Empathy/Energy, PewPewPew
Table Of Contents
[EMPEN1] ............ Introduction
[EMPEN2] ............ Primary Powers (Empathy)
[EMPEN3] ............ Secondary Powers (Energy Blast)
[EMPEN4] ............ Power Pools
[EMPEN5] ............ Ancillary Power Pools
[EMPEN6] ............ General Energy Blast tactics
[EMPEN7] ............ IO sets and Bonuses
[EMPEN8] ............ Possible Build, Offender
[EMPEN9] ............ Possible Build, Balanced
[EMPEN10] ............ Possible Build, Support
[EMPEN11] ........... Acknowledgements
Introduction [EMPEN1]
So, youre probably wondering why Empathy/Energy? If youre looking for soloability, you probably want to look elsewhere. If you are looking for good team support, Empathy is great, though /Energy is a bit lacking, there are several secondaries that have effects that are more useful, such as /Darks accuracy debuffs or /Electrics endurance drain. If you want to beat the snot out of guys, /Energy is right up your alley, and if you want to be very colorful, Empathy/Energy might be right for you.
In this guide, I will discuss multiple builds for different play styles, the Offender, the Balanced Defender, and the Support Defender. Many people will say one is better than the rest, but it all boils down to how you use your tools to better your team.
So, lets get down to the powers.
I will give a brief description of every power, along with how good I think it is, as well as pertinent information.
Primary Powers: Empathy [EMPEN2]
1. Heal Aura
Available at: 1
Endurance Cost: 13
Recharge: 8 seconds
Healing Aura restores some Hit Points to you and all nearby heroes. Healing Aura is not as potent as Heal Other, but can heal multiple targets at once. Recharge: Moderate
This is your basic heal, its a bit on the weak side, but it heals everyone in the area, including you and has no negative consequences. Offenders will find this a lot more useful than Heal Other, since they are likely to take damage, and this is their only means of regaining health prior to Regeneration Aura.
Build Info:
Offender:
Take at: 1
Slot: 3 heals/0-1 recharge/0-1 endrdx
Balanced
Take at: 1
Slot: 3 heals/1-3 recharge/0-1 endurance reduction
Support
Take at: 1
Slot: 3 heals/2-3 recharge/0-1 endurance reduction
2. Heal Other
Available at: 1
Endurance Cost: 13
Recharge: 4 seconds
Heals a single targeted ally. You cannot use this power to heal yourself. Recharge: Fast
A decent Ally heal, depending on your focus you will use it a lot, or you may not feel the need for it. On a balanced build, I would take it early and consider respeccing out of it. On Offenders, it is skippable, though you may want it for early levels.
Build Info:
Offender:
Take by: 4, or skip, be ready to respec out of it
Slot: 3 heals/1 recharge
Balanced
Take by: 4, consider respeccing out of it around level 30
Slot: 3 heals/1-2 recharge
Support
Take by: 2
Slot: 3 heals/2-3 recharge/0-1 endurance reduction
3. Absorb Pain
Available at: 2
Endurance Cost: .52
Recharge: 15 seconds
Dramatically heals an ally's wounds. This power has only a tiny Endurance cost, but it requires you to sacrifice some of your Hit Points. Absorbing someone's pain can be quite dramatic, and afterwards you will be briefly unable to heal your own wounds
A very powerful heal, this can turn the tide of a battle. Though, again, depending on your focus, you may never need it. On my current Empathy/ I skipped it and never missed it. You need to be careful when using it, as you wont be able to gain any health back for 20 seconds, and you can kill yourself with it. At level 50, youll do 108.4 damage to yourself. On Offender or Balanced builds, its reasonable to take this or Heal Other, though you probably dont need both.
Build Info:
Offender:
Take by: skip, or substitute for Heal Other
Slot: 1-3 heals
Balanced
Take by: 8 or skip
Slot: 1-3 heals/0-1 recharge
Support
Take by: 4
Slot: 3 heals/1-3 recharge
4. Resurrect
Available at: 6
Endurance Cost: 26
Recharge: 180 seconds
Resurrects a fallen ally with full Hit Points and Endurance. The Resurrected target is left protected from XP Debt for 20 seconds. Recharge: Very Long
A simple Rez. Can be useful at times, it is by no means required for Offenders, it can be considered skippable on Balanced, though it is nice to have.
