Rigel_Kent

Right now, there are only three defender buffs which you have to think about who to give them to. Forge and Painbringer will also be tricky, if and when we get those powersets.

Fortitude: The Swiss Army buff. Often there's "that one guy" on your team who's dealing a lot of AoE damage and/or debuffs, and taking more aggro than he can handle. Hopefully "that one guy" is not you. Fort him. Alternatively, if you can tell someone is holding back on AoE damage and/or debuffs for fear of taking more aggro than he can handle, again, Fort him. If you still have Forts left over, and hopefully you do, Fort other AoE damage dealers in general, to get the most leverage out of the +damage buff.

Adrenalin Boost: Look for awesome powers on long recharge timers. This will often be buffs and debuffs (chain Freezing Rain? yes please), but nukes and mininukes also qualify. AB whoever has such a power.

Frostworks: Preference goes to low HP teammates who aren't near their HP cap, to help protect against lucky shots. This means controllers & dominators, defenders & corrupters, masterminds and unlockable ATs. If you have Frostworks left over, brutes, tankers, and scrappers can also benefit. Don't bother with blasters or stalkers due to their useless HP cap (+33%, easily self-capped with accolades and set bonuses).

Interestingly, if you could self-buff with these powers, and you're playing both your powersets well, you'd almost always be the ideal candidate for your own buffs. Something to think about when teaming with fellow defenders. Wink wink. Nudge.

Achievement: Got 4 toons to level 50.

Disachievement: See Join Date.

Oh, I agree, I wouldn't dream of doing a Hamidon raid without resistance debuffs, no matter how they're resisted. When I say I wish Hamidon would hurry up and die already I mean, like, within my four-second blapper attention--

*distracted* Ooh, there's a healer thread around that corner. *goes to get more aggro*

Nothing wrong with healing, so long as it's in the proper perspective.

Empathy remains one of the best healing sets in the game. Its self-heal is tied for fastest recharging self-heal in the game, and it has an Instant Healing clone. Too bad you have to go to a power pool for taunts, but if you're blasting and debuffing enough, that should attract enough aggro to keep things interesting. Pair it with something like Psychic Scream, and laugh as the slow trickle of bullets doesn't come even close to beating your regen.

Oh? What's that? You didn't mean self-healing, you meant something like "green numbers that prevent team wipes?"

Three words: Vengeance on auto.

If resistance debuffs were resisted by current resistance, then yes, you'd get a kind of cascade, with resistance debuffs increasing exponentially as they stack.

But resistance debuffs are definitely resisted by base resistance. That's why Hamidon refuses to just die already, no matter how many Sleets, Freezing Rains, Tar Patches, Enervating Fields, Acid Mortars, Poisons, Trick Arrows, Sonic Stuff, and Kinky Fire Whips fifty raiders throw at it. It's also why those green mitos get vaporized so fast under those same debuffs when their base resistance drops.

Absolutely agreeing with the prior post that kinetics and cones are a mismatch. Kinetics is more commonly seen with a targeted AoE lawnmower like Rain of Arrows, or a single target beatdown like Psi Blast, for precisely that reason.

But if someone put a gun to your head and forced you to pair kinetics with a decently damaging cone blast, Tenebrous Tentacles would be my #1 pick, followed by (Sonic) Shockwave at a distant #2. Immobilization gives you the option of hanging out within Transfusion / Transference / Fulcrum Shift / Blackstar radius without eating melee attacks. (Add ranged def and Provoke for lulz.) Getting good at jousting will be vital, to minimize time wasted moving back and forth without powers animating (the purpose of my Sonic/Fire blaster is to flip out and joust people, ALL the time).

An option is a "pure" ranged kinetic built strictly for teaming. Maybe pick up Repel and ranged defense invention set bonuses, stay 40-60' back from enemies, and play support. Definitely not the most effective kinetic build, but at least you'll be applying some blasts, mezzes, and debuffs (unlike typical "pure" empaths), and you won't need fast fingers for jousting. Think long and hard about the justification for this character -- one tiny thing you might do better than Mr. Random Fire/Kin Controller, who will otherwise deal damage, mez, and tank better than you.

Your justification will probably be "willing to buffbot for teammates not named 'Fire Imp'".

If that justification is not good enough, don't go with the "pure" ranged option. L2joust and enjoy part-time melee goodness. Then if Mr. Random Fire/Kin Controller gets uppity with you, just FulcrumShiftBlackstar the next spawn in the fase.

Depending on your playstyle, and how good you are at jousting and aiming knockbacks, you may get more use out of Shockwave than Howl. Try both before you commit to one.

EM Pulse seems to be more trouble than it's worth. It's a bit overkill to shut off your own recovery with a very long recharge hold every time you encounter a "problem" minion or LT. Possibly better to switch to Screech or Shocking Bolt to mez them individually.

You might swap the slotting between Scream and Shout. Shout is nice for its accuracy bonus, but Scream is the single target DPS workhorse of the set.

1-slotting Power Sink was a good move, I think. You will probably only use Power Sink immediately after Dreadful Wail + Catch a Breath. Or if you're not nuking, only while AM is down and your end is running low. So it doesn't need any recharge slotting.

