Obitus
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Quote:Well, there are any number of approaches possible, and any number of preferred farming environments. Perhaps my recent experience has exaggerated the importance of boss farms, because those are the only so-called farming maps I've run recently.Originally Posted by Kruunch
While you're technically correct due to HPs only, I wouldn't say this is precisely true and in many circumstances far from true. The reason being is that most farming Blasters are going to have Hover/Fly and any Blaster that is running soft capped S/L, will have the ranged advantage over Scrappers which adds quite a bit to survivability. From a pure farming standpoint.
That said, if you're not fighting something that will melt in the first salvo, then the fully ranged approach may run into problems keeping the mobs in place for easy AoEing.
Mostly I was looking at the question from the perspective of the two builds the poster specifically mentioned -- Fire/Fire and Fire/Mental. Both have compelling reasons to enter melee range, the former because one of his best AoE powers is a melee power, and the latter both because his second (or third, depending on how you look at it) best AoE attack is in melee, and because Drain Psyche, the +regen/+recovery power mentioned, is PBAoE.
My theory, in short, is you almost have to choose S/L DEF over ranged to maximize AoE damage potential for farming, because if you pick an exclusively S/L-damage mission, then you're covered from all positions. Also, if you are going to dash back and forth from melee to cone range for maximum AoE DPS, then flying is less efficient than jumping or running.
The flaws in the S/L +DEF approach, for non-farming scenarios -- and these were foremost in my mind when I wrote the quote you cited -- are that:
A) Nearly half of your DEF shuts off when you're mezzed, because you're relying heavily on an APP toggle power.
B) By the same token, any time you join a team doing exemplared content, you're likely to lose nearly half your DEF.
C) Apropos of SynergyX's theory, you cannot layer meaningful amounts of RES underneath your S/L DEF on such a Blaster build, because the choice of the Cold APP Shield precludes you from taking the Fire, Force, or Electrical shields.
Thus, for the general game, I would, and have, gone with the all-ranged, ranged-soft-cappd, Hovering Blaster -- and I agree it's a very solid choice, but it isn't without its holes. As with the previous poster, though, I don't think there's any definitive way to prove whether the range advantage compensates for the much more robust collection of mitigation powers offered to Scrappers -- and an all-ranged Blaster almost always pays a significant opportunity cost, because many of Blasters' best attacks are melee.
Either way, while we can debate the relative survivability of tricked out Blaster builds and SO Scrapper builds -- there should't be any question that equivalently tricked out Scrapper builds are far, far sturdier.
Yeah, and you can come close on some Controllers/Defenders, after a fashion. I guess what those builds do wouldn't be fully analogous to tanking as the term is technically understood, but in a pinch such a build can carry even a bad team.Quote:I agree in that you can't make a Tanker replacement Blaster, whereas you can with certain Scrapper builds for virtually all other content.
Part of the reason I like PuGs, despite the bad rap they get on the forums. I like trying to turn lemons into lemonade. -
Quote:I was just clarifying. I didn't mean to imply that somehow you had badly built your Scrapper, or that your general point about farming builds was wrong.Originally Posted by SinergyX_EU
Thats why i said 'my scrapper'. My BS/fire is only SO slotted, and where i have the money some normal crafted IO's. No sets, no purples, no nothing. Kinda like a pre-IO scrapper. So i have no defense, okish resist but thats about it. Getting too much damage, and without healing flames i'm pretty much dead. (where the blaster had backup from shield/tough, if a hit went through his 60ish% resist would take the hit).
So if I gave either impression, I apologize.
It was just a matter of clearing up for anyone who might read your otherwise accurate post the matter of over-arching balance. Farming build have always, and I suspect will always, exist -- and as long as there's even one extremely effective farming build, it doesn't strike me as a balance problem that others can do it too, with imaginative use of IO set bonuses.
For general purpose play, a Blaster set up specifically for farming isn't going to be the best choice. I'm personally toying with the idea right now of tricking out an alternate build on my Fire/Ment specifically for farming, just to see how well I can make it perform, but you can bet I won't be ditching the current build, because it's about 200% better for most any TF I do, and it's about 1000% more exemplar friendly for those TFs which require exemplaring.
Your experiences are entirely valid, and accurate for what they're worth. The only thing I'd say about your specific case -- with the non-IOed BS/Fire Scrap -- is that Fiery Aura is about as weak as they come, by default. I'd still take it, narrowly, over a soft-capped ranged or S/L DEF Blaster in general play, because it has mez protection -- but at that point we're spliting hairs, and no one can demonstrate with any authority what particular form of mitigation is most important over a wide range of playstyles. The basic gist of my point was only to mention that a Scrapper, even without IOs, will tend to have many fewer holes in his protections.
And so I made that case, in my typically over-verbose manner.
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Quote:A Fire/Fire Blaster (or really, any Blaster, but particularly anything Fire/* or */Fire) cannot "stay alive even better than" a well-built Scrapper -- except in isolated circumstances. You can, for instance, cap out S/L DEF on such a Blaster fairly easily (relying largely on Frozen Armor from the Cold Mastery EPP), but the second you head into content that presents different challenges, you're mortal again -- still better off by far than your basic Blaster, but nowhere near as sturdy as your average Scrapper, much less an equivalently tricked-out one.Originally Posted by SinergyX_EU
Imho the flaw IO's have made, getting location defence is so freaking easy, every man and his dog can make a 'farmer' AT. Even good old fire/fire blasters nowadays can ditch out huge ammount of damage and stay alive even better then my scrapper. Even got better with the new /psi set and that regen thingie.
