Oedipus_Tex

Thanks for the reply.

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But, you can tell me this one, since you like to compare ATs that share powersets with each other... can one Blaster keep a full team as safe as one Force Field Defender?

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No. But can you name another archetype that is bad at using its secondary?

I finally got my Force Field Defender to level 35.

I had long been skeptical of Force Field Defenders because everything they offer seems to be done better by a Controller. I was hoping that I was wrong, so I built this Force Field/Ice character.

On the plus side, my team is very safe when I'm around.

On the minus side, the character may as well not even have a secondary. Blasts? Are you kidding? This character is roundly out damaged by every simarly-leveled Controller I've ever played. I'd hoped to at least be able to solo occasionally, but the character has trouble killing more than 3 blue minions at a time. It's deeply embaressing to have a secondary ostensibly designed for damage and yet to be outdamaged, outlived, and outenduranced (a word?) by my Controllers using a pet and a Defender secondary.

In the hopes that I've done something monsterously wrong with my build, I posted it below. Is there something that can be done to save this character or is it just time for the mothballs?

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

Pinball Blizzard 2: Level 50 Technology Defender
Primary Power Set: Force Field
Secondary Power Set: Ice Blast
Power Pool: Medicine
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Electricity Mastery

Hero Profile:
------------
Level 1: Deflection Shield (A)(3)(3)
Level 1: Ice Bolt (A)(5)(19)
Level 2: Personal Force Field (A)
Level 4: Ice Blast (A)(5)(13)(15)(17)
Level 6: Insulation Shield (A)(7)(7)
Level 8: Aid Other (A)(9)(9)(11)(11)(17)
Level 10: Hasten (A)(19)
Level 12: Dispersion Bubble (A)(13)(15)
Level 14: Super Speed (A)(21)(46)
Level 16: Hurdle (A)
Level 18: Health (A)
Level 20: Stamina (A)(21)
Level 22: Freeze Ray (A)(23)(23)(25)(25)(29)
Level 24: Maneuvers (A)(42)
Level 26: Repulsion Bomb (A)(27)(27)(31)(31)(33)
Level 28: Ice Storm (A)(29)(31)(33)(33)(34)
Level 30: Aim (A)(34)(34)(37)(39)(39)
Level 32: Aid Self (A)(43)(43)(46)(50)
Level 35: Bitter Freeze Ray (A)(36)(36)(36)(37)(37)
Level 38: Bitter Ice Blast (A)(39)(40)(40)(40)(42)
Level 41: Electric Fence (A)(42)(43)(45)
Level 44: Charged Armor (A)(45)(45)(46)
Level 47: Shocking Bolt (A)(48)(48)(48)(50)(50)
Level 49: Force Bubble (A)

Is Glue Arrow still broken and fading when the enemy you shot it with is killed?

I'm not certain but it sounds like the run speed effect is just a sneaky way to get the glowing aura graphic to show up on the target, indicating that it is still under the effect of the illusionary damage.

I was always under the impression that invisibility messes with alpha strikes, not so much aggro. Basically, unstruck mobs tend to fire their first attack at the first person they see, and that attack is usually one of their most powerful. If the tank runs in and fails to hit or taunt the mob, and the mob doesn't see him/her, its likely to fire its alpha at the first person who strikes it, which is often a Controller or Blaster.

Trick Arrow would also seem to pair well with Gravity.

I haven't tried it with Spirit Tree specifically, but it should work. PFF only stops you from affecting other people, not them from affecting you. You can also use self-healing powers while inside the PFF (Aid Self for example).

...is the most hilarious power to use on lvl 1 minions? I spent an hour playing "minion-hockey," shooting enemies up the steps in Atlas Park. I even managed to shoot a few through underneath the Atlas statue.

The trick is to turn on Force Bubble, then race at the enemy with Super Speed. They usually hang around about a 1/5th of a second, then skate backwards (often still doing their emotes) so fast they disappear from view. Even more hilarious, you can send them flying through thin obstacles, like fences.

Force Bubble may not be very practical, but I'll be keeping it! And I can't wait to enter the minions of Atlas Park into the next costume contest at 90 MPH.

Ice has 4 powers that are "generic" Control powers, two that are generic offshoots, one that's shared with a Blaster secondary, and 1 unique. If you've played any Control or Dominator sets you're already familiar with a lot of the powers.

