New Dawn

practice brawler drops my endurance just as much as my most damaging attack both of which are endurance slotted. why dont people have an endurance enhancement in the practised brawler power?

afaik i could be wrong but the end use per second on my toggles stacked is half my base end recovery per second so i could get away with no end cost reduxes (which i have done but i have 1 end cost redux in them now).

3 defence slots doesnt double effectiveness i know that much but is good slotting.

i have 3 slotted my passives except quickness at the expense of not 6 slotting all my attacks. Thinking back i wonder if that was wise considering the neglible bonus i get from the additional defense slots. what do you think?

Very informative guide though, i'd never have the balls to make one. thumbs up for it.

sounds great! i like devices there is quite alot of tacts u can use. alot can take some time in the set up but quick to take out foes so it balances out well. a lot of trial and error can also go into perfecting set ups as things dont always go to plan but i do love that. its great as the unpredictableness of set ups is a big risk and getting things right is rewarding.

Shannon lvl 50 invuln/ss
Katalina lvl 50 Claws/SR (with aid self ftw)
Jaqi lvl 50 emp/psi
New Dawn lvl 41 AR/DEV blaster (wishes personal tanker played more often as has lots of ideas)

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Since i tend to avoid soloing because I think that paying to play a game like it's offline is a bit dumb,

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i had to laugh! what if u love the game but hate teaming! you guys are examples imo of their being more ways to skin a cat.

there is no uberbuild does all as you know, its nice to know (for me) how other people think, its even better for me to know there are other passionate tankers out there (cos i am most certainly one). people can post their builds with personal choice of powers from their experience and playstyle like jioazy has. whats most important is good slotting and jiaozy on his def res has good slots. jiaozy's build is a good build for doing what jiaozy likes to do most and thats take damage, i had it, different order but i had the lot except epic choice.

i normally get by with a great team, usually sticking to people i know. Inspirations are mainly a back up or if i know i am in for trouble for sure, for me mother mayhem is that trouble mostly on the outside map, indoor map nowhere near as difficult but i like to not use insps on route.

i do like those tacts unthing i always use superspeed follow knockout blow(hold) haymaker(knockback) footstomp(knockback) jab(disorient) whatever else may be needed blah blah (i think red sappers maybe my limit and i then start with hurl(range slotted) but i dont ever recall ever seeing a pink as i never had sk'd that low to a malta mission) - anyway bye bye sapper (unless i lag then its oh bleep bye bye me if i cant make good with attacks and conserve energy). i got focused accuracy and rage and 2 accs in knockout blow missing a sapper dont cross my mind but i do find i can miss with other enemies.

this topic is over for me now ive kinda bored myself lol

I look at sites on us forums (and i guess alot of ppl here do too with the amount of copycat stuff i see) but anyway as far as sustainable damage goes weave has been said to be better than resist energies and elements so why get them? There is a for and against factor and its just a matter of choice really.

As for Rularuu they dont even have to be too hard you can tank it in a way to make it alot easier the range taunt and hide to get foe group up (into an unconfined and safer area) for quick kills is the safest way. imo you cant possibly make it any safer.(okay make sure its on heroic for utmost safety).

In doing this you may come to believe you can tank anything with only main primaries for the most of the game if u wanted and have more attacks. The quick mass killing by you and the team through cones and aoes, holds, disorienting, knockbacking and stunning of foes also add to your survivability as well as the buffs/heals defenders give you and how well you keep your saved insps from being used through safe tanking until the AV. The quicker they die the less they can hurt you basically and tanking so that you dont herd the team into dangerspots does too.

or even a group hold that would be wicked and equiavalent to disorient aoe from handclap which can be a good timebuyer. Perhaps frozen aura would be better encasing foes in ice for 10 secs i find the sleep idea on a tanker just weak and pointless atm.

i was reading that thinking dark epic for claws and super reflex i can see the logic and man u know how to slot until i saw that eviscerate had no end redux and evasion had 3 that left me confused. Also i find claws to have not the greatest of accuracies at times so somit more than 1 accuracy slot is nice. But most importantly id definately move 1 of the end reduxes from evasion to eviscerate and make a heavy attack of choice more accurate. Its eviscerate that is the most damaging so thatll be my choice.

I would say from experience of fighting regens, fitness gives you an edge i find regens with fitness tend to be noticeably tougher. id choose fitness over fighting pool if i was a regen.

no i still had rage and weave, i had the lot! im just saying i found it a great build for most of the game.

hmm looks like a build i used to have as far as your defenses and resistances go (without ever losing REl and REn or unstoppable) well close enough for me to know its good points and bad anyway. i will only say this though "there is alot more than sustainable damage to worry about". However i did like the build i had for most of the game content it was great.

imo teamspeak has good and bad points, good point - instant communication, bad point - you can get people drolling on about politics or something you may find offensive etc. However as a defender i dont wait for people to call "zzz" i clearmind ppl whenever the last clearmind drops or before.