The IO system is actually rather elegant in that sense; the devs appear to have intentionally deprived characters with lots of targeted AoE powers of meaningful +DEF bonuses. If you want to keep the powers themselves useful -- which after all would be half the point of playing such a character in the first place -- then you have to do what amounts to wasting slots, which could be used to pick up more +DEF bonuses, on them.
DEF bonuses appear to be concentrated within melee sets (both offensive and defensive), and within control or debuff effect sets. Same thing goes for procs, interestingly.
My Controller, as an example -- an Ice/Storm -- can achieve very nearly soft-cap DEF to both ranged and AoE attacks, and still maintain a very nice global +recharge (67.5%, IIRC). By contrast, my Fire/Mental Blaster can only soft-cap ranged DEF, or S/L DEF --not both, mind -- without making obscene build sacrifices elsewhere.
The main intrinsic, overall difference between the two characters, of course, is that the Controller is only capable of high offense in very limited circumstances, whereas the Blaster is a death machine.
IO +DEF bonuses are a very, very nice supplement for those people who want a more resilient squishy, but for general play, there are enough challenges in the game which either degrade or bypass entirely the defenses you can realistically achieve on most squishy builds.
All in all, I believe that melee ATs still are most elegible for the have-their-cake-and-eat-it-too award, even if a Fire Blaster can be crafted specifically for farming a particular mission.
Good call.Quote:So my choice remains fire/ss, ss/fire brute, claw or spine/fire scrapper. -
Quote:Why do you assume that Fire/Kins can't be softcapped?Originally Posted by Godlike_NA
fire/kins are squishy. my main is fire/ff/earth troller and can solo 8 man invincible demons. kills almost as fast as a fire/kin as well the way i have him built, but plays like a tank as he's softcapped. i do have two fire/kins as well, both with six sets of purples in them, but prefer to play my fire/ff's more.
All else being equal, a Fire/Kin will kill roughly twice as fast as a Fire/FF Controller. Might turn out to be a little less in practice, because travel time and whatnot degrade the advantage from Fulcrum Shift -- but by the numbers, you're looking at attacks enhanced for ~200% damage versus attacks FS'ed to ~400% damage.
The FF has mez protection, which is nice in a general sense, but not particularly important for farming -- which allows you to choose non-mezzy enemies if you desire. What is helpful for farming is Transfusion, a power for which FF has no analog.
Thus, if anything, the Fire/Kin is a good deal less squishy than the Fire/FF when you're on a non-mezz farming map.
I suspect your Fire/Kins seem squishy to you because either you want a more generalized play experience (understandable), or you concentrated a little too much on those sexy purples to the detriment of other, cheaper sets which provide +DEF (specifically S/L DEF). -
Quote:The point of farming is to maximize xp or inf per minute, as you yourself imply. That's it.Originally Posted by Coldmed
ill be glad to watch you die in my mission krunnch...but i think its funny that your advice is worthless when you dont even HAVE one..at least my experience is from actual EXPERIENCE...not just random talk from you you "think"
and like i said....its not a regular mish..its not boss farming...its just minions and lts.
but youll soon find out for yourself son.
hope your up for the palace too....cause we going there as well...
[snip]
one is a.e...2nd is storm palace..and ill come up with a 3rd one as well...farmers challenage it'll be called.
[snip]
this is about farming or p.ling..the POINT of it...is to lvl as fast as possible not get drops.which is why lots of people use a.e. farming...its just simply faster then boring old safe slow missions
Farming Fire/Kins are not built to survive the greatest variety of content; on the contrary, they're designed almost exclusively around a fairly narrow type of encounter. Most don't even have damage slotted in their attacks, because they're counting on full groups to power Fulcrum Shift. Frankly, it's not a build that I (and I'm sure many others) would have any interest in playing in any non-farming setting.
The Storm Palace and your cherry picked mission have zero to do with maximizing xp/inf per unit time. All that matters is whether the Fire/Kin (or whatever build) can beat your character's best rate of inf/exp earnings; even if it's only in one mission, even if you run circles around him in every other context -- as long as his best earning rate on that one map is better than your best earning rate on any map -- then you lose a farming challenge.
As someone else pointed out, anyone can craft an AE mission to frustrate a given build. No one has ever claimed that Fire/Kins are the best characters to face any challenge in the game.
Now I personally don't have a dog in this hunt; I don't farm much. But I can't imagine how any Tanker build can beat a well-built Fire/Kin for sheer inf/minute. The numbers just don't seem to add up.
I've no doubt that you're fast -- and beyond a certain point at the high end of farm builds, maybe it doesn't make any practical difference who's faster. I'd be happily proven wrong, but I don't see your responses thus far as the slightest bit instructive.
You make no attempt to explain your tactics; instead you rush to challenge Kruunch to a farming duel, which I'm sure would be entertaining to watch, but which you also appear to be stacking artificially in your build's favor. -
Quote:The presentation of rational arguments to weigh the various build options available does not constitute some sort of thuggish attempt to enforce a universal status quo.Originally Posted by Shannon_EU
If everyone adhered to this guide, it could have most people playing by the same rules, with the same builds, left with the same issues and like many people, never thinking outside of the box that is, what some people are stuck in. For the completely stupid it would of most likely of helped them to get on in game better than they would of and so it is from my own perspective..a good guide!
Nor should it be the purpose of every build thread to force an unequivocal resolution to all disagreements; at some point, sane people have to let the reader decide -- not because they necessarily agree to disagree, not because all opinions, no matter how thin their substantiation, are equally valid, but rather, because if a person is rational, then s/he must, by definition, realize that the subject of any thread in a game forum isn't a worthwhile cause over which to fight unto death.