The generics are:
- Chillblain (ranged single target immob)
- Frostbite (ranged AoE immob)
- Block of Ice (ranged single target hold)
- Glacier (mag 3 player based AoE hold, see Illusion/Flash, Fire/Cinders)

The first generic-offshoot power is the ranged sleep. It is an AoE sleep like Plant/Spore Burst but on a longer recharge. It also causes around 6 points of damage to the enemy and notifies them prior to the attack, so you cant open with it. It is roundly inferior to Mind's and Plant's sleeps, a little better than Earth's, and IMO inferior even to the Defender epic AoE sleep.

The second generic off-shoot power is Ice Slick. It's a ranged AoE knockdown zone. The most similar power avaiable is Earth/Earthquake. It can be targeted from out of line of sight. Ice Slick is a strange power in that it is incredibly useful when you are solo or the only Controller on the team and next to worthless when some types of Controllers (particularly Plant and often Fire) join the team, as knockdown is cancelled outright by most AoE immobs and Slow effectively is.

The power that's shared with Blasters is Shiver. Our version is superior. It sinks Recharge and Slows enemies. The game describes it as a cone, but at 180 degrees it might almost be called "everything you can see." Slotting range in this power makes the AoE so huge that its uncontrollable, so be careful about overshooting. The way the math works out for -Recharge, Shiver + Arctic Air on a +4 enemy is exactly enough to maximize -Recharge instantly at a x4 reduction in recharge rate (e.g. a power that normally recharges in 5 seconds recharges in 20). The Controller power most closely related to Shiver is Earth/Quicksand in that both are AoE slows with sidebar debuffs that can't be enhanced and have no additional effects.

The unique power is Arctic Air. It's one of only two toggle PBAoE control powers (the other is Fire/Hot Feet, which is more of a damage aura than a control). Arctic Air causes slows, -recharge, afraid (a desire to run away), and a chance for confusion. Affected enemies will slowly run for the edges of the aura, but because of the confusion component often turn around and come back. The confusion and fear do not have graphical components, so often its hard to tell this power is working; try turning to the Combat tab and read how often you're snaring enemies. Build advice varies on this power but IMO it should be taken as early as you can get it and slotted heavily for endurance, gradually shifting toward Confusion duration and eventually incorporating procs (Contagious Confusion in particular). This power is a huge part of the reason my lvl 50 Ice/Thermal can solo on Invincible, as long as he's careful to avoid getting mezzed.

I'm ready to be done with it and have any power light the slick, or at least open it up to Lethal and Smashing (from the "spark").

I mean, we're not asked to carry arrows. Or fix bows. Or repair weapons. Or wear a backpack.

So if an oil slick can light why are characters not smart enough to carry matches?

One other piece of advice: when you get close to 50, plan to splurge a little and purchase the Contagious Confusion purple proc from Wentworth's. Now that it's been fixed so that it no longer hits your own pets, it increases the power of Arctic Air tremendously.

What the proc does is randomly cause an enemy to become confused. This confusion then spreads to adjacent enemies. The chance of the proc landing is low, but because its a toggle Arctic Air fires the proc every 10 seconds. So every 10 seconds, every enemy in range has to make a roll, and if just one of them fails, the effect cascades to other enemies. Even better, being that you specialize in -recharge, some of the confused enemies will waste their lone chance to attack on each other! It's really incredible to see in action and is part of the reason I recommend every build take Arctic Air.

If I had to pick between Arctic Air and Hurricane AA would win 100% of the time.

Luckily, you don't have to. What I would do is use AA as an "all the time" power and Hurricane as a "sometime" power. You can still use Hurricane to position things (for example, to push them back toward your Ice Slick) and then shut it off when you've got them where you want, and move in with AA.

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I just can't get into Mind as a set. It looks borked as all get out, especially since Plant gets a mass confuse at a lower level. That pretty much stole the one signature thing Mind had going for it. So yeah, I would disagree that "Mind has done fine without a pet for years now."

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Mind is a very powerful set in part because it does NOT have a pet. The pet in most Contol sets is a crutch that opens the door to soloing. Mind can solo out of the gate without waiting for level 32, and still manages to keep its team utility. I'd discuss further but we just got done with one of these "Mind sucks compared to Plant because of Mass Confusion" discussions.

My only 50 is an Ice/Thermal. I love the combination.

