Madadh

I'm going to wholeheartedly agree with a part of what you've said.....

To answer the OP, a lot of new powers and combos available as a result of proliferation are quite enticing. But I don't really feel the need to force something without inspiration on day one in most cases.


That said, I'm really tempted to make a Time/something just because I love to try new toys for defenders, but have had zero inspiration for good complementary set.
And by the exact same token, and /Fire..... I can't recall if Thermal is getting proliferated to Defs or not, but I have that in my head for some reason. If it's not a fever dream, then a Therm/Fire seems almost a must.

I totally agree. IT's not just limited to all the above examples, either.

It's been said before, but Dual Pistols needs a non gun kata style.. I have several concepts for dual pistoleers that I just can't can't see the throwing the gun in air and catching it, to only touch on the most serious example from the set.

Shield charge that looks more like a teleport and not at all like a short running attack.

A lot of the sets I *so* with I could use an alternate 'device-style' animation, be it tech device, or magic device, as opposed to the power springing from out of nowhere.

And by obvious corollary, some of tech sets need a magic version, too (Traps and Devices, I'm looking at you).

Almost all of the weapon sets need more skins, too. And pets skins for MMs..

For that matter, I think all the powers pretty much could use more art and graphics choices. I thik the game would stay a lot fresher, without the need for new powersets quite as often, if the existing powersets could be better given new life, and this would largely be accomplished via more animations across the board. Granted, some sets are begging for a few power tweaks and rebalances (Force Field springs to mind, which I think just adding a bit of DDR would be a big help there) but even without tem I know I'd be willing to try a ton of new combos or powers sets with some of the changes from above.

Change Granite, I'd make a Stoney on thw very day the added a new look t9...
Change Stone Melee so you could use the Mallet for every attack, and I have the whole build ready to go.
So many more examples spring to mind that I'm not ever going to try and go on to name them...


Guess I'll just sum up by says tot he OP...

Yes, a very big yes....

Dark/Ice is the most supporty combo you can probably do as a defender. You'll get 2 single target holds, a big aoe -speed, an aoe -tohit and -speed, and a single target -tohit, on top of -recharge everywhere..

Oh, and they all do damage (granted, on Freeze Ray it can be hard to notice) but in most every other case, than damage is quite nice...

The 2 sets have ton of nice synergy, too.

As for slotting advice, I'll mostly second what Rigel said, but will add that I love to get Howling Twilight and Twilight Grasp extra slots early. Mostly for recharge. HT is a great AOE stun, and if you get to thinking of it that way, you'll want it up all the time. And TG is a very nice debuff that happens to heal, so being able to lay on that power is great, too.

I would also want to get some end reduction in Darkest Night and maybe Shadowfall, too.

On the Ice side, slot most of them normally as attacks, except for Freeze Ray I'd slot as a hold, and Ice Storm, if I recall, has insane accuracy out of the box, so just slot for recharge and damage at first, and work in end reduction later or when going to IOs.

Welcome to the game, and to the ranks of defenders.



Aside: If you go back to your emp, you'll still be always in demand, even given late games lessening need for heals assuming you think of yourself like a buffer with a few heals, not as a healer with a few buffs.. But, on the healing side, I'd not neglect Absorb Pain on an Emp. In situations where a meatshield type gets into serious trouble, the other heals often aren't big enough. Absorb Pain, especially if you put some slots into it, is always a big heal..

I'd say that your opinion of Corrs was a little off base. Your one bad experience isn't one that is normally reflective of Corrs as a whole.

That said, I'd say the choice between them is going to be a tossup. It largely depends on your personality and play style.

The way I'd decide is to ask yourself, are you a Time Manipulator, who has a beam rifle, or are you a Beam Rifleman, who has some ability to manipulate time. If the former, go defender. If the latter, go with Corrupter. You'll get the powers that are more key to your concept a lot sooner that way.

Once you're in your 40s, the differences are negligible, and really come down to preference and build. Not knowing your build or preferences, it'd call it a wash at 40+.

I like any of the Judgements other than cone, too, but I think I'd go with a ranged AOE over a PBAOE on a squishie, even one that is often in melee. There will be times when the AOE is brutal in the thick of things, and for those times, Pyro or Ion will still be useful. But it is *dang* hard to knock the big damage debuff of void, I'll admit. It's just that in my experience, that when I'm parked next to a meat shield and am starting to get hammered, the offenders are usually AOEers at range, and thus the -damage won't help me much, as it won't tag the people blasting me. It really comes to to playstyle tho, between Pyro, Void, and Ion.