There are reasonable points of contention, and it is certainly possible that any two of a given collection of alternative power picks and slotting options -- particularly in the age of IO sets -- are equally valuable to different playstyles.
But it is not constructive to dwell on the blindingly obvious, to spend endless hours contemplating the meaning of the word "is," or to summon outrage because an entirely unsubstantiated and/or obviously absurd opinion of yours isn't being given the equal respect it deserves. There's respect in debate, and then there's the realization that the person most loudly demanding respect is actually the one who bestows it least. -
Quote:Heh, yeah, I mentioned the western world (perhaps another unnecessary qualification) because I firmly believe that we are victims of our own success. Poorer people, harder people, don't have the luxury of intellectual masturbation -- which isn't to say that they're unreservedly superior thinkers; rather, they waste less time thinking about irrelevancies when they do have the (likely rare) free moment to think.Originally Posted by Enantiodromos
Thanks!
It may or may not be limited to the western world, but a lot of it can be pinned on wealth and the luxury of being able to pretend all things are true, even the contradictory ones 9_6.
The other thing that strikes me as fascinating is that the movement in question doesn't, at its heart, value all opinions equally. The whole notion is intrinsically and irrefutably absurd -- a precept that renders its very own presumed purpose (unfettered discourse) pointless. It's an elaborate ruse, really, designed -- whether intentionally or not -- to grind our thoughts into utter meaninglessness.
It's nihilism disguised as free thought -- which any clear thinker understands to be an entirely different concept. The right to have your opinion is the not synonymous with the right to have your opinion go unchallenged. Quite the opposite, in fact.
As usual, you're more far more succinct than I am.Quote:Since writing this guide I've taken more and more to saying things like: "When two people disagree, it means at least one of them is wrong," as well as "People deserve compassion. Beliefs, criticism. They're NEVER the same thing."
Absolutely. The more things change, the more they stay the same. What's especially amusing to me is that the AT forums (where these questions are most often asked) have their own, very clear, over-arching context. That is, people who go there to ask questions can be presumed to have some sort of empirical answer in mind; they're the people who are most concerned (in discussion, if not in actual play) with what is objectively optimal, because those forums are implicitly dedicated to the subject of game mechanics -- not how cool your costume is, not what's your favorite color -- game mechanics.Quote:I feel as though a lot of time gets spent even today, on the forums, raking over "yes, but somebody likes it," when the salient conversataion is "how well does this work [among the finite alternatives]?"
Otherwise, why even bother differentiating each forum by Archetype? If everything's subjective, then it stands to reason that there would be no need to offer readers the opportunity to sift through the forum in search of a particular area of expertise.
Even if you're a pure-concept type guy, the dude who only uses Flurry and Sands of Mu because it doesn't make sense that his speedster would do anything else, chances are that you're in the AT discussion forum asking what's best so that you have a better understanding of the options you may or may not choose to ignore. If intentionally playing against a build's strengths is someone's cup of tea, then I don't begrudge them that, but on some level, at some point, the overwhelming majority pay to play this game as it was designed to be played, and even the gleefully contrarian must occasionally be curious as to what they're missing there -- or at the very least, how much more difficult they're making the game for themselves.
In any case, I do ramble. This is one of those rare cases in which I wish I'd been around for the original debate.
Points for you, sir! -
Quote:/necropostOriginally Posted by Enantiodromos
You're cutting a great example of "communication is impossible!"
For obvious reasons, that's scarcely ever a very useful position to take.
Bravo. A blow to the great equivocators on this forum and on forums everywhere -- lamentably a non-mortal blow, but an unusually well-crafted one.
Everything is not always relative. All opinions are not equally valid simply because we all have an equal right to hold them. Debating the literal meaning of a question when the intention behind it is staring you in the face is not a useful exercise; in fact, if anything, it is precisely the widespread habit of our forum-goers to grind into dust every ephemeral and irrelevant issue that drives new people away from our little community, here.
Somewhere along the line, we all of us -- here in the forum, and out in the wider western world -- have become mealy mouthed dimwits, qualifying everything we say, parsing to the merest syllable everything anyone else says, very nearly to the point at which all is incoherent. Our language, our very thoughts are under assault from the remarkably (and ironically) monolithic movement of relativism.
So thank you. My only regret is that we can't post a context-appropriate version of your guide in every internet forum, and in the offices of every media outlet. I can't blame all of the offenders too terribly much; after having one's every word parsed, it's only natural after a time to become a little paranoid -- feeling the need to supply unnecessary qualifications for everything in the (vain) hope of (trying to) head off some of the inevitable, excrutiating, and pointless examinations. I've been guilty of it myself more often than I'd care to admit.
Still, your reminder is welcome, and an amusing, if sad, read.
/necropost -
Quote:IOing out a Scrapper to the extent that they typically do on the Scrapper forum is not "not that hard." We're talking builds requring multiple sets of purples, and in many cases assuming the PvP +DEF IO.Originally Posted by _Deth_
But let's face facts here, IO'ed out brutes and scrappers are not that uncommon. IOing a toon out is not hard, nor that expensive, especially with a little planning. By the time GR comes out, IO'ed scrappers and brutes will be the norm, not the exception.
Not that it can't be done, but the vast majority of people who do IO out characters are going to settle for cheaper builds. While it's true that defensive bonuses are typically cheaper than offensive ones, it's also true that a Scrapper who concentrates on +DEF to the detriment of other bonuses generally will not have world-beating offense.
Not just because he'll lack the global +recharge for the best attack chains, or because he'll lose the opportunity to slot multiple procs -- but also because the enhancement values on many of his most important powers will be in some way sub-optimal.
I think you're under-estimating just how much easier it is to add meaningful amounts of defensive bonuses to a Tanker than it is to add them to a Scrapper.