I've respecced the character a few times and can never seem to make up my mind on about what to keep/drop. Thermal is a great set without any real standout powers; it shines because of the combination of powers more than because of any one individual ability.

IMO, there isn't any power in Ice or Thermal that is a "must skip." Power of the Phoenix, to me, comes the closest because of its extreme endurance cost; I had the power for a long time and exchanged it for carrying wakies and simply using Cauterize / Thaw.

My current build is posted below. I went for a strong teaming build with slow-but-steady solo capability. The character is able to safely solo on one notch below Invincible; however, Epic Bosses and above are out of the question (which is fine with me because on a team Ice/Therm can obliterate them).

Hero Profile:
------------
Level 1: Block of Ice (A)
Level 1: Warmth (A)
Level 2: Thermal Shield (A)
Level 4: Chilblain (A)
Level 6: Arctic Air (A)
Level 8: Hasten (A)
Level 10: Plasma Shield (A)
Level 12: Ice Slick (A)
Level 14: Super Speed (A)
Level 16: Hurdle (A)
Level 18: Health (A)
Level 20: Stamina (A)
Level 22: Shiver (A)
Level 24: Cauterize (A)
Level 26: Glacier (A)
Level 28: Forge (A)
Level 30: Flash Freeze (A)
Level 32: Jack Frost (A)
Level 35: Heat Exhaustion (A)
Level 38: Melt Armor (A)
Level 41: Ice Blast (A)
Level 44: Frozen Armor (A)
Level 47: Hibernate (A)
Level 49: Thaw (A)

You'll notice that my build puts off Cauterize until after the shields. I did this because I find the shields, overall, much less skippable than the single target heal, largely because you also have an AoE heal. Deaths at low levels are mostly due to "chipped away" HP rather than spike damage, and I always found the shields + warmth to be just fine for reducing damage in most situations.

I have both Shiver and Arctic Air to get a good combo of ranged and up-close slows.

I have Flash Freeze, which lots of people skip. It's not great on teams and you can't open with it. The reason I have it is because Ice has no other AoE status mezzes besides Glacier. I use it once a fight has already started to nullify any enemies with ranged attacks who manage to escape Ice Slick. I also sometimes use it as a panic button.

I went with the Ice epic but dropped the AoE powers. You can make a decision for yourself there depending on how much damage you need to do. I feel like I'm able to do fine with just the single target power and the pet (who stays Forged at all times). You may find this too slow, however.

Can't pick just one. All are on Virtue:

Oedipus Tex - soon to be rerolled as a dual pistol / sonic ?
Martie Gras - martial arts/willpower
Lotus Operandi - plant/sonic
Nuclear Splinter - plant/radiation
Richter Snail - earth armor/earth melee
Pinball Blizzard - force field/ice blast
Solar Winter - ice control / thermal
Guycicle - ice armor/ice melee
Bomb Sawyer - fire blast / devices
Joan of Arkansas - broadsword / fire armor


Some of the more serious ones:

The Taxpayer - archery / energy
Tzolkin - earth control / storm (named for the Mayan unit of time)
Merengue - fire control / sonic (named after the salsa-ish dance)

I've read a number of guides about Ice Control and have noticed many of them suggest selecting either Shiver or Arctic Air, but not both. When I was new to Ice Control, I followed this advice and selected only Arctic Air. I spent a lot of time thinking Ice Control was hugely gimped. Then I respecced and tried running Arctic Air and Shiver together. I found the combination much more effective than AA alone.

I also recently placed a bugged enhancement into Arctic Air. It meant I couldn't use AA on teams. Again, I noticed how hugely gimped the character felt without his AA toggle. I am now firmly in the camp who believes both Shiver and AA are necessary, at least on my Ice/Thermal.

What I'm curious about is where the idea that Shiver and Arctic Air are overlapping powers comes from. I understand that both provide -Recharge and Slow, but after messing with the character for a long time, it seems like they perform very different functions. Also, after reading up on how -Recharge is calculated on +4 enemies, it appears that anything 4 levels higher than you hit by both AA and Shiver is automatically at the -70% Recharge cap.

I understand the fear factor of charging into melee, and don't do it habitually, but I do frequently immobilize things or slow them and keep them at the edge of AA. They can still shoot at me, and do sometimes, but all the confusion often leads them to shoot each other instead. When I tested AA with Contagious Confusion, the results were even better--now that the bug with that proc is getting fixed, I think AA is going to be even better.

