo(3), HO:Perox(7), HO:Perox(17), RechRdx-I(34), RechRdx-I(34)
Level 1: Radiant Aura -- Numna-Heal(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(21), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Numna-Heal/Rchg(42)
Level 2: Stone Cages -- GravAnch-Acc/Rchg(A), GravAnch-Acc/Immob/Rchg(3), GravAnch-Immob/EndRdx(7), GravAnch-Hold%(37), GravAnch-Immob/Rchg(37), Posi-Dam%(40)
Level 4: Radiation Infection -- HO:Enzym(A), HO:Enzym(5), HO:Enzym(5)
Level 6: Quicksand -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(11), TmpRdns-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(42)
Level 8: Accelerate Metabolism -- Efficacy-EndMod(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(9), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(9), Efficacy-Acc/Rchg(25), Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx(36), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(37)
Level 10: Air Superiority -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(11), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46)
Level 12: Stalagmites -- Amaze-Stun(A), Amaze-Stun/Rchg(13), Amaze-Acc/Stun/Rchg(13), Amaze-Acc/Rchg(15), Amaze-ToHitDeb%(17), Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(21)
Level 14: Fly -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(15), Zephyr-ResKB(43)
Level 16: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 18: Earthquake -- DarkWD-ToHitDeb/Rchg(A), RechRdx-I(19), DarkWD-Rchg/EndRdx(19), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(43)
Level 20: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(43)
Level 22: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(23), EndMod-I(23)
Level 24: Enervating Field -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(25)
Level 26: Volcanic Gasses -- UbrkCons-Hold(A), UbrkCons-Hold/Rchg(27), UbrkCons-Acc/Hold/Rchg(27), UbrkCons-Acc/Rchg(29), Lock-%Hold(31), UbrkCons-Dam%(40)
Level 28: Lingering Radiation -- TmpRdns-Acc/Slow(A), TmpRdns-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(29), Acc-I(36), RechRdx-I(36), RechRdx-I(40)
Level 30: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31), RechRdx-I(31)
Level 32: Animate Stone -- ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(A), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg(33), ExRmnt-Dmg/EndRdx(33), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), ExRmnt-+Res(Pets)(34), SvgnRt-PetResDam(46)
Level 35: Mutation -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 38: EM Pulse -- HO:Endo(A), HO:Endo(39), RechRdx-I(39)
Level 41: Hibernate -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 44: Frost Breath -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(45), Posi-Dmg/Rng(45), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), Posi-Dam%(46)
Level 47: Ice Storm -- Posi-Dmg/Rchg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Posi-Dmg/Rng(48), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 49: Frozen Armor -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def(50), LkGmblr-Rchg+(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Containment

I need to provide an update to the changes to Rocky, but I just haven't gotten around to it. Now that the Ill/Rad guide is done, maybe I'll get to it.

Earth/Rad is a terrific combo. Very flexible for a team oriented controller. My guide, linked in my sig, explains the benefits. Rad gives you Recharge and Endurance recovery early, great debuffs, an AoE heal and even a rez. You can even blow up your teammates if you want to. Even if you don't go with Rad, take a look at the guide as there is a lot of information on Earth.

After Rad, I would go Storm (I'm working on one now, presently at level 29.) You have to restrain yourself from some of the powers at times, but it is also a very good build. With the late damage powers, it becomes possible to solo. There are a few problems. Storm take some work and skill to play well. You have to learn when to use certain powers and when not to use them, especially on larger teams. The knockback powers can knock foes off of your Targetted AoE powers like Quicksand, Earthquake and Volcanic Gasses -- but on the other hand, you can use those knockback powers (Gale and Hurricane in particular) to push foes back INTO your AoEs too.

Storm lacks a self heal or any way to boost your endurance. Your only team buff is a single-target heal/partial mez protection in O2 Boost. On the other hand, Storm adds more damage (at level 35 and 38) than any other secondary. Earth has the -knockback in Stone Cages to turn Tornado into a high damage power.

Rad has a Team and self heal, a team and self buff, and those wonderful debuffs. You get one of the best Rez powers in the game. It adds a great "panic button" power in EM Pulse. The more you use your Rad powers, the better the team will be -- no need to limit yourself. And, of course, Rad is a huge help going up against AVs with the -Regen in Ling Rad and EM Pulse.

(And by the way, the word is "Grok," a word made up by Robert A. Heinlein for the book, Stranger in a Strange Land. In the book, it is a Martian word meaning to so fully and completely understand something that it becomes a part of you. The word fell into common usage in the late sixties and early seventies when Stranger became a kind of underground classic. The novel won the Hugo Award in the late sixties. The book tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human who was marooned on Mars as a baby and raised by Martians, and then found as a young man and returned to Earth. It was popular due to the unique perception of human society from an alien perspective. V.M. Smith later shares his Martian perspective by starting a church.)

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Out of Ice and Earth, which one does more damage? Or are they both equally as bad? Will Fulcrum shift help make up for the lower primary damage?

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Earth does slightly more damage than Ice, assuming you take the powers that most people take. Stalagmites does some AoE damage. On the other hand, it is hard to evaluate the effect of the confusion in Arctic Air. My experience is that there isn't a whole bunch of damage being done by confused foes, since the confusion is fairly short duration.

Plus, Earth has a secondary benefit of tons of Defense Debuff. This means that temp powers and veteran's powers are likely to hit a lot more often. Add to that the fact that Rocky now has a toned down version of Seismic Smash, so I would say that he does more damage than Jack Frost.