Build Info:
Offender:
Take by: 16, or skip
Slot: 1 recharge
Balanced
Take by: 10, possibly skip
Slot: 1-2 recharge
Support
Take by: 6
Slot: 1-3 recharge
5. Clear Mind
Available at: 8
Endurance Cost: 5.2
Recharge: 4 seconds
Frees an ally from any Disorient, Hold, Sleep, Fear, Confuse and Immobilize effects and leaves them resistant to such effects for a good while. Also, grants target clearer Perception to see hidden foes. Protection will improve with Multiple applications
Now were starting to roll. Out with the heals, in with the buffs. Considered one of the best status protection powers in the game. If you team (which you should if you are an Empathy) you want this power.
Build Info:
Offender:
Take by: 20
Slot: 1 recharge
Balanced
Take by: 20
Slot: 1-2 recharge
Support
Take by: 10
Slot: 1-2 recharge
6. Fortitude
Available at: 12
Endurance Cost: 10.4
Recharge: 60 seconds
Fortitude immensely enhances a single ally's Accuracy, Damage, and Defense to all attacks. Recharge: Long
So you hit 12. Now you can start to turn your team mates into demi-gods. The duration is 120 seconds, so out of the box, youll keep this on 2 people, with 3 recharges youll get it almost permanent on 4 people, and if you take hasten, youll easily keep it on 5 people.
Build Info:
Offender:
Take by: 12
Slot: 2-3 defense buffs/0-3 recharge/0-1 to-hit buffs
Balanced
Take by: 12
Slot: 2-3 recharge/2-3 defense buffs
Support
Take by: 12
Slot: 3 recharge/2-3 defense/0-1 to-hit buffs
7. Recovery Aura
Available at: 18
Endurance Cost: 26
Recharge: 500 seconds
The Recovery Aura dramatically increases the Endurance recovery rate of all nearby heroes for a limited time. Emitting this Aura costs you a lot of Endurance, and it takes a long time to recharge. Recharge: Very Long
Your second Empathy power that affects you, and you couldnt ask for much better. By this time, many people are starting to hurt for endurance, but are still at least 2 levels away from stamina. This provides a 200% boost to your endurance recovery rate for 90 seconds, its tough to use endurance faster than recovery aura provides, even without enhancements.
I will take this opportunity to recommend using a bind to let your team mates know that you are about to use Recovery and Regeneration Aura. The simplest form of this bind is
/bind g group RA in 5 seconds
This sends a message to your team when you press the g key that says youll be using the powers in 5 seconds. I have seen variations on this bind where characters use an emote as well as saying something. The most complicated one included the player using the scorecard emotes to show how much longer before they were going to use the power.
Build Info:
Offender:
Take by: 18
Slot: 3 recharge/0-1 endurance modification
Balanced
Take by: 18
Slot: 3 recharge/0-1 endurance modification/0-1 endurance reduction
Support
Take by: 18
Slot: 3 recharge/0-1 endurance modification/0-1 endurance reduction.
8. Regeneration Aura
Available at: 26
Endurance Cost: 26
Recharge: 500 seconds
The Regeneration Aura dramatically increases the healing rate of all nearby heroes for a limited time. Emitting this Aura costs you a lot of Endurance, and it takes a long time to recharge. Recharge: Very Long
Your third and final Empathy Power that affects you. Regeneration Aura provides a 500% boost to your heath Regeneration. You wont be using many heals when this is up.
Build Info:
Offender:
Take by: 26
Slot: 3 recharge/1-3 Heals
Balanced
Take by: 26
Slot: 3 recharge/1-3 Heals
Support
Take by: 26
Slot: 3 recharge/3 Heals
9. Adrenaline Boost
Available at: 32
Endurance Cost: 10.4
Recharge: 300 seconds
Dramatically increases an ally's Endurance Recovery, Hit Point Regeneration and attack rate for 90 seconds. Also grants the target high resistance to slow effects. Recharge: Very Long
If I had to choose the best buff in the game, it would be a toss up between Fortitude and this. Adrenaline Boost provides an 800% endurance recovery boost, a 500% health regeneration boost, and a 100% recharge reduction on one team mate for 90 seconds. With 1 endurance modification it will overcome the -recovery from a blasters (or Defenders) nuke. Between this and Regeneration Aura, Support Empathys might find themselves a bit bored when Fortitude is recharging
Build Info:
Offender:
Take by: 32
Slot: 2-3 recharge/0-1 Endurance modification/1-3 Heals
Balanced
Take by: 32
Slot: 3 recharge/0-1 endurance modification/1-3 Heals
Support
Take by: 32
Slot: 3 recharge/1 endurance modification/2 Heals
Secondary Powers: Energy Blast [EMPEN3]
1. Power Bolt
Available at: 1
Accuracy: 1
Damage at 50: 36.2
Endurance Cost: 5.2
Recharge: 4 seconds
Range: 80
A quick attack that rapidly hurls small bolts of energy at foes, sometimes knocking them down. Fast, but little damage. Damage: Minor, Recharge: Fast
There is not a whole lot to say about this power. Youre forced to take it, its rather low damage, and has a 20% chance to knockback. Its good for filling in your attack chain on Balanced and Offender builds. This is also probably your best bet for pulling, since it has the lowest chance for knockback, and when you knock down a foe, it alerts all of its friends in the area.