As to the rest of what you've said, you imply if not explicitly state some innaccuracies in support of your case. Brutes' defenses are, all else being equal, the same as Scrappers'; their caps and their hps are higher. Also, since the game has gone live, there haven't been any wholesale Tanker-damage nerfs, unless you're referring to the Burn changes, or ED, as some sort of holistic offensive nerf to the AT.
Tankers' AT damage modifier was actually raised at one point, from (IIRC) 0.71 to 0.8. Before that, IIRC, several Tanker powers which had been designed around primarily control (like KO Blow) were given huge damage.
All of that said, I do agree on one point: Brutes are, IMO, the best melee AT in the game; assuming they can maintain a decent amount of Fury, they're more sturdy Scrappers and have access to what are, in isolation, generally superior (formerly Tanker-only) attack sets. No AT is going to die out because Brutes are available to both sides, though -- any more than Defenders died out because of all the theory to support the overall superiority of Controllers.
Speaking of Defenders and Controllers and all other squishy ATs, the fact remains that Tankers don't appear to understand just how good they have it. It was true in Issue 1, and it's true now. The sort of attitude displayed by some posters in this thread is unattractive, I think, to many people, because it evokes memories of the worst Tanker-primadonna mindset that has ever plagued this forum and the in-game environment.
I've been in groups where the Tanker was poorly built and/or incompetently played, too -- but that is by no means a Tanker-only trend, and it doesn't speak to the relative ability of each AT to survive and attract aggro.Quote:I have been on teams already with scrappers that can more than hold their own against the average tank. I have been in groups where the group leader actually told the tank NOT to take lead and let the scrapper do it. Now, if I were the tank in said group, I would have told them were to stick it, and went on my merry way. This is a serious issue.
This (whatever this is, exactly) is not a serious issue. There is no general trend among the playerbase to replace Tankers with Scrappers; in fact, in the AE, Tankers are more desirable than they've been in years.
If you exclusively run in SG-only teams where everyone knows one another and everyone is well built, then you can make a lot of cases -- that grouped buff/debuff trivializes everything else, that Scrappers are better than Tankers, that Blasters are better for teams than Scrappers, and on and on. Perhaps my perceptions are different, though, because I play primarily on PuGs when I do group; the unpredictability is fun to me.
And for what it's worth, I've never seen so many Tanker-reliant teams, or so many Scrapper face plants, as I've seen recently. Many of the Scrapper faceplants seem to occur when the aggro cap is invoked, in fact -- which, oddly enough, points to the aggro cap as an incentive to recruit a second Tanker. When you're fighting whole (huge) spawns of bosses, almost everything Tankers routinely complain about -- Scrapper survivability, the efficacy of hard controls -- goes right out the window, barring huge IO investments on the part of everyone except the Tanker.
The larger picture shows that Tankers are in no danger as a species. -
Quote:I have 110 endurance on my Controller, and every time I've seen a proc message in the chat log (which is rare, because I'm usually not on that window), it says 10 endurance, not 11.Originally Posted by Sarrate
Are you trying to say that the proc scales with max end? I'm almost positive it is a static 10 end regardless of what your max end is. According to City of Data, the end infusion uses the Melee_Ones table.
You could be right, and if so, could you provide evidence to prove it? (It's also possible I misread your post, in which case I apologize.)
Will double check again later, when I can log in to the game -- but I really don't think the proc scales with max end. -
Quote:What do you mean by "90% of the farms in A.E?" In my experience, the most popular farms are comprised of bosses who deal S/L damage exclusively.Originally Posted by Coldmed
not true at all..
in the ae fire/kins cant do half of what fire tanks can do....
maybe regular farms they can do as good but not in the a.e....in 90% of the farms in a.e. they would die within seconds.
And in those missions, a Fire/Kin Controller kicks the crap out of just about any other single build, sad as I am to say it. Soft-capped S/L DEF and a fast-recharging uber heal handles survivability, and Fulcrum + Hotfeet + Cages + Fissure/Frost Breath/Ice Storm handle damage.
Sure, that build is very much purpose-built; any time it strays into predominantly exotic-damage (or mez-heavy) content, it will show its glass jaw, and the slotting used in those builds is generally sub-optimal for any low-target encounter -- but if all you want to do is grind for influence as fast as possible, then the only way to beat such a purpose-built Fire/Kin is to play hardcore market games.
Personally, it's not my style. -
Quote:There are no hard and fast rules. You can certainly do boss farms without a Tanker, but from a random PuG perspective, a Tanker is probably the single most desirable AT for that task. No other single AT is likely to provide as much stability as a Tanker does.Originally Posted by Kruunch
(I'll try not to mention that we do full spawn L52 boss farms without any Tankers right now ... oh drat).
(A Kin is always nice too, but unfortunately that's not an Archetype.)
I was basically tanking them last night on my Controller for a very sorry team last night -- but my Controller has several billion influence invested. By contrast, my lightly IOed Tanker (who, unfortunately, resides on a different server) can provide more safety and efficiency and it's easier to play.
Regardless, I was speaking to the general desirability of a given AT. When you don't know what exactly to expect from a random person you recruit onto a PuG, you're forced (to some extent, at least) to profile based on AT.
Lifting the aggro cap would indeed diminish the desirability of multiple Tanker teams -- at least for those in the know. Whether it would have any kind of significant effect on the recruiting trends of the playerbase as a whole, I can't say. Probably not.Quote:But yeah you're totally on target ... lifting the agro cap won't diminish this ... in fact I could see 3 and 4 Tanker teams (or even all Tanker teams) coming into vogue (more of the stuff and grins factor then any form of efficiency). That's why I said I don't see Tanker stackability now or later as an issue.