If i havent reclearminded you i maybe in a situation when i cant do a thing, (this is possibly with another defender having clear opportunity to cm me beforehand, - i dont expect to have to type zzzz to a defender or type at all whilst i am in a mission). I am not a frontline healer this is to limit how much looking after i may need and i can spot heal mostly anyway. Only if the tanker has herded the team into danger or wasnt allowed to properly aggro manage i then may have to flyby heal aura. I prefer flybys to keep my frontline healing (where i am in most danger of aoes mezzes etc) and my personal need for cm to a minimum.

I'd say i am 20% watching the game because i am 80% reading the buffs - if u havent got clearmind i already know about it and you will get it as soon as i can give it to you without you asking for it, but i can only give it when i get a chance cos healing others comes first. So saying "zzzzz" to me is a waste of time whilst i have to concentrate on heals. These people saying "zzzz" to me are "always" the ones who never waited for buffs. I have an order of priority - defender - controller - blaster - scrapper (for perception/fear mainly) - tanker (for perception/fear mainly).

If other defenders were reading buffs to know who has what and who needs what and tries to give it to them as soon as they can i wouldnt need to type zzz or use teamspeak etc and id be able to just get on with my job as a defender.i dont like to have to type to ask for cm as a defender (to type may cost a life). Also if you sent me a tell it may well be ignored as i dont like to reply.

i think the lower levels is where u may find taunt and it only hitting 5 at a time very useful. As for attacks get very few (i had 2 plus taunt till 22 on respec for ED) as you may well find yourself needing stamina for the big attacks anyway leaving you more open to getting key defenses and fitness asap plus a travel power.

I have been looking at other tanker sets a bit to try to imagine what i would think lacks fairness.

It could be judged as fair changing frozen aura to an ice sword circle OR even Greater ice sword circle. Sleeping groups around a tanker in a team is a pointless attack 99% of the time i say 99% incase your teamed with people with no cones etc (which imoafaik is never) or you primaries break the sleep anyway. i have a mind controller and mass sleep is just an battle calmer if we are overwhelmed. 10ft frozen aura pbaoe is way less than mass hypnosis 25ft+ though.

Frozen aura can ("i guess a little") be a something of a power to prevent ambushes from being too bad but so can ice patch be and ice patch has a greater area of effect. Like i say most sleeps are immediately broken by mr trigger happy on the team. Also ambushes can be avoided using taunt to move groups from their spawn point.

Never seeing an ice melee tanker with frozen aura myself says two things - i may be inaccurate of my idea of this being a poor lvl 38 power to give the tankers ice melee set.

I do imagine its a poor power that you can easily live without and for most people may not of really achieved anything really useful in the game i cant see it being in balanced for usefulness like other other tanker secondaries in short atm.

Has anyone used it in pve or pvp anyway?

i do know its one of the easiest ones to get bored with as it seems to be a one trick pony and alot peoples fire/ice builds are very very similar in build. your lvl 38 power is said to be a pointless waste on a firetank as you only wake them up again. Throughout most of the game there is great benefit from the fact you have great shields like fire shield and plasma shield plus knockbacks on the ice patch.

no this thread is i have teamed with many people who dont offer a fellow defender clearmind

im a bit like cybercel with heal aura except i use superspeed i can be in and out long before the heals actually happen (fly by healing type thing), and i only need to press "w" and "3" and then "s" to do it or just pass by. There is no need to be sat in the middle of a group getting aoe'd or coned ever unless the your tanker has herded into a confined space in which i case i say thats very wrong. Another thing is what happens if it goes of when the team doesnt need it and then suddenly they do? You have to wait for it to recharge still you could lose anyone. I'd much rather move my finger the 1 centremetre across the keyboard and use it or even bind caps lock to set it off with my little finger.

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do u know how many times i have been on ur team btw? nice lvl 51 tyrant the other night i got great pics

[/ QUOTE ]Yep, I know, I was with my troller tho..
i was with the tanker when we faced Mayhem and there were 3 tanks and a scrapper overtaunting each other!LoL!

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duh! your trollers called jiaozy thats how i knew! playing tennis with an av aint a bad thing as long as the direction of the av's attacks dont go towards the rest of the team. taunting with your back to the team can be very bad.

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@ Shannon:Sad but true, often in pug it happens to be the one that has to recover the aggro from the random troller that tried to stun the whole mob while u were fighting another one, the random flying healer that aggroes the catwalk behind him without noticing and such..
But that's what make a tanker really good, dealing with such problems, nonetheless, a tanker really shines when he's the one to take the aggro and manage it from the beginning of the fight.

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yeah also having other tankers in team can cause problems like attracting more than other team members can handle without using insps (which are best saved for a final AV imo) and then when it comes to recovery it can be a nightmare. This is why alot of tanks dont like another tank in a team. I dont mind myself as long as one tanker takes point and stays point, the other can act kind of like my scrapper who has had taunt since lvl12 because of good tanking routines spoilt. why people fail to wait for a herd to be moved to a safer area and into a closer group for cones and aoes is beyond me. other lvl 50's really should know better. I'd rather be the sole tank at the end of the day with a good team that allows me to get to my herdpoints and create faster kills at safe range.

do u know how many times i have been on ur team btw? nice lvl 51 tyrant the other night i got great pics

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The biggest problem I feel that empaths have is that the damage is nerfed because you cant 5 slot it. So damage went from very low to nothing. And there by you lost all real soloing ability. You can still do it but it takes a hell of a long time.