Build Info:
Offender:
Take by: 1 (auto)
Slot: 1-2 accuracy/3 damage/0-1 endurance reduction/1 recharge reduction
Balanced
Take by: 1 (auto)
Slot: 1 accuracy/1-3 damage/0-1 recharge/0-1 endurance reduction
Support
Take by: 1 (auto)
Slot: 1 accuracy/0-2 damage/0-1 recharge
2. Power Blast
Available at: 2
Accuracy: 1
Damage at 50: 59.3
Endurance Cost: 8.53
Recharge: 8 seconds
Range: 80
A much more powerful, yet slower version of Power Bolt. Power Blast sends a focused beam of energy at a foe that can knock him back. Damage: Moderate, Recharge: Moderate
By slower, they mean it recharges slower. This power takes less time to activate than Power Bolt, and it has a lot better damage. On Offenders, this power is a must. Balanced will get a lot of use out of it too.
Build Info:
Offender:
Take by: 4
Slot: 1-2 accuracy/3 damage/0-1 endurance reduction/1-2 recharge reduction
Balanced
Take by: 8
Slot: 1 accuracy/2-3 damage/0-2 recharge/0-1 endurance reduction
Support
Take by: Skip
Slot: 1 accuracy
3. Energy Torrent
Available at: 4
Accuracy: 1
Damage at 50: 34.7
Endurance Cost: 11.9
Recharge: 12 seconds
Range: 40
Energy Torrent unleashes a cone of powerful energy that can smash foes and possibly send them flying. Damage: Moderate, Recharge: Slow
One of your two AoE attacks, not including your nuke, Energy Torrent is a very wide cone with a rather short range. Offenders will find it very useful on teams, though may not get as much use out of it solo. Balanced may want to skip this and focus on Single Target attacks. Energy Torrent has a 60% chance of knockback, so it can be useful as damage mitigation
Build Info:
Offender:
Take by: 8
Slot: 1 accuracy/3 damage/0-1 endurance reduction/1-2 recharge reduction/0-1 range
Balanced
Take by: 16, or skip
Slot: 1 accuracy/2-3 damage/0-2 recharge/0-1 endurance reduction/0-1 range
Support
Take by: Skip, or take it later in your build
Slot: 1 accuracy/0-2 damage/0-1 recharge/0-1 range
4. Power Burst
Available at: 10
Accuracy: 1
Damage at 50: 76.6
Endurance Cost: 10.4
Recharge: 10 seconds
Range: 40
A short range, but devastating attack. Power Burst unleashes a massive amount of energy dealing very high damage at short distances. The impact from this burst often knocks back most foes. Damage: High, Recharge: Slow
Outside of your nuke and your snipe, this is your highest damage attack. Offenders and Balanced will rely on this power for the majority of their damage. This power also has a 60% chance for knockback.
Build Info:
Offender:
Take by: 10
Slot: 1 accuracy/3 damage/0-1 endurance reduction/1-2 recharge reduction/0-1 range
Balanced
Take by: 10
Slot: 1 accuracy/2-3 damage/0-2 recharge/0-1 endurance reduction/0-1 range
Support
Take by: Skip
Slot: 1 accuracy
5. Sniper Blast
Available at: 16
Accuracy: 1.2
Damage at 50: 99.8
Endurance Cost: 14.4
Recharge: 12 seconds
Range: 150
Interrupt time: 3 seconds
A focused blast that can travel great distances with high Accuracy. This is a sniper attack, and is best fired from a distance, as it can be interrupted. Damage: Superior, Recharge: Slow
This is a pretty standard Snipe, except it has a 50% chance to knockback. I use this to open every fight solo, slotted you can take a +1 minion down to a little more than ½ health with just this. The knockback is dangerous if you are using this to pull, so be prepared to have more than one guy come around the corner if you try. As snipes are situational, I would say it is not required in any build. This is really only good for opening fights, as even with interrupt reductions, youve got a good chance of it getting interrupted if you use it during a fight.
Build Info:
Offender:
Take by: 28, or skip.