Either way, it's not going to happen. In politics and in game design, the perception of a given act is often more important than the act itself; I'd eat my hat if the devs consented to do anything that would be perceived as returning us to the old days of herding.
I'm not sure what result you desire from such a change. On the one hand you say that you can build a Scrapper who can tank -- implying that the Tanker Archetype on the whole needs a boost in desirability -- and on the other hand, you agree with me that Scrappers in general can't tank in the AE environment.
You also appear to agree with my point that Tankers are about as desirable as they've been in recent memory. If that's the case, then what problem are we seeking to address here? -
Quote:Split tanking is desirable in almost any PuG AE Boss mission. There are simply way too many people who don't know about (or can't grasp) the notion of an aggro cap -- and many of those maps have overlapping spawns.Originally Posted by Kruunch
I've rarely add another Tanker with the idea of handling over the agro cap. More times then not, its just another Tanker that answers a "Team LFM" global.
In the few spots in this game where split tanking is desireable (i.e. Reichsman and the AV adds), the agro cap doesn't effect this.
Yes it would encourage herding again. I don't consider this a bad thing ... in fact I always though it was one of the positive things that seperated CoH from other MMOs.
Short of heavily IOed builds, there also aren't any Scrappers who can be reasonably expected to tank those missions.
In short, in the very environment you seem most prone to enjoy, Tankers are more useful now than they've been in a very, very long time. Singular tankers, multiple tankers -- all more useful.
Now I have to get back to working on my explain-the-aggro-cap macro... -
Another note on this:
Quote:(Emphasis mine.)Not being snarky here. Just that my build-fu is weak sometimes and I've yet to see a WP tank with numbers like you can get on a Stoner with a comparable build budget.
If you're comparing the ability of a WP to make huge gains in survivability through IOs to the ability of the Stoner to compensate for Granite's penalties through IOs -- then in my experience, your statement is exactly opposite to the market reality.
Global recharge bonuses tend to be more expensive than typed DEF bonuses, at least when you try to stack either one to truly impressive levels. Once you start talking about multiple LotGs and purple attack sets, you're talking multiple billions on the current market.
By contrast, while Kinetic Combat IOs are relatively low in supply and high in price, the last time I looked you weren't looking at more than about 20 million for the one or two rarer recipies in the set. Personally, I was able to snag three sets recently on my INV simply by placing multiple bids and waiting patiently; I paid no more than 3 million for a single recipe.
(With double XP weekend having just ended, though, I expect Kinetic Combats are very hard to come by, right now.)
None of the builds we typically discuss on these forums is exactly cheap, but some are a lot cheaper than others. Cost isn't often given much consideration in these discussions, and it probably should be.
Either way, while it's true that a WP build can never quite compete with an equally tricked out Granite in terms of (non-psi) survivability, it's also true that a Stone Tanker has to pay more to compensate for Granite's offensive penalties, and receives less relative benefit from doing so than does the WP who IOs for defense.
Both approaches have merit; for one thing, the Stoner who IOs for huge +recharge retains the option to drop Granite and play situational offensive juggernaut -- but I feel pretty comfortable in guessing that a larger number of players would rather keep the qualitative advantages of WP.
Unless, of course, they don't intend to IO heavily -- in which case each build's role is very much more distinct. -
Quote:Threw this together kind of haphazardly. Take it for what it's worth, but it's not all that difficult to come up with a WP Tanker build with enough survivability for 99% of the game's content.Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
???
With this build, YES, there's a lot of mitigation for Granite's weaknesses (Primarily recharge).
Decent Damage (Half the attacks are at ~90% augmentation, the other half are at 99%).
Excellent Accuracy (equivalent to two L50 common IOs)
Excellent Regen
Excellent Recovery
Enough Recharge to enjoy a small recharge bonus in Granite WITHOUT Hasten.
Hasten.
Conserve Power.
Slow Resistance
Soft-Capped on all Typed defenses (Save Psi). One small purple puts you in "tanking TB'ed Lord Recluse" range.
Downsides:
1: No damage-booster power (Build Up).
2: Expensive doesn't begin to describe it.
Can you show me a comparable build profile on a WP tank? Or one that's even defense capped?
Not being snarky here. Just that my build-fu is weak sometimes and I've yet to see a WP tank with numbers like you can get on a Stoner with a comparable build budget.
F/C DEF are only at 43%, but really, the number of attacks in this game which are typed solely as Fire or Cold is vanishingly small. S/L/E/N are much bigger priorities.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Natural Tanker
Primary Power Set: Willpower
Secondary Power Set: Super Strength
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- Numna-Heal(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(9), Numna-Heal/Rchg(9)
Level 1: Jab -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7)
Level 2: Fast Healing -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(11), Numna-Heal(11), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(15)
Level 4: Haymaker -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), F'dSmite-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(17)
Level 6: Boxing -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(42), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(42), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42)
Level 8: Indomitable Will -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(46), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(50), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx(50)
Level 10: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(48), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(48)
Level 12: Quick Recovery -- P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(A), P'Shift-EndMod(13), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(13), P'Shift-End%(15)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(43), Zephyr-ResKB(50)
Level 16: Rise to the Challenge -- Numna-Heal(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(37), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 18: Mind Over Body -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-EndRdx(19), RctvArm-ResDam(19), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(21), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(21)
Level 20: Knockout Blow -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(23), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(23), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(29), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), F'dSmite-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 22: Heightened Senses -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(31), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(33), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx(33)
Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(25), RechRdx-I(25)
Level 26: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam(27), RctvArm-EndRdx(27), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(29)
Level 28: Rage -- Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(A), Rec'dRet-Pcptn(31), RechRdx-I(31)
Level 30: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(34), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(36), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx(36)
Level 32: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(33), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(34), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx(34)
Level 35: Strength of Will -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam(40), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(48)
Level 38: Foot Stomp -- Erad-Dmg(A), Erad-Acc/Rchg(39), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(39), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), FrcFbk-Rechg%(40)
Level 41: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(43), RechRdx-I(43)
Level 44: Taunt -- Zinger-Taunt(A), Zinger-Taunt/Rchg(45), Zinger-Acc/Rchg(45), Zinger-Taunt/Rchg/Rng(45), Zinger-Taunt/Rng(46), Zinger-Dam%(46)
Level 47: Super Speed -- Winter-ResSlow(A)
Level 49: Resurgence -- EndMod-I(A)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
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I messed around with your build a bit, and came up with the following. It's sort of an adapted version of my SS/WP Brute, except that I tried to keep your slotting schemes intact where I could -- and I didn't pay much attention to the order of power selections.