Earth and Ice are the two lowest damage Controller primaries. Going solo with either is pretty painfully slow. With either one, if you expect to solo, take the single target immobilize (Stone Prison or Chilblain) early and slot it up for damage. It helps a lot.

Will Fulcrum Shift make up for it? No. Multiplying a low number is still a low number. The APP powers can make a big difference. Ice APP has two AoE damage powers, and Earth APP has two single target damage powers and a short-range AoE.

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Since you've posted u're build, I've been goin over it trying to make it "mine". And this is what I've come up with. Alot of it I have left it alone. Made some changes, not much, but it's how I would have done it had I prior knowledge of this build.

I Have a question about Sup Inv's def no.s though. Once you attack or are seen, your def no.s drop right? And if so, by how much? Cuz I'm thinking if it's a significant amount I may just drop it altogether. With that heavy end costing toggle, my end will drop pretty fast if I leave it on during a fight whilst spamming my attacks. Now granted, I will have my pets out, but my end will already have taken a huge hit just by summoning them. And I know, Iknow. Bring some blues. I get that. But I will still burn through them pretty fast as well. So lemme know whatcha think. Thanks again.


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You obviously built to maximize Defense. For my Ill/TA, Defense wasn't that big a problem -- I don't feel like I need that much Defense. Once PA were drawing the attention of the foes, they mostly were not shooting at me. If a single foe decided to single me out, Deceive changes his mind quite quickly.

My Ill/Rad guide, linked in my sig, has the numbers for Superior Invis and the defense suppression. Yes, the endurance drain from SI is high enough that you don't want to engage in a long battle with SI on, but it's fine for short battles. The main advantage for enhancing the Defense in SI in your high defense build is (a) to avoid AoE attacks where they are not specifically targetting you, and (b) avoid ranged attacks from foes with + Perception. Once the fight has started, PA will hopefully draw the attention of the foes, and you can turn off SI to save endurance. (I like to use an easy-to-reach toggle button to make it easy to turn off. I use Button5 on my 8-button mouse, but you could you a button on the numeric keypad.)

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Personal force field gives 67.5% defense to a controller, unslotted. That's 22.5% *more* defense than you need to hit the soft cap and floor everything's chance to hit. So, it definitely doesn't need slotting for defense - it would literally do nothing against 99% of the enemies in the game, and most of the remaining 1% simply ignore defense in one way or another anyway.

Personal force field also grants 40% resistance to everything except toxic. This is far below the cap, and thus would make sense to enhance - except PFF doesn't take resistance enhancements, and the resistance effect is tagged [Ignores Enhancements & Buffs] anyway. So, no dice here either.

On the other hand, it does take 15 seconds to recharge after you turn it off - sometimes you might need it to come back up sooner if a boss gets in a good hit or two just after you turn it off. Thus, sticking a recharge in the default slot certainly isn't wasted. If you really want, you can stick a second in - that cuts it down from about 11.25 seconds recharge to about 9s recharge. A 3rd is kinda wasted as it only drops you to ~7.75s.

Similarly, endurance reduction is not very important - it only costs 0.26 end/second, and given that you can't attack while you have it active, turning on PFF is likely to *lower* your endurance use, not raise it.

Finally, in PvP you will gain *very* little defense from personal force field no matter how you slot it. For a point of comparison, in a PvP zone my dominator has about 15% defense from scorpion shield, and turning on PFF raises that to a whopping 20%. Such is the harsh reality of diminishing returns. While turning on PFF in a PvP zone will likely help a little bit, it sure as heck doesn't matter what you have slotted in it (for an experiment, I stuck a defense SO in my dom's PFF and it added a total of like ~0.2% defense, or something absurdly small like that). So, for PvP it also doesn't really matter what you put into it.

The best use for slots in personal force field, in my opinion, is to hold special IOs. It takes defense sets, and thus you can put in special IOs like karma knockback protection, kismet +6% tohit, luck of the gambler 7.5% global recharge, gift of the ancients runspeed, etc. Since it doesn't really need any slotting *anyway*, it's not like you're gimping the power by slotting these IOs that don't improve the specific power they're slotted in.

If you have a metric ton of spare slots, you could also stick one or another defense set into the power, just for the set bonuses. However, given that you have at *least* three other powers which not only take defense sets, but can actually benefit from the enhancement bonuses themselves, I wouldn't bother.

Short and long of it: either toss a recharge in the base slot and call it done, or use it to slot special IOs like LOTG:rech, karma -KB, etc.

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Wow. A very thorough, informative and well said answer. Sir, I salute you! This is why I like to read the forums.

Ill/kin has some synergy problems . . . Phantasm likes to knock back your Siphon target for Transfusion, Transference and Fulcrum Shift. Plus, you can't buff Phantom Army. Siphon Speed lets you recharge faster . . . as long as you have a foe handy to act as a battery. Also, Illusion has no AoE damage . . . except for Phantasm's Torrent, but Phanty usually flies far enough back to miss your Fulcrum Shift buff (when he doesn't knock the target back, that is).

But both Illusion and Kinetics are very great sets, so in spite of the problems, they still work.

Another set that works well with Kinetics is Ice, but it has very low damage. Arctic Air mitigates that melee damage, so it is easy to stay in melee.

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I don't hover so I'm gonna try the earth ap. I just don't like the stone armor graphic.

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Yeah, the stone armor is butt-ugly unless you plan your costume to accommodate it. My Stone/Fire tank looks OK, but it looks ugly on most characters.