Slot: 1 accuracy/3 damage
Balanced
Take by: 30 or skip
Slot: 1 accuracy/3 damage
Support
Take by: Skip
Slot: 1 accuracy
6. Aim
Available at: 20
Accuracy: N/A
Damage at 50: N/A
Endurance Cost: 5.2
Recharge: 90 seconds
Range: N/A
Greatly increases the Accuracy of your attacks for a few seconds. Slightly increases damage. Recharge: Long
The description for this power is deceiving. For Defenders, Aim gives a 50% boost to both to-hit and damage for 10 seconds. If you solo, youll love using this before sniper blast, followed by power burst, it will take out +1 minions. Offenders dont want to skip this, though Balanced may find it slightly less useful. This is also great for using right before Nova for extra damage.
Build Info:
Offender:
Take by: 30 or skip
Slot: 3 Recharge
Balanced
Take by: 35 or skip
Slot: 3 Recharge
Support
Take by: Skip
Slot: 3 recharge
7. Power Push
Available at: 28
Accuracy: 1.4
Damage at 50: 14.5
Endurance Cost: 8.53
Recharge: 8 seconds
Range: 70
This ranged attack deals little damage, but sends the target flying for a great distance. Damage: Minor, Recharge: Moderate
I only recently copied my Empathy/Energy onto the test server and put this power in. I was pleasantly surprised at how well this worked for damage mitigation. It does take quite a bit of effort to keep an enemy in a state of perma-knockdown, but it is your only power that offers 100% knockback, and your only form of reliable control until your Ancillary Power Pool. I would even suggest this for Support, because an enemy that is knocked down is an enemy that is not hurting your team.
Build Info:
Offender:
Take by: 44 or skip
Slot: 1-2 accuracies/2recharge/0-3 knockback
Balanced
Take by: 35 or skip
Slot: 1-2 accuracies/2recharge/0-3 knockback
Support
Take by: 30, or skip
Slot: 1-2 accuracies/2recharge/0-3 knockback
8. Explosive Blast
Available at: 35
Accuracy: 1
Damage at 50: 32.5
Endurance Cost: 15.2
Recharge: 16 seconds
Range: 80
You hurl a blast of charged energy that violently explodes on impact, damaging all foes near the target. Damage: Minor, Recharge: Slow
I love this power. It does less damage than Energy Torrent, but it is a Targeted AoE attack, so it is possible to use it with more precision. It is also a very cool attack, you shoot out a small ball of energy that explodes on contact, sending out more small balls that explode on contact. Explosive Blast has a 50% chance to knockback, and the enemy is knocked away from you, not away from the blast, so its easier to control. Balanced may find this skippable, as it can draw quite a bit of aggro.
Build Info:
Offender:
Take by: 35
Slot: 1 accuracy/3 damage/ 1-2 recharge/0-1 endurance
Balanced
Take by: 44 or skip
Slot: 1 accuracy/3 damage/ 1-2 recharge/0-1 endurance
Support
Take by: skip
Slot: 1 accuracy
9. Nova
Available at: 38
Accuracy: 1.4
Damage at 50: 176.2
Endurance Cost: 20.8, it also drains all of your endurance if it hits anything
Recharge: 360 seconds
Range: N/A
You can explode in a tremendous blast of energy, sending nearby foes flying. The Nova deals massive damage to all nearby foes, although the damage does vary. Activating this power leaves you drained of Endurance, and unable to recover any Endurance for a while. Damage: Extreme, Recharge: Very Long
Nova is a lot like most Defender Nukes. When you hit something, you are drained of all your endurance, and you are hit with -1000% recovery for 15 seconds. Note with a second Empathy defender casting adrenaline boost and Recovery Aura on you, you can overcome this part of the penalty, though you will still lose all your endurance. I normally team with other Empathys or Kineticicsts, so I use Nova about as often as I can. It does substantially less damage than the Blaster version, so you may want to save this for after the group has been damaged a bit. Though its penalty is heavy, Support Empathys can find use for this, as a way to prevent a team wipe.
Build Info:
Offender:
Take by: 38
Slot: 1 accuracy/3 damage/2 recharge
Balanced
Take by: 38 or skip
Slot: 1 accuracy/3 damage/ 0-2 recharge
Support
Take by: 38 or skip
Slot: 1 accuracy/3 damage/0-2 recharge
Power Pools [EMPEN4]
There are a total of 10 power pools that you can get powers from starting at level 6, but each character can only open up to 4 power pools.
Fighting
This pool has two attacks and 2 defensive toggles. It might be worth getting for an offender build, but the return on the investment for the toggles is really not very good. Support can skip this without a second glance. If a balanced is looking for a couple more attacks, they could look here.