I did add the +Regeneration unique, which I guess is expensive (haven't looked villain-side), but I figure the four Hecatomb you'd already added were license to spend as much I'd like.
Likewise, I don't usually include the PvP IO in my own builds, but I assume the blank space you left in SoW is for that purpose. If you were to slot the PvP IO in this build, you'd end with ~43% S/L DEf, and ~41.5% E/N. I don't usually regard Fire/Cold as a concern, but it would top out at roughly 33%.
The regeneration is virtually identical, despite the loss of Fitness. The biggest concern is endurance management, but I'd think you'd be ok for most content between SoW and Dark Consumption.
The biggest perk here is that the following build has Hasten. Oh, and your hitpoints would be a little higher.
That said, I'm sure the build still needs work. With Siphon Life firing off regularly, I think you could afford to skimp on some regen in order to bolster recharge/DEF bonuses. Tactics is more or less an IO mule with this setup, as I sincerely doubt you'd want to run it full-time -- though you could use it as a situational ToHit boost.
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Mr. Graves: Level 50 Magic Brute
Primary Power Set: Dark Melee
Secondary Power Set: Willpower
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Smite -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), Hectmb-Dmg/Rchg(3), Hectmb-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(17), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(27)
Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- Numna-Heal/Rchg(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(5), Numna-Heal(7)
Level 2: Mind Over Body -- RctvArm-ResDam(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(7), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(9), RctvArm-EndRdx(9), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(43)
Level 4: Shadow Maul -- Erad-Dmg(A), Erad-Acc/Rchg(31), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(36), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), DampS-Rchg/EndRdx(45)
Level 6: Fast Healing -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx(A), Numna-Heal/Rchg(11), Numna-Heal(11), RgnTis-Regen+(33), Mrcl-Rcvry+(46), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(50)
Level 8: Siphon Life -- Nictus-Heal(A), Nictus-Acc/Heal(13), KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(13), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(15), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(15), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17)
Level 10: Indomitable Will -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(50)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(19), Ksmt-ToHit+(19)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Winter-ResSlow(A)
Level 16: Rise to the Challenge -- Numna-Heal(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(29), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 18: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(21), LkGmblr-Def(21), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(23)
Level 20: Dark Consumption -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(27), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(31), P'Shift-Acc/Rchg(33)
Level 22: Quick Recovery -- P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(A), P'Shift-EndMod(23), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(25), P'Shift-End%(25)
Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(48), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 26: Soul Drain -- Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(A), Rec'dRet-Pcptn(33), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(34), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), RechRdx-I(34)
Level 28: Boxing -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(29), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(37), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(48)
Level 30: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(37), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(39), RctvArm-EndRdx(39)
Level 32: Midnight Grasp -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(39), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(40), Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx(40), Hectmb-Acc/Rchg(40)
Level 35: Heightened Senses -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(42), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(42), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(42)
Level 38: Strength of Will -- Empty(A)
Level 41: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(43), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(43), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(45)
Level 44: Gloom -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(46), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46)
Level 47: Tactics -- Rec'dRet-ToHit(A), Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(48)
Level 49: Vengeance -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury
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Quote:Fun fact: When travelling south, Intercourse leads directly to Paradise, PA.Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
No we have these fine examples . . .
[snip]
Intercourse, PA -
Quote:Before that you were conquered by the Normans. The language of state in England was actually French until (IIRC) Henry IV. The bubonic plague had thinned the pool of French speakers for the nobility, and, of course, the loss of Normandy and Aquitaine created a rift between the French-descended nobles and their mainland identity. Inter-marriage took care of the rest.Originally Posted by Judgement_Dave
And a large portion doesn't.
If I've got it sort of right then:
Back in Britain we had a language going before we were brought a load of words by linguistically helpful Romans, vikings and germanic tribes. This influx of new words/syntax gave us the confidence to race off plundering the globe grabbing new words from whoever we could subjugate. Helped us develop quite a rich old tongue.
French contributed a lot in the intervening period. That's a large part of the reason that English, more so than probably any other language, has so many synonyms with slightly varying shades of meaning. On the upside, as a result, English allows for a great deal of precision; whereas other languages tend to have a smaller collection of words, the exact meaning of each determined almost solely by context or tone, English has a boat load of what some might consider redundant words, many of which convey subtle but important differences in connotation. The downside is that English is a pain in the backside to learn, and it may be a medium more prone to miscommunication.
In any case, back then, what we call English would have been only vaguely recognizable to us as such when written, and probably sounded more like German to a modern ear. The modern brits have no more claim to a so-called true English tongue than Chaucer had, much as it often pains me to see more and more lazy speaking and writing habits become acceptable, here.