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i personally make a point of getting some of a defenders missions done if i have them on a team no matter what level it is this is because defenders are the most unsoloable afaik and missions especially ones that are timed are an absolute nightmare for them.

The primary on my defender is an empath primary and therefore a team orientated primary. my lvl 50 has lvl 40 arcs left on her i never really bothered to solo her as she isnt really meant to solo. Her being so far behind shows that alot of people dont even think of picking a defenders mission as they are often low xp leaving the defender to clean up later in their own time which is unfair imo.

There are certain arcs that i feel are very important to a defender one being the stephanie peebles arc for wedding band lvl 20-25 its great for them later on in things like hydra and clockwork king etc or anytime they are compromised and need to be still standing they can toggle on and toggle off to keep the usage time down and the their toon alive. Alot of the time if a defender (empath in particular) goes down the rest of the team follow which is why the defender should attract as little aggro as possible and its cool to help them get that wedding band incase they do.

If many defenders could solo easier would they team? or play for badges and solo? It could be a no win situation for teams.

I think what would be nice if people helped the defenders out with a couple of missions a lot more often. Personally having one of every other AT I have the defender alot more unsoloable and way more tedious trying. I dont enjoy helping a blaster 20 lvls lower on a totally doable mission solo and i think they should be with their own level anyway but when it comes to defenders i really dont mind at all. Just as long as people dont think thats all i come on the game for (ie log on as shannon - instant tell "are u doin dreck?" or "can u help me to lvl 50 plzzz" kind of thing).

Post deleted by SHANNON

Oh i know u do Kah i teamed with u just once way back May or June on a synapse TF good defending doesnt get forgotten!!

yep rage to your attacks is what unstoppable is to your defence adding the kill before being killed element. u can be so damaging a hero that u have no need for defence if u think about it. for example a red sapper could drop my endurance and drop my toggles in a group had it not been for all my disorients, holds and knockbacks and their durations during my attack cycles. its not a question of what u use, its how u use it that counts.

At the end of the day being a good tanker doesnt come from a build it comes from a playstyle, and that changes with different enemies. A good tanker imo tries to make it so no one else gets hit. Standing there taking damage very well whilst everyone on your team is getting hit doesnt make a one a good tanker imo. However especially on pick up teams a tanker may not be allowed to tank and most often ends up trying to recover aggro rather than gaining complete control first.

omg this has to be said "one of the most important people u can give powers like clearmind to on a team is the other defender" as soon as it runs out or before.

Its as if there is quite a few defenders out there would like to see the other defender die or miss heals, whatever i dont believe that "i wanna prove i am the better defender" should exist either. But ive seen this way too often too many times. i'm not accusing anyone or everyone I just hope that anyone who may of never realised might get the idea.

I got a 50 empath called jaqi and ED hasnt phased me one bit i am not upset or put off in anyway, my empath completely unpowerlevelled (if in dreck i was sk'd to tank if not within 3 lvls) got to 50 faster than anyother of my toons but there was alot of defenders out there that found it hard to get teams. It was hard for them to feel important and levelled slowly, they missed out on badges and had to solo their own missions on a poor secondary power (1/6th weaker than it would be primary perhaps and poorly slotted) because of only a lucky few were in demand.

But now teams are starting to have 1 or 2 or even 3 defenders i have found. Defenders are important again!

When it comes to healing i usually find the situation is bad only when the team is bad (obviously usually only pick up teams)or at a point in a mission someone causes chaos thru being in the wrong place at the wrong time (their fault). If everyone moved a certain way thru a mission and positioned themselves around an AV a certain way a defenders life can go back almost to being pretty easy again.

Most important thing is this "a defender is a lot more of a necessity to a team" and there are so many things a people can do compensate for the changes.

If u are happy with that and it works for you then great i personally have completely different ideas due to what suits me, i did have air superiority once i had to respec it out of me quick, hurl is equal to haymaker for damage plus additional range just a bit slower thats all. I have had tough and weave but with the primaries being mainly smash and lethal anyway and not every enemy attacking with slash and lethal attacks anyway i opted for more attacks. I have holds and disorients plugged in my build cos i like to be able to own sappers for myself at lvl 40. Every tank could be tanking +3 or +4 AV's depending on the AV and their type of tank and team make up.

Also its good to go in with a good inspiration tray and not have to use any of it during the mission on the way to the AV as this is helps to make life a whole lot easier. So trying to be as careful as u can on route to the AV can also play a key factor in complete success.

i personally believe that getting all the primaries and secondaries solely and playing to their strengths is good enough to get a job done. But as long as u slot right (which in the case of your primaries u have) u have a good tank and the recharge on taunt is bang on enough. When u get rage be sure to add taunts into invincible u may not be able to attack but atleast u have additional taunting power whilst doing nothing. i will only use rage on certain av's and at certain times.