Of course I realize that everyone has different play styles, but I'm interested in hearing perspectives from people who have opinions about these powers.

Powers I'd drop are Combat Jumping (you are not getting a lot out of it unless you planned to stack it with set bonuses, which doesn't appear to be the case here), Salt Crystals and likely Power of the Phoenix. Swap Super Jump with Super Speed unless you are dead set on being a jumper. You could also drop Haste for Air Superiority and go with Fly as a travel power; you will be hurting bad for an attack until 40-ish level with this build.

You should also reconfigure to get Earthquake at level 18. I also recommend delaying Cauterize in favor of Thermal Shield and relying on Warmth for your low-level healing. Unfortunately, there isnt a good build I can come up with that puts Plasma Shield earlier than level 22.

Power of the Phoenix is subjective. I often advise Thermals to skip it because it is so very, very endurance heavy and has a huge recharge time. In the build below I put it as your last power pick but IMO you would do better to get Recall Friend and carry some Awakens with you. When someone dies give them an Awaken (if they don't already have one) and just Cauterize and then Thaw them.

** Edit: I also swapped the epic powers around. I recommend getting Hurl Boulder for some much needed damage at level 41. Seismic Smash could also work.

I'd change the order of powers to something like this:

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Fossilize -- (A)
Level 1: Warmth -- (A)
Level 2: Thermal Shield -- (A)
Level 4: Stone Cages -- (A)
Level 6: Quicksand -- (A)
Level 8: Swift -- (A)
Level 10: Hasten -- (A)
Level 12: Stalagmites -- (A)
Level 14: Super Speed -- (A)
Level 16: Health -- (A)
Level 18: Earthquake -- (A)
Level 20: Stamina -- (A)
Level 22: Plasma Shield -- (A)
Level 24: Cauterize -- (A)
Level 26: Volcanic Gasses -- (A)
Level 28: Forge -- (A)
Level 30: Thaw -- (A)
Level 32: Animate Stone -- (A)
Level 35: Heat Exhaustion -- (A)
Level 38: Melt Armor -- (A)
Level 41: Hurl Boulder -- (A)
Level 44: Rock Armor -- (A)
Level 47: Fissure -- (A)
Level 49: Power of the Phoenix -- (A)
------------

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Then again, on my tankers I like Salt Crystals as an ancillary power. I really don't care about the sleep, although some of the sleep sets have valuable bonuses that are usually pretty easy to get; nobody slots up sleep, it seems. If the sleep is broken immediately, so what? I have attacked everything around me, up to 10, in a radius that's much larger than any of the PBAoEs available in my secondary. And everything it hits is therefore subject to tanker taunt for more than 10 seconds.

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Salt Crystals on a Tanker is IMO more useful than on a Controller for the reasons you list. An Earth Controller already has ready resources for the easy -Defense that Salt Crystals provides and Tankers (generally) don't have many controls to pick from or AoEs with such a large radius. On a Tanker Salt Crystals can almost be considered a 25ft radius Taunt that sometimes sleeps enemies.

On an Earth Controller Salt Crystals isn't terrible but it's nothing to write home about either. Compared to Plant's sleep, Spore Burst, it takes twice as long to recharge (90 seconds vs 45) costs slightly more endurance (15.6 vs 13), is PBAoE instead of ranged, and lasts a shorter time when it does hit (18.6s vs 22.4s). The only things Salt Crystals does better are provide -Defense and an extra 5ft of range. The -Defense it provides would be helpful if this weren't a discussion about dropping other powers that also provide -20% defense. In any case, Earth Control already provide tons of -Defense, and only so much is really practical due to negative defense caps and the fact that you can never get a higher than 95% chance to hit anyway.

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By itself I would rate many powers above Stalagmites, starting with those that can be cast from outside of LOS, such as Volcanic Gasses, Quicksand, Earthquake, and Wormhole. Of those four, three of them (Quicksand, Earthquake, Wormhole) recharge as fast as or faster than Stalagmites, and those same three do not have the accuracy penalty that many other AoE powers including Stalagmites must overcome. That means that, assuming identical slotting, those powers without the inherent accuracy penalty will tend to hit more often, thus applying their desired effects more often, and therefore be more effective than those powers that do have it. Also, Wormhole has a longer duration stun than Stalagmites and can be occasionally used to render a group of mobs null for quite awhile (like teleporting the henchmen around Siege off his tower so the group can focus on the AV alone.)