The language evolves, whch I believe was your point. It's not a big deal. The only surprising thing, to me, about the American variant is that there are so few substantive differences from British English. Despite the USA's vast size, we don't have as many distinct differences in regional accent as you might expect, either -- given the often vast differences one can find over a relatively small distance in the UK.
Laugh all you like at our Texans; you (speaking generally now) know as well as I do that you have more than your fair share of indecipherable accents. Unlike the English of times gone by, though, we cannot easily ascribe a particular social class to any individual based on his accent.
That's a good thing; I think we'd all agree.
On a side note, it's nice to hear the word imperialist used correctly. Along with many other political terms, it's been flogged to the point of near incoherence, lately.Quote:We weren't really nasty imperialists - we just love getting new words. -
[ QUOTE ]
Considering how much has to be sacrificed by either secondary in order to achieve the softcap (and it not even possible, iirc, without DA or Parry), I'm not sure you actually know what you're talking about, plus, MoG is much better than Strength of Will.
[/ QUOTE ]
It's possible to soft cap Willpower. I can't imagine it's possible in anything resembling a playable build for Regen.
Regen benefits more from recharge, of course, which is nice if you want to kill defensive and offensive birds with one stone. Then again, the survivability gains one can acquire through +recharge on a Regen don't come close to the survivability gains from soft-capping S/L/N/E on a Willpower (you can also softcap F/C, but I don't see the point). -
[ QUOTE ]
Numerically, top tier Katana/Regeneration and Katana/Willpower builds get similar survivability scores in my spreadsheet when soloing a one or a few enemies without temps or inspirations. Willpower pulls ahead when surrounded by enemies to fuel Rise to the Challenge.
[/ QUOTE ]
How about top-tier MA/Ragen verus top-tier MA/WP? -
[ QUOTE ]
I currently have a FF proc in there on my main scrank build. It doesn't fire off at all as far as I can tell. Not sure why.
[/ QUOTE ]
Interesting. Do you have your combat attributes set up to monitor +recharge?
On my INV/SS, the proc is a little streaky over the course of normal solo play, as randomly fired events tend to be; I might go almost a whole mission without seeing it fire, and then later I'll have something absurd like 20 consecutive seconds of +100% recharge when fighting a single, hard target.
I haven't done a whole lot of large-spawn fighting on that build lately, but on those rare occasions when I do it fires off a lot. I got invited to an obscene boss farm the other day, for instance, and, apart from endurance constraints, it honestly felt like I'd been speed boosted most of the time, even though there were no buffers on the team.
The proc'll never replace having lots and lots of always-on +recharge bonuses, but I do find it helps, particularly during Hasten's downtime (which of course, the proc also shortens).
Then again, I have two procs slotted: One in Footstomp, and one in Punch. Mine is not a build on which I intend to spend hundreds of millions; I've been there and done that with other builds, and the prospect of doing it again for a character who already mostly satisfies my conceptual goals isn't attractive. It's a relatively cheap mix of +DEF bonuses with very light +recharge bonuses. While I'd ideally like more +recharge to make Hasten closer to permanent, the FF procs work well enough as stand-ins - and particularly when I notice recharge most. That is, when I'm standing in the middle of a huge spawn and I want as many Footstomps in as short a period as possible. -
[ QUOTE ]
If HOs are so pointless, how do you explain the going prices for some of them on the markets ?
[/ QUOTE ]
Not that HOs are pointless, but their price is more a matter of declining supply, and of inflation, than it is a matter of their uberness. Back when IOs were first introduced, you could buy most HOs for (relatively speaking) a song.
Was that because IOs were more powerful, relative to HOs, back then? No, quite the opposite in fact; as time has passed, the IO system has expanded and become even more powerful.
Back then, we had a glut of people who'd kitted themselves out in HOs back when all you needed was to afk for a couple of hours to get one. These same people saw the new shinies, saw that stacking set bonuses were potentially much more powerful than most anything you could do with HOs, and decided to sell away.
That supply has more or less dried up -- and nowadays, it's far more difficult in terms of time, effort, and team availability to acquire new HOs. Relative to the amount of people who grind AE for tickets and experience, or who grind TFs for merits, or who simply run story arcs or radios, the number of people on a daily basis who successfully earn new HOs is vanishingly small - whereas back in the old days, most anyone with a level 50 character and too much time on their hands was farming Hamidon.
And, of course, there's more money floating around now. And, of course, there are still those borderline exploitive cases in which HOs are much better than IOs. And, of course, a mixture of HOs and IOs is still oftentimes more efficient than IOs alone with respect to frankenslotting.
All of the above is true. I expect the price would/will drop somewhat if/when Castle does get around to fixing the aforementioned HO loopholes. I'm given to understand it's a fairly deeply rooted problem, though. In fact, it's news to me that he intends to fix it; the last I'd heard, Castle had said that he'd like to fix it, but didn't know how he could do it without expending an unreasonable amount of effort. -
[ QUOTE ]
Just checked, the Force Feedback recharge proc has a 10% chance to grant you 5 seconds of +100% recharge. The way he had it slotted every time he hit KoB he had a 10% chance that he'd get a recharge boost lasting 5 seconds.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, and strangely enough, he six slotted KoB with Force Feedback. The proc is actually quite good in Footstomp, because it has a 10% chance per target hit to fire, and Footstomp is one of the largest bona-fide AoE attacks in the game (radius wise).
In KO Blow? Why you'd put a low-probality proc in your longest-recharging, longest-activating, single-target attack is beyond me. If you're going to stick an FF proc in a single-target attack, put it in Punch (if you've taken it). Otherwise, stick to footstomp. And for the love of Pete, use the other five slots in Footstomp to enhance it as an attack, not as a knockdown power.