Fitness
Fitness is considered mandatory on many builds. However, as an Empathy/ you have access to Recovery Aura at 18, this will be up more often than not after it is slotted with Single Origin enhancements. Skippable on all three builds, some people claim that it is required on a support character, but I think theyre just looking for powers that wont draw aggro on themselves.
Flight
Flight is the slowest real travel power in the game, but it really isnt all that slow, and I enjoy flying around on some characters. Offenders and Balanced will find great use in Air Superiority, Support should probably stick to hover, though the 100% knockdown of Air Superiority could be used for damage mitigation. Hover also adds knockback mitigation. Using hover can usually be good for positioning cones, but since Energy Blast has only 1 cone attack, it is not very important in that aspect
Invisibility
Grant Invisibility can be good for teams, lowering a team mates threat level cant be bad. However, I would say this is one pool that is easily skippable.
Leadership
You will take leadership. Assault grants an 18.75% buff to your and your allys damage.
Tactics, un-slotted, provides a 12.5% to-hit buff, and a 75% resistance to confused and terrify effects, which most mez protections do not protect against.
Vengeance is good to use after an ally dies before you rez him (if you took Resurrect) or just good to use after an ally dies. Its very useful, but if you cant fit it in your build, it wont be too life changing.
Leaping
Your second travel power option. Its faster than fly, but not quite as safe, however, it also leads to opening up Acrobatics, for a very small hold protection, but also knockback protection, which can be useful for an Offender. Jump Kick got a buff recently, but its still not a terribly good attack. If youre planning on opening up 4 pools including jumping and you want an attack, go for jump kick, if not, take Combat Jumping and open Flight for Air Superiority.
Medicine
I do not know why anyone playing an Empathy/ would take Medicine, since you have access to powers that are better than everything this pool has to offer. That being said, it is fairly common for Support style characters to take the Medicine Pool.
Presence
Here lies a dilemma for all three build types. Offenders can find use for either Challenge or Provoke, and might find Intimidate and Invoke Panic useful, but is it worth spending 3 powers on to get? Support could lower incoming damage by taking Intimidate and Invoke Panic, but they would never find a use for Challenge or Provoke, it is also 3 powers that they have to give up to get them. Balanced is in the same boat as both Offenders and Support.
Its not a necessity in any situation, so my first reaction would be to skip it entirely on all three builds, however, I have seen Offenders use Provoke to effectively take the heat off a Blaster in trouble, onto himself, which he was then able to handle.
Speed
No matter how you build your Empathy, you want Hasten from the Speed Pool. Your two RAs take a long time to recharge, with hasten up, you can have them up more than they are down. Do not set Hasten on Auto Fire, use it right after you use RA for the maximum effect.
Super Speed is a good travel power, but it lacks vertical movement, which can be a bit of a pain. This can be solved by taking either Hover, or Combat Jumping. If you are going against my recommendation and taking the fitness pool, Hurdle also makes a nice way to add a bit of jump to Super Speed.
Teleportation
There is a group of people who will tell you that to be good Support Empathy defender, you need to take Recall Friend. The idea is to take it and when your team wipes, you make it away, pull back the corpses and rez everyone. While this is a good theory, Rez takes too long to recharge to be more reasonable than having the team go to the hospital. Recall can be good for this too, since you can shorten their travel time by teleporting them right back to the mission.
I dont see too much of a need to take Recall Friend on any build, unless you want to take Teleport as your travel power, because it tends to be more useful than Teleport Foe.
Ancillary Power Pools [EMPEN5]
At level 41, you unlock your Ancillary Power Pools, or APPs. They contain 4 powers each, and you can only open one, though if you respec, you can change which one you choose. For Defenders, they are
Dark Mastery
Dark Mastery is not a good choice for a Support Defender, because it focuses on powers that affect enemies. Oppressive Gloom is a very decent Mag 2 stun, meaning it will take minions out of a fight. It is a PBAoE toggle, so you need to sit in the middle of a group and leave it running for it to have its best effects. Many Offenders swear by this power. This power uses very little endurance, but it also takes a small amount of health away from you for every mob it hits. The amount of damage is pretty negligible (3 damage at level 50) especially if you have Regeneration Aura running.
Dark Consumption is a PBAoE attack that gives you endurance for each foe you hit, the base is 25% per mob, so endurance modifications are probably less important than accuracies and recharges (360 second base)
Dark Embrace: Each Defender APP has a shield that gives resistence to smashing and lethal. Dark Embrace also gives resistence to negative and toxic damage. Very useful for Offenders, can be useful on a balanced, depending on the build.
Soul Drain: This PBAoE attack gives you a bonus to your accuracy and damage for each enemy you hit for 30 seconds. Very good to use prior to a Nuke for maximum carnage
Electric Mastery
Electric Fence: not much to say, its basically identical to the Blaster version that they get at level 1. It could be useful for a bit of damage mitigation, but this far into the game, range does not necessarily mean safety
Thunder Strike: This is a melee attack with a chance to disorient the target (up to a lieutenant) it also has a chance of knocking down anything around the target. Probably better than electric fence if you want this pool
Charged Armor: Electrics shield it gives resistance to smashing, lethal, and energy damage
Power Sink: Similar to Darks Dark Consumption, but it drains enemy endurance to replenish your own. You could use this as a way to sap guys by slotting for endurance modifications, but youll want to slot for recharge first. It appears to be an Auto hit power, so you could feasibly slot 3 recharge/3 Endurance Modification and almost completely drain the enemies of their endurance.
Power Mastery
If you plan on soloing at all, and you did not take Power Push, I would skip this pool. Total focus, the control of the set comes at minimum level of 47. That being said, this can be a very good pool.
Conserve Power: severely reduces your endurance usage for 90 seconds. Its very useful for skipping stamina, as you can use it after Recovery Aura wears off, it will last slightly longer than it will take to get Recovery Aura to recharge, that means you have a full 270 seconds of non-existent endurance issues. Unfortunately, it takes longer to recharge than Recovery Aura, which means it will be down when the second Recovery Aura drops. Conserve Power is also useful in combating endurance draining enemies such as Freaks and Malta.
Power Build Up: increases your damage and most secondary effects. Use this before a nuke on an offender, use it before casting RA or AB or Fortitude for some fun defensive numbers. Also useful for a more powerful heal if your team starts to nosedive.
Temp Invulnerability: This sets shield, only resists Smashing and Lethal
Total Focus: a very slow melee attack, but it makes up for it in its massive damage (108.9 unslotted) and the fact that it gives a mag 4 stun, meaning it will take a boss out of the fight in one hit.
Psychic Mastery
This is the most controllery set, its very good for filling in control gaps.
Dominate: identical to the Controller version, a single target hold that does moderate damage, it has less of a hold duration than the Controller version.
Mass Hypnosis: this power is also identical to the Controller version, an AoE sleep that does not cause aggro, very useful in preventing a second group from attacking you while your team works on the first. Also useful for soloing larger groups.
Mind Over Body: Psychics shield, it gives resists to Smashing, Lethal, and Psionic,
Telekinesis: also identical to the Controller version, useful for stacking magnitudes of Dominate on a boss
General Energy Blast Tactics [EMPEN6]
While Knockback is fun, it can cause issues if, for example, you knock an enemy that has a debuff toggle on it into another group. So, here are some basic strategies.
1. Keep moving. Every time you blast an enemy, jump past it and shoot from that side, this can get a bit tricky some times, and it takes practice, but its very good when no other tactic is available, such as in an open map.
2. Look for walls and corners. If you can put your target between you and a wall, he wont be knocked around very far. This very simple practice will save you a lot of unwanted aggro. Pushing someone into a corner is even better, because they wont move anywhere.
3. Use fly to turn knockback into knockdown. If you are a flying character with hover, position yourself directly above your target, rather than being knocked back, they will simply get knocked down.
4. Teaming and knockback. If youre on a team, try to use your knockback to push enemies back onto debuff patches such as Disruption Arrow, Freezing Rain, or Caltrops. If you get good at this, youll get a lot of praise from your team mates. This same strategy can be used to push enemies back into things such as Radiation Infection or Snowstorm.
5. Dont be afraid to push guys off cliffs. This can be useful if your team is having a bit of trouble, pushing a particularly difficult mob over a cliff will give you time to clean up the weaker enemies and get your team back to full strength.
6. Have 2 groups attacking you? Use Energy Torrent and Explosive blast to push the two groups into one, where they will all be affected by location and targeted AoE debuffs. This will also allow tanks to hold aggro slightly easier, and is also better for AoE oriented blasters.
IOs and Set Bonuses [EMPEN7]
I personally slotted all of my single target attacks with 5 IOs from Thunderstike for the increase recovery and the increased accuracy.
I put 5 slots from Positrons Blast for Energy Torrent and Explosive Blast for the increased endurance recovery and increased recharge speed.
For Fortitude, I chose Gift of the Ancients for the increased recovery from two slots.
Healing Aura got 2 Miracles for the endurance recovery as well.