I'll second the vote for reactive with no reservations at all.

For Destiny, I'd pick any except barrier. Your defense should be sufficient for most situations, and your comments tend to support this.

So, Clarion. Great Mez protection. Even vs Ghost Widow. And, you can pop it while mezzed so you might not ever need BFs again. Save your Inspire slots for greens, and Oranges. And Clarion is a big boon to your squishie teammates, too, and even the not so squishie ones vs GW, Imperious, or Fear effects (which a lot of melee types don't have great protection from), or such like.

Ageless... Who doesn't like a team wide Speed Boost. And the often overlooked benefit, debuff protection. There are a lot of softcapped builds out there that vs certain enemy types suddenly aren't softcapped. Cascading defense failures still happen plenty often. They'll happen a lot less with the right Ageless...

And lastly rebirth is an extra heal (ho-hum) but a huge regen boost.A lot of extra regen is never a bad thing. Every build will like that.

So, for me, Destiny is also a total toss up. It's so close I plan to get each of them on a lot of my alts..

Note: I'm not knocking Barrier, but in my experience, the one place where you really want it (in the iTrials) I almost always find I have 2 or three on me at all times anyhow, since so many other people take it.

Which is the best buffing set?

Depends.. On what your team size and make-up is, and what you'll be facing. And if you're solo or not (which I guess is just restating 'what is your team size').

But, if you forced me to answer, I guess I'd say Empathy, if you could healing as a buff. If so, it's the only 'Buff (tm)' set. ALL of empathy is a Buff. No utility powers, no debuffs, nothing but buffs. All other def sets have some powers that that do other things. So to to even consider other sets without considering the other things they bring to the table isn't a comparison that is really worth much, in my opinion.

Yay for that!


So, now the question is, are Guardian, Justice, and Triumph still down? And is there announcement on them that I've missed? I've not had luck getting on to justice, myself, but haven't tried Guardian or Triumph.

1) Defenders
2) Scrappers

A bunch in the middle with the differences based far more on power choice or concept that AT...


And pretty much tied at the bottom of the heap

Masterminds, Blasters, Peacebringers

I frankly don't have any idea what could be done to make PBs more fun for me, personally, but I think a new secondary might do the trick for Blasters (although, I don't know what that secondary would look like) and a new Primary or Seconday or maybe even just pet skins, might be enough for me to get into a MM.

Pre level 20, I'm always looking forward to new powers. After lvl 20 I'm always begging for more slots and a power pick seems totally 'meh' until I have some slots to spend on it.. I can't count the number of builds I have where I'd gladly give away a power pick or 3 for more slots...

I'm gonna ignore a part of the OPs request and throw out a TA/AR Defender. At least through lvl 42 is pretty un-solo-able, but is awesome on teams. No defense whatsoever, but grabs aggro by the ton. With no team, faceplant city. With a team, horrible burning death (and debuff) machine.

So, if the critical point of the OPs post was pacifist, my suggestion totally isn't the answer. If the critical point is it's a Jekyll and Hyde solo to team alt, as the Title of the thread indicates, then I have a strong candidate..


I'll be slotting out Scorpion Shield and going to IOs soon, though, so I hope that changes some..

I'd go play a different game if I only wanted to play one character. I think some builds can do a lot of things very well, but no alt can do everything better than any other possible AT choice.

Even if one could, I'd probably still choose to play several alts over just one.

Yup.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=270988

Edit: Dang Mystic, beat me by seconds...

Yes.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=270988

I'd pair a Rad/Sonic Def or a Traps/Sonic Def with a scrapper of choice, or a Sonic/MM Blaster.

The duo with the melee alt will be a tad safer, but the duo with the blaster will be a LOT faster with all the extra damage and -regen and -res.

What I like about this duo is it's a 'no pets needed' duo. Won't need temp pets, or Lore pets. Just the duo alone. Should be able to start offing GMs well before 50 assuming you IO out early.

Edit: FYI, since you specifically mentioned blue side, and I didn't want to assume you wanted or were able to side swap, I limited my choices to blue side alts.. But, I don't think any other duo is going to be much better than this pair even if you opened it up red side ATs.

I've done similar. Don't recall what it was that I vendored, but I can recall I was pretty annoyed. I think given enough time, everyone will do that at least once.

I just hope I don't do it again soon.