The FF proc in Footstomp is a very nice ghetto +recharge bonus; if you're fighting constantly and against semi-large spawns, you can get a lot of mileage out of that one (relatively inexpensive, last I checked) IO. Which is key for thos of us who don't have the cash, the inclination, or the room necessary in their builds to slot for copious global recharge bonuses. -
[ QUOTE ]
I wasn't sure which to count, honestly. nukes are a 3-minute base recharge, except Rain of Arrows.
I didn't count anything that did no damage. If it did damage, I put it in, with a few strange things like Creepers (which is not at all hard to perma), Voltaic Sentinel, and Phantom Army.
[/ QUOTE ]
Stalagmites - 90 second recharge, ~7.6 base damage at level 50.
Flash Freeze - 90 second recharge, 6.12 base damage at level 50.
Flash Fire - 90 second recharge, 9.18 base damage at level 50.
Shall I go on? These are not powers which anyone in their right mind would consider AoE attacks.
Declaring that nukes are disadvantaged by their 3-minute recharge timer as if to draw some sort of equivalence between a nuke and a power like Stalagmites strikes me as a good way to undermine your own argument -- which, frankly, was based on a silly methodology; you cannot compare Archeypes' AoE damage potential simply by counting up the number of AoE powers which happen to deal damage, no matter how insignificant, no matter how long their recharge.
That said, I do not disagree with the general premise which apparently spawned your argument. You can craft a Controller, even one with a normally low-damage build, to deliver decent AoE damage over time -- primarily due to procs, a larger variety of which tend to be available for use in powers which feature control effects.
Take Frostbite, for instance -- on its own, its potential to deliver AoE damage over time is deceptively high, even despite the low base damage on the power (9.18 base damage at level 50), because it has a short timer and a large radius. Add to those facts Containment and the ability to slot three damage procs, and the power becomes quite a nice little tool to whittle down larger spawns. It's still no world beater, and it's often dangerous use to haphazardly in team play, but it can be made into a decent attack power.
Defenders still likely win out in AoE damage output, but when you throw IOs into the mix, the party gets a little more confusing.
Apart from the AoE matter, Controllers generally solo better than Defenders do. From level 1 to about level 22 or so, the Controller is advantaged because the AT damage scalars only normalize gradually, and so a 1st-level Controller is basically getting the equivalent of two low-tier, 1st-level Blaster attacks every time he receives a containment bonus on a single-target control power. That advantage gradually fades to nothing as you head into the twenties, and some people here will tell you that the journey from 1-20 is insignificant in the grand scheme -- but there is a Controller advantage there.
Perhaps far more significant when it comes to what I like to call typical solo-play damage output is the advantage Controllers enjoy from roughly level 34 to leve 50, due to slotted pets. At least when we're discussing solo mission play, where it's presumed that single-target damae is generally most important, it's clear that Controllers are typically more efficient for the bulk of the game.
That still doesn't mean that most Controllers ae tearing up the solo charts, because on the whole they aren't. Trust me, trying to solo minions and lieuts when your best attack is a low-damage, 9-second DoT (Chilblain) surely doesn't feel fast, even with the intrepid and buggy Jack Frost at your side. Some things just look a whole lot better on paper than they do in-game. Single-target, long-duration DoT powers make for a good example -- good against hard targets, bad for almost any so-called normal solo play.
On the whole, I'd say Controllers are better off. They offer comparable if not exactly equivalent buff/debuff support, potentially more team protection in the form of controls, and they tend on the whole to solo more safely and more efficiently through the bulk of the level range.
Regardless, there appears to be a disconnect in these discussions with respect to what each AT, as a whole, is actually capable of doing. Any comparison that, for instance, dismisses /Sonic Defenders as outliers and then places disproportionate weight on (Fire/Plant/Illusion)/Kin Controllers is at best misleading. The same goes for the opposite tactic.
When it comes to soloing quickly, neither AT in the general case even touches a Scrapper or a Brute or a Stalker or even a Tanker. It's easy to lose sight of context, here, and I say that with all due humility, because after a year or two of playing primarily buff/debuff builds, I myself had literally lost all sense of context, even though my first few characters were Scrappers and Blasters. It's a revelation to come back to some of these characters every once in awhile, if only as a reminder that what we're fighting over here -- apart from the Fire/Kins of the world -- is the right for a better seat on the short bus. -
Funny thing is, he'd be better off lowering his F/C DEF and raising S/L DEF. You may not think you'd want S/L DEF given his S/L RES, but the fact is that the most common DEF debuffs in the game are S/L attacks.
Unfortunately, F/C DEF is probably the easiest to get on a WP or INV build, but it's also the least worthwhile. I can count on one hand the number of encounters in the vanilla PvE game which feature prominently pure fire or cold attacks (most of them are also typed as S/L for the purpose of opposing DEF).
The Peregrine Island GMs are impressive, but as far as I know they're pretty vanilla creatures -- no buff/debuff effects to speak of. My INV Tanker, who's only very cheaply IOed out and doesn't have Tough, could almost certainly do the same thing.
As for replicating the build, I imagine your friend is embellishing somewhat -- but even leaving that aside, there's too much we don't know. What's the secondary set? Are you willing to make do without Hasten? Do you want to assume the PvP DEF IO, even though it costs (IIRC) more than half a billion influence?
I can make you an absolute defensive powerhouse without too much thought, but I'm not sure I'd want to play it. The trick is to make a build that incorporates as much defensive strength as you can muster, and remains offensively potent. Bonus points if you can fit in the odd pure-concept or pure-fun power pick.