I was, obviously, looking for more endurance recovery so I could blast as much without Recovery Aura as I could with. However, you might find more use from some other sets, so see what sounds important.
Many of my slots are standard IOs, from level 35 up, they are more effective than Single Origin Enhancements.
One possible idea would be to use the Luck of the Gambler increased recharge time enhancement in several defensive powers, such as Fortitude, Hover, Maneuvers, and Grant Invisibility as well as slotting Entropic Chaos or Decimation and Positrons Blast to get a recharge bonus to try and make your RAs and hasten recharge faster
Another possibility is to slot Devastation to get a damage bonus to all your attacks.
A useful Enhancement to try and acquire are the +Stealth IOs that are available for all travel powers. I personally have the jump IO (Unbounded Leap) slotted in sprint so that I can have partial stealth at all times.
What is the best combination of IO slotting? That really depends on what you are looking for out of your sets. A Support Empathy probably wouldnt get much use out of slotting their defensive powers with Red Fortune for the damage bonus, or Luck of the Gambler for the accuracy bonus, but a Balanced or an Offender might. Similarly, an Offender might find slotting their heals to get an increased healing bonus unnecessary, but a Support might like it.
I recommend checking out
ParagonWikis Enhancement Set page to see what you might want to slot your powers with.
Possible Builds
For all three of these builds, I will not be using IOs, so use them as you see fit. It should be noted that these may not be considered the most min/maxed builds out there, so take these as a starting point and go where you see fit.
Offender [EMPEN8]
This build is very similar to my current build, it effectively solos on Rugged against anything but an Elite Boss, Arch Villain, Monster, or Giant Monster.
Consider switching out Sniper Blast, Aim, or Explosive Blast for Power Push for additional control
Level 1: Healing Aura -- Heal(A), Heal(3), Heal(7), EndRdx(23)
Level 1: Power Bolt -- Acc(A), EndRdx(3), Dmg(9), Dmg(13), Dmg(23), RechRdx(42)
Level 2: Power Blast -- Acc(A), EndRdx(5), Dmg(9), Dmg(15), Dmg(31), RechRdx(37)
Level 4: Energy Torrent -- Acc(A), EndRdx(5), Dmg(7), Dmg(34), Dmg(34), RechRdx(43)
Level 6: Resurrect -- RechRdx(A)
Level 8: Combat Jumping -- Jump(A)
Level 10: Power Burst -- Acc(A), EndRdx(11), Dmg(11), Dmg(17), Dmg(40), RechRdx(43)
Level 12: Fortitude -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(13), DefBuff(15)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Jump(A)
Level 16: Hasten -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(17), RechRdx(21)
Level 18: Recovery Aura -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(19), RechRdx(19), EndMod(21)
Level 20: Clear Mind -- RechRdx(A)
Level 22: Assault -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(50)
Level 24: Tactics -- EndRdx(A), ToHit(25), ToHit(25), ToHit(29)
Level 26: Regeneration Aura -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(27), RechRdx(27), Heal(46), Heal(46)
Level 28: Sniper Blast -- Acc(A), Dmg(29), Dmg(31), Dmg(34)
Level 30: Aim -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(31), RechRdx(33)
Level 32: Adrenalin Boost -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(33), RechRdx(33), EndMod(36), Heal(46), Heal(48)
Level 35: Explosive Blast -- Acc(A), EndRdx(36), Dmg(36), Dmg(37), Dmg(37), RechRdx(45)
Level 38: Nova -- Acc(A), Dmg(39), Dmg(39), Dmg(39), RechRdx(40), RechRdx(40)
Level 41: Dominate -- Acc(A), Acc(42), Hold(42), Hold(43), RechRdx(45), RechRdx(45)
Level 44: Super Speed -- EndRdx(A)
Level 47: Mind Over Body -- EndRdx(A), ResDam(48), ResDam(48), ResDam(50)
Level 49: Telekinesis -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(50)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
Balanced [EMPEN9]
A very simple balanced build, I chose to focus on ST damage for this particular build and to skip the AoEs, other than Nova. This build should be pretty strong in your run-of-the-mill Pick-Up Group, once you get a bit higher in level, you should be able to solo without too much trouble on Heroic, possibly Tenacious.
Level 1: Healing Aura -- Heal(A), Heal(3), Heal(23), EndRdx(42), RechRdx(46)
Level 1: Power Bolt -- Acc(A), Dmg(5), EndRdx(9), Dmg(21), Dmg(34), RechRdx(40)
Level 2: Heal Other -- Heal(A), Heal(3), Heal(23), EndRdx(43), RechRdx(45)
Level 4: Power Blast -- Acc(A), Dmg(5), EndRdx(7), Dmg(25), Dmg(29), RechRdx(36)
Level 6: Hasten -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(7), RechRdx(9)
Level 8: Hover -- Flight(A), Flight(15)
Level 10: Power Burst -- Acc(A), Dmg(11), EndRdx(11), Dmg(13), Dmg(29), RechRdx(36)
Level 12: Fortitude -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(13), RechRdx(15), DefBuff(34), DefBuff(40), DefBuff(43)
Level 14: Fly -- Flight(A)
Level 16: Sniper Blast -- Acc(A), Dmg(17), Dmg(17), Dmg(21)
Level 18: Recovery Aura -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(19), RechRdx(19)
Level 20: Clear Mind -- Empty(A)
Level 22: Assault -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(46)
Level 24: Tactics -- EndRdx(A), ToHit(25), ToHit(34), ToHit(40), EndRdx(46)
Level 26: Regeneration Aura -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(27), RechRdx(27), Heal(43)
Level 28: Resurrect -- RechRdx(A)
Level 30: Power Push -- Acc(A), Acc(31), RechRdx(31), RechRdx(31)
Level 32: Adrenalin Boost -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(33), RechRdx(33), EndMod(33), Heal(37), Heal(37)
Level 35: Vengeance -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(36), ToHit(37)
Level 38: Nova -- Acc(A), Dmg(39), Dmg(39), Dmg(39)
Level 41: Power Build Up -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(42), RechRdx(42)
Level 44: Conserve Power -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(45), RechRdx(45)
Level 47: Total Focus -- Acc(A), Dmg(48), Dmg(48), Dmg(48), RechRdx(50)
Level 49: Aim -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(50), RechRdx(50)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
Support [EMPEN10]
I have seen Support oriented Empathys take builds that had nothing from their secondary other than the one power they were required to take. This particular build gives you the ability to stealth missions to the end and teleport your team to the last group of guys. It gives everyone a small defense bonus from Grant Invisibility and eventually, Maneuvers. This is not a solo Friendly build, at all. You will live and die by teaming.
Level 1: Healing Aura -- Heal(A), Heal(3), Heal(5), RechRdx(9), EndRdx(21), RechRdx(36)
Level 1: Power Bolt -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Heal Other -- Heal(A), Heal(3), Heal(7), RechRdx(9), EndRdx(21), RechRdx(36)
Level 4: Absorb Pain -- Heal(A), Heal(5), Heal(7), RechRdx(17), RechRdx(42)
Level 6: Resurrect -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(43)
Level 8: Clear Mind -- RechRdx(A)
Level 10: Hasten -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(11), RechRdx(11)
Level 12: Fortitude -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(13), RechRdx(13), DefBuff(15), DefBuff(15), DefBuff(25)
Level 14: Recall Friend -- RechRdx(A)
Level 16: Teleport -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(17)
Level 18: Recovery Aura -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(19), RechRdx(19), EndMod(37)
Level 20: Assault -- EndRdx(A)
Level 22: Tactics -- EndRdx(A), ToHit(23), ToHit(23), ToHit(39), EndRdx(40)
Level 24: Vengeance -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(25), DefBuff(36), ToHit(37), ToHit(37), ToHit(40)
Level 26: Regeneration Aura -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(27), RechRdx(27), Heal(29), Heal(29), Heal(34)
Level 28: Grant Invisibility -- RechRdx(A), EndRdx(39), DefBuff(45), DefBuff(46), DefBuff(46)
Level 30: Power Push -- Acc(A), Acc(31), RechRdx(31), RechRdx(31), KBDist(43), KBDist(43)
Level 32: Adrenalin Boost -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(33), RechRdx(33), Heal(33), Heal(34), Heal(34)
Level 35: Super Speed -- EndRdx(A), Run(40)
Level 38: Stealth -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(39), DefBuff(46)
Level 41: Conserve Power -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(42), RechRdx(42)
Level 44: Power Build Up -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(45), RechRdx(45)
Level 47: Maneuvers -- EndRdx(A), DefBuff(48), DefBuff(48), DefBuff(48)
Level 49: Nova -- Acc(A), Dmg(50), Dmg(50), Dmg(50)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
Acknowledgements [EMPEN11]
Id like to thank Jade_Eternity for assistance on the Support Empathy aspect of this guide.
All hard numbers have been compiled from Red Tomaxs City of Data,
http://coh.redtomax.com/ and Mids Hero Designer
http://www.onthejazz.co.uk/hu/mhd.php