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I can understand why some would consider Earthquake or other LoS-breaking powers superior to Stalagmites. It depends on the weight you give to the LoS-breaking mechanics. Having both a 50 Ice and Earth Controller though, the power that I find myself opening with more than any other (and really missing on Ice) is Stalagmites, simply because a corner is not always available (especially on outdoor maps), nor really necessary in a group where a tank will be running ahead. I feel that Stalagmites is useful in more situations than Earthquake; of course, both together in one set is even better.

Volcanic Gasses is an amazing power, but the recharge keeps it one notch from being an "every fight" power like Stalagmites. I would still never, never skip Volcanic Gasses on any Earth build. Again, whether it is the "best" AoE mezz is subjective, depending on the weight given to LoS breaking and recharge.

I'm not really familiar with the mechanics of Wormhole, but looking at the stats now I think it would be very viable assuming you are skillful enough to use it both in and out of teams. I'm not sure how hard it is to control the knockback or avoid confusing your teammates when the mobs suddenly port.

Quicksand is a whole other animal. The only Control power I can think to compare it to directly is Shiver, in that it is a powerful debuff that complements other powers better than that it succeeds on its own. I don't consider Quicksand mutually exclusive with any other Earth power; all builds would benefit from it unless they are getting a slow (and maybe some-defense) from somewhere else.

I would consider any build that eliminates Stalagmites to be on the fringe.

Salt Crystals, IMO, is the most skippable power in Earth. It's not the worst power in the game but it definitely leaves something to be desired on a Controller. Depending on how you look at it, it is either the worst or second worst AoE sleep available to Controllers, based on how you evaluate the annoying 6 pts of damage Flash Freeze does simply for the purpose of letting stuff shoot you before the sleep activates. For mysterious reasons both Salt Crystals and Flash Freeze also cost more endurance than Stalagmites. IMO the Blaster sleep, Siren's Song, is more powerful than the sleep obtained by Ice or Earth Control, though we have to be careful with such comparisons.

Meanwhile, Stalagmites may be the best ranged AoE mezz available in the game based on the combination of several factors: decent recharge rate, reasonable stun duration, and (importantly) the fact that it applies the stun before mobs are alerted to it. If stacked with a second AoE stun (easily available to all builds with the Earth Epic's Fissure power) then entire groups can be quickly eliminated. Unlike a sleep, the stun does not cancel when mobs are stuck or knocked down.

As to whether the Sleep by itself is better than the immob by itself, that is harder to rate. I think a Controller can get by without any immobilizers at all, my only question is what powers the player is taking. The only way to avoid both the AoE immob and the single target immob on Fire, Ice, Earth or Plant is to take all powers from the secondary as of level 4. For some secondaries this is viable (Radiation, for example) and for others this is probably not wise (trading the AoE immob for say, Flash Arrow, Force Bolt, or Repel)

I still think Mind is one of the best Controllers you can bring to a team because the set doesn't waste time with a pet that is really mostly useful for soloing. In Mind you have:
- The ability to stack more mezzes than any other set (Sleep, Confuse, and Hold all have single target versions, unlike all other Controllers who can only stack Hold)
- An additional auto-hit Hold that can be canceled once its no longer needed
- 3 powers that don't notify enemies. This means 1/3rd of the powers in Mind Control do not draw any aggro at all.
- The superior version of the 2 flavors of AoE hold (targetted vs PBAoE).

The more I think about it, the more I think my next Controller should be a Mind.

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Yea terrify has damage, but damage so weak that it still leaves mind last in the AoE damage category.

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Earth? Ice? I don't understand what you're comparing here.

Water Control is fake (it seems) but blue Fire is looking more and more real:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat....;vc=1&nt=31

I would consider the following sets if you are interested in a support character:

Primaries:
Ice Control: Ice's cornerstone power, Arctic Air, is a toggle aura that slows enemies, lowers their recharge rate, and makes them run slowly away from you. It also has a chance to confuse enemies. Because this power is always running, it means that an Ice Controller can buff/heal without losing any time. Downsides are that you need to be in melee-ish range for it to work, and you are exceptionally vulnerable to mezzes (because they cancel the toggle). Ice's pet is much less sturdy than the Earth pet, but is situationally more survivable because he uses holds that stack with your own; assuming he doesn't die, he's IMO more useful to a group. Ice is the only of 2 Controller primaries to get a area effect knockdown-zone power--a game-changing power when solo or the only Controller on the team, but much less useful when multiple Controllers are present. Ice's secondary effects (which are arguably primary effects) are -Recharge and Slow, allowing you to slow down enemie's rate of fire to 1/4th its normal value. A lack of ranged AoE status effect powers means dealing with alpha shots can be tricky. In large groups, Ice shines during extended fights against enemies that have good status resistance, like packs of bosses.

Earth Control: Compared to Ice, Earth is much more "direct." The first few powers in each set are nearly identical, but Earth provides -Defense instead of -Recharge. -Defense in theory increases your team's damage by making enemies easier to hit, although it does nothing to increase any attack rolls that already have a 95% hit chance. Earth deviates from Ice in that it has no auras but relies instead on the trio of Stalagmites (ranged AoE stun), Earthquake (knockdown zone similar to Ice Slick with different debuffs), and Volcanic Gasses (pulsing AoE hold). Quicksand was recently described by someone as the "icing" that goes with it. Compared to Ice, in the first few moments of a fight an Earth Controller can practically pretend Minions and Lts don't exist, because Stalagmites is up every fight and will stun them from a distance. Earth might fall a little behind Ice if the battle drags on for a while, because Ice's powers are perpetually available. Earth also has problems with enemy scatter that Ice can largely bypass with its huge cone power, Shiver, but the duration of Volcanic Gasses (an epic 60 seconds) easily makes it one of the best (if not THE best) AoE hold in the game. Earth's pet is a tanker that is great solo and so-so on teams.

Illusion Control: Illusion is of interest to a support character for a few reasons. First, it is one of the few Control sets that actually contains a team buff (Mass Invisibility). Second, because Illusion allows you to run past enemies, you can run to the end of missions and Teleport the rest of the team to the end. Invisibility also means that if a fight starts and you need to heal/buff, you are near-100% safe from attack until you take your first aggressive action. If you open with a single target confuse, you will still be hidden from mobs. The major downside of Invisibility paired with a buffing secondary is a shortage of AoE lockdown capability.

Secondaries:
Empathy: Empathy contains multiple heal powers and several powerful, but short duration buffs. The heals and buffs can be used on your pets. Has a much more endurance and recharge friendly rezz than Thermal.

Thermal: Recently described by someone as a "greatest hits" set. Thermal contains both heals and single target shields. It pays for this by giving up the +regen +recovery and +recharge of Empathy and the protective/anti-mezz bubbles of Sonic or Force Field. At high levels Thermal switches gears and offers two great debuffs. The downside of Thermal is no one power particularly sticks out as fantastic. To make this set shine, you must invest in it heavily, because its the combination of powers that make it strong, not any individual ability.

Sonic: Sonic is the sister of Force Fields and a cousin of Thermal. It has +resistance shields like Thermal and a giant bubble like Force Field. It also offers a unique traveling -resistance aura toggle that you can place on a pet or team mate. 1 of only 2 sets to offer always-available mezz protection to a Controller. Downsides are the very large endurance costs and the redundancy of having both a mezz-shield and a mezz-removal power but no direct heal. The set also contains two powers that are almost always skipped. The Tier 9 is tremendously powerful but rarely available.

Force Field: Force Field is a very highly regarded set with the interesting twist that many of its powers are highly skippable. Personal Force Field, the two ally shields, the big bubble, and Repulsion Bomb are musts. Everything else is situational at best. This set is a possibly a competitor for the "Most Disappointing Tier-9 Power" contest. Force Field is the kind of set that everyone seems to want on their team but not many desire to play; if you enjoy this set, expect to get lots of invites. Also plan to invest in the Leadership pool to increase the protection of your bubbles.

Kinetics: Kinetics is an untraditional buff set. It does contain a heal, but focuses primarily on boosting team damage and recharge rates. Be aware that taking this set means many teams will expect you to take and use Speed Boost, a power on a 2 minute recharge. Kinetics usually works best near melee range.

I very rarely see Cold Defenders. I agree with a lot of people that the issue may be the graphics. I think if the shields were greatly lowered in opacity it would look really neat; more of a kind of clear reflective shell than the block of frozen Tropical Punch Koolaid we have now. I wish this would happen to Thermal too.