If you're going to 3-slot a ranged blast, consider Devastation instead of Maelstrom's Fury. Devastation's max health boost will help against alphas and lucky shots.

Numina's proc may not be as useful as adding another slot to a single target blast. You seem to be fine on recovery, and you're going to be either Power Sinking or crashing your endurance on purpose (or both) every couple of minutes anyway. On the other hand, having only one single target damage power near the ED damage enhancement cap is asking for trouble on a solo defender (except maybe Kinetics). Even with enormous amounts of recharge buffing, I'd still want at least two high damage slotted ST blasts to keep up the DPS.

Fair warning: Storm isn't a strictly ranged set. Quite a few stormies jump in and tank, and not just to Thunderclap.

If you want to keep it ranged as a personal preference, look for sets that reward you for keeping back a ways. Dark Blast, Sonic Attack, Ice Blast, Psi Blast, and Archery come to mind. Mind, Earth and Plant Control too.

Then again, maybe you want to embrace your inner tankfender. Toggle Hurricane, jump into the mob, toggle it off and dump Freezing Rain as soon as you land, /em boombox. Radiation Blast, Illusion and Fire Control will steer you down that path.

Masterminds can go either way, depending how you feel about melee and bodyguards. I don't have much experience with masterminds... er, not with masterminds who have pets, anyway....

How do you feel about stopping by Wentworth's and buying a few cheap Centrioles?

You may be a scrapper at heart, but most scrappers have a hard time dealing sustained damage to ten targets at once. A /dark defender with range slotting won't have that problem. What you lack in kill speed, you can make up for by inviting more critters to the DoT party.

In fact, thanks in part to range slotting, I've got the opposite problem. Melee toons frustrate me because, despite their higher damage, I can't cone blast ten at a time like my defenders or blasters can. Squeezing in really close with my scrapper and getting 4, maybe 5 targets in my teeny tiny 8' PBAoE just isn't the same.

To play as: Storm. No matter how much I goof off, no matter how many toggles I switch on or off because I'm bored of them, the enemies are screwed.

To play with: Kinetic. If I have to explain, get off the boards and go roll a Kin.

Here's some of what you missed since 2006.

==========

Issue 8: The police scanner gives access to randomly generated missions. These missions are short, guaranteed to be in the same zone as you, and tend to be on the easy side, good for PuGging and casual play.

==========

Issue 9: The Hamidon raid has been changed. Empathy's regeneration buffs are crucial to the new strategy. You'll make many friends at Hamidon raids.

The Statesman Task Force (STF), located in Independence Port, has become popular endgame content.

The invention system, also added this issue, opens up some new slotting opportunities. Healing enhancement recipes tend to be expensive, but you can often get control and debuff enhancement recipes for about the same cost as SOs. Check Admissions Officer Lenk in Steel Canyon to begin the invention shstem tutorial.

For example, random pieces of the Enfeebled Operation and Ruin sets can add more versatility to your Subdue blast without costing you much inf or sacrificing damage.

When you become wealthier, then you can start matching the more expensive sets like Doctored Wounds to build up recharge bonuses.

Speaking of wealth, you can buy and sell your goodies at Wentworth's Consignment House (WW) with locations in various spots around the city. WW operates on an auction-like system, so there are some good deals to be made.

==========

Issue 10: The Lady Grey Task Force (LGTF), located in the revamped Rikti War Zone, has become popular endgame content.

==========

Issue 11: Both Ouroboros and the invention system provide more opportunities to acquire temporary powers. As a /Psi defender, this gives you more options for dealing with robots and zombies solo, so check them out. The way to unlock Ouroboros is a secret, but maybe if you do a little time traveling....

==========

Between issues 11 and 12: A change to the blaster inherent power Defiance resulted in some defender blast animation times being sped up. You should notice Mental Blast fires off much more quickly now than it used to.

You can now see the "real numbers" of powers by right-clicking on their icon. You can also track the total values of buffs affecting you through the Combat Attributes window. Now you can see more clearly than ever how oober your defender-strength buffs and debuffs are.

==========

Issue 12: The Imperious Task Force (ITF), in the new zone of Cimerora, has become popular endgame content. You'll need to do a mission arc for Montague Castanella in Steel Canyon to access Cimerora.

Three identical inspirations can now be converted into a single inspiration of the same level but different type. Many players use this to make Awakens on the fly, so Resurrection is a little less important than it used to be.

==========

Issue 13: Merit Rewards are earned for completing certain tasks, like defeating a Giant Monster or finishing a Task Force. Merit Rewards can be traded to Merit Vendors throughout the city for goodies.

==========

Issue 14: The Mission Architect system (MA) allows you to build or run player-created missions. Visit an Architect Entertainment building (AE) to get started. See the Architect Studio Manager in Atlas Park to do the tutorial.

==========

Issue 15: You didn't miss a thing, darlin'.

==========

Issue 16: Super sidekicking sets everyone on a team to the same level. Before, a common Empathy metagame strategy (Force Fields too) would be to beg onto a higher level team, since buffs and heals aren't impