PrincessDarkstar

I am not sure I like the idea of critical chances, I would hate to have to bubble everyone 10 times until the critical bubble stuck.

I semi like the endurance discount from using the 2ndry set idea, and it is better than currently but I don't really think an endurance discount is here nor there and would prefer something more useful.

However both ideas could be combined into our version of domination, your blasts build up your 'defiance' bar and when it is full you can pop defiance for a % increase in the effectiveness of your primary powers for the duration. They could even make it stupdly overpowered like domination!

One tip I have learned is that on all my none Kheld charactes I have the P key set to re-import my bind file, so I can make whatever changes I like to the files, the just press P and test them out!

I didn't need this for Khelds because I just swapped forms and back, but for my other toons I found it very useful and saved me typing /bindloadfile a fair few times

The key difference between defenders and controllers/masterminds/corruptors is that defenders tend to concentrate on their primary and so the team tends to feel the benefit more than with any of the others, that isn't even counting for the better numbers.

On my Fire/Kin I am awful with handing out the SB's since I am concentrating on the Fire Control part, yet on my Empathy defender everyone without mez protection is constantly CM'd since I actively look for that kind of thing.

That is the main reason defenders are wanted, and always will be.

I would have given you a million inf and asked you to slot your team build with some DO's.

As much as your solo build may be useful for soloing I can't see it being much use on a team and the reason you recruit a bubbler is for bubbles, otherwise why recruit a bubbler?

I know that is harsh but you yourself have a team build and you did that because you know what powers a team needs.

Perwira is right, up to level 20 hasten, hover, fly, swift, health and stamina take up 6 of your potential 12 powers, leaving only 6 for other things.

So 3 heals, the basic attack at the start and then who knows what was taken early on. Give people the benefit of the doubt and at least talk to them if you think they are doing something wrong rather than moaning about them on here where they cannot defend themselves.

Seems you learn something new every day, I never knew they scaled like that!

Nice information

As I was beaten to saying there are a few changes I would make to the build, it is quite good in that it hits all the right defence numbers, but seems a little unfocussed playstyle wise.

How do you prefer to play? Do you like being in melee trying to take the aggro, do you just send the bots in on aggressive? Do you want to hover and taunt so the bots defend you in BG mode (Tankerminding)?

I can't really see how FF could be improved because it does what it sets out to do really well, and a good bots/ff will be unkillable pretty much and can solo AV's so is already strong, it is just that /traps is bloody amazing!

I think if there were some good debuffs in the MM patron pools that would help /FF out immensely though.

Edit: Changing the way bubbles are given out wouldn't make much difference to me, if I didn't have people to bubble I wouldn't have anything to do! Though if it did work like say RA and affected the caster than a /FF would be defence capped on SO's which would increase the popularity immensely.

Debuff protection is also a good idea, as long as it somehow affects the caster too.

To be fair he did say "I don't believe", so it was hardly unequivocal.

I also have yet to hear of any scrapper able to solo a proper GM, even in theory it seems impossible. The dev's have a lot of information but with real numbers so do the players, and some players are VERY clever. I think even Dark/Shield with fully saturated AAO and Soul Drain cannot put out enough DPS to beat a GM (And that is discounting the cast times of Soul Drain and any heals that may be needed).

The reason debuff AT's can do it is because -regen can account for something like 200 effective DPS, which is like having a scrapper fighting alongside you!

You are going through exactly the same thought process as I am actually!

My Bots/FF has been my only 50 villain for some time now and I love bringing him out for MoLRSF runs because then he feels really useful, but anything else I feel like I am not playing a very big part. Solo it is even worse; yes I can safely solo AV's almost AFK but /Traps will also be softcapped, AND has massive debuffs!

I almost re-rolled him as Bots/Traps the other day but I have a Necro/Dark on the way that I want at 50 first.

The 'nerf' to Dwarf form Mire was greatly exagerated, it was actually in effect a massive buff (The power now lasts 10s on a 20s recharge rather than 30s on a 120s recharge) meaning you can spam it like a SS brute spams Foot Stomp. The only thing that can be looked on as nerfed is the ability to use both Mires and then blast from Nova for 30s near the damage cap.

As for what toon to pick I would say it depends on your budget and playstyle.

For ranged AoE damage and survivability I would probably pick a Fire/XX blaster build for ranged defence and recharge (But you won't get the survivability until very late on when you IO out) or a Warshade again build for recharge (Where you get the AoE's earlier in Nova form [At level 6-15ish you can out AoE pretty much anything and only get overtaken by good blasters and then probably not by a great deal] and Eclipse gives wonderful survivability at 38). Getting the very best out of either of these won't be cheap though.

Otherwise for melee you could look into Claws/Warmace/Spines/Elec Scrapper/Brute, you will get the survivability earlier usually, but the true AoE potential tends also to be unlocked late when you get good recharge. Scrappers and Brutes can get good damage and survivability on a lesser bugdet, but still benefit from massive investment and will get even better!

Fire/Kin is great after 32, and at least it is a cheap build

Most of the defence from the stealth pool powers supresses when you attack, so if you are using those to softcap you will be a bit out.

I would drop the stealth pool for Maneuvers, and put a +stealth IO into sprint and pick up SS, that will give you full PvE invis.

Lastly RttC is your most important power, slot it with some Heal IO's

Edit: Actually there is a lot more than that:

High Pain Tolerance increases your total HP by quite a bit, I would concentrate on Heal IO's rather than Resistance.

Fast Healing is better for regen than health, so make sure that is at least at the ED cap for heal.

Boxing - do you use this power? I wouldn't bother slotting it.

Build Up seems overslotted, I would slot for recharge since the +tohit is usually enough anyway.

Edit 2: I would concentrate on +HP and +Regen before resists, hence my suggestions for the above power choices.

Ignoring the negative in this thread, the added 'complication' of using those bind files makes it much easier for you to do more advanced binding.

Your solution is simple and will work, but I always look upon chances like this as opportunities to learn as much as I can about things.

Personally I ended up using bind files on all my toons (I created a default.txt for all my toons to use, and specific files for the more complex toons), and without going through all the prep work on my Warshade my play experience would be worse for it.

With the bind files you can do things like bind to SHIFT+<KEY> as well as just to <KEY>, allowing more things to be done with the easy to reach keys.

By strange co-incidence I just made a build for my Empath/Psy today, I concentrated on recharge only, attempting to get perma-AB and I wasn't far off without resorting to anything really expensive.

I haven't got many attacks because with Fortitude and CM on the recharges they have I spend most of my time ensuring everyone is buffed. I can keep Fortitude on 6 people and keep CM on all the squishies at all times.

I have taken Stamina, but it is easily switchable for more attacks if you feel the need.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Neuro-Surgeon: Level 50 Magic Defender
Primary Power Set: Empathy
Secondary Power Set: Psychic Blast
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Teleportation
Ancillary Pool: Psychic Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Healing Aura -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(37), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Dct'dW-Heal(37), Dct'dW-Rchg(39)
Level 1: Mental Blast -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(39), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40)
Level 2: Heal Other -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(3), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(3), Dct'dW-Heal(25), Dct'dW-Rchg(25)
Level 4: Absorb Pain -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(5), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Dct'dW-Heal(9), Dct'dW-Rchg(9)
Level 6: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(7), RechRdx-I(7)
Level 8: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 10: Psychic Scream -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(11), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(11), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(17), Posi-Dam%(23)
Level 12: Fortitude -- LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(13), GftotA-Def/Rchg(13), S'dpty-Def/Rchg(15), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(15), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx(17)
Level 14: Super Speed -- Run-I(A)
Level 16: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 18: Recovery Aura -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(19), EndMod-I(19), RechRdx-I(21), RechRdx-I(21), RechRdx-I(23)
Level 20: Stamina -- Efficacy-EndMod(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(43), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(45), Efficacy-Acc/Rchg(45), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(45), Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx(46)
Level 22: Resurrect -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 24: Clear Mind -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 26: Regeneration Aura -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(27), Heal-I(27), RechRdx-I(36), RechRdx-I(36), RechRdx-I(40)
Level 28: Psionic Tornado -- Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(A), Posi-Acc/Dmg(29), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(29), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), Posi-Dam%(36)
Level 30: Maneuvers -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(31), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(31), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(31), RedFtn-Def(34)
Level 32: Adrenalin Boost -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(33), Dct'dW-Heal(33), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(33), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(34), Numna-Heal/Rchg(43)
Level 35: Recall Friend -- Range-I(A)
Level 38: Tactics -- GSFC-Build%(A), Rec'dRet-Pcptn(50)
Level 41: Mass Hypnosis -- FtnHyp-Sleep(A), FtnHyp-Sleep/Rchg(42), FtnHyp-Acc/Sleep/Rchg(42), FtnHyp-Sleep/EndRdx(42), FtnHyp-Acc/Rchg(43)
Level 44: Mind Over Body -- S'fstPrt-ResKB(A), ResDam-I(46), ResDam-I(46), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(50)
Level 47: World of Confusion -- CoPers-Conf(A), CoPers-Conf/Rchg(48), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg(48), CoPers-Conf/EndRdx(48), CoPers-Conf%(50)
Level 49: Vengeance -- RedFtn-Def/Rchg(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Clrty-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Vigilance

It cannot stack from the same caster, and imho isn't worth it in an AoE because on a team you are likely to have either enough damage already, or enough debuffs from elsewhere.

The best place is your fastest cycling attack, so it has plenty of chances to go off against an AV where it will help the most (Against even a boss the 20% -res would be hardly noticed).

Personally though I wouldn't slot it at all, I think you are better off with a damage proc instead.

Using inspirations goes a long way for any class, we have been theorising on a few threads that a PB and a WS built right could probably solo some without insps, so a decent build + insps should be able to solo one.

It likely wouldn't have been fast or pretty though.

Does anyone know the criteria for naming my robots?

For some reason Arthur is invalid! So are half the other normal names I have tried recently

Edit: It has been pointed out to me that the names I want are related to sidekicks of published superheroes and thus invalid, how normal names can be invalid I really don't know however. I kind imagine any company successfully suing someone for calling their son Arthur!

This also depends on how much you are willing to invest in your build and at what level.

I have a Bots/FF and didn't buy all his sets until level 50 (And bought the level 50 versions of all the IO's) so he is pretty useless at a lower level, but if I had really wanted to I think I could have bought all the IO's at level 25-30 and got my softcapped defence back then - which would have let me solo AV's earlier.

But personally I don't like the difference between low level IO sets and high level ones so I always wait until level 50.

I guess a more heal or debuff oriented set might work out differently though, especially the ones that don't really 'need' IO set bonus'.

Ah ok, I was going to maybe look into seeing what kind of recharge I could get into a build for you and see if it was worth me offering to look at your planned build - but I know nothing about Dom's, and even less about Mind.

I read

Out of interest what toon are you playing?

And by unique IO's do you mean the purple sets?

Hasten does affect it's own recharge, but sadly you aren't that close

3 slotted with level 50 recharge IO's you need around 105-110% global recharge (Not including Hasten) to get it perma.

This is because the more recharge you have the less of an effect it will have. So with your level of recharge you may only be 10-20 seconds away which isn't much, but making that last push to get it all the way perma isn't easy (Or should I say isn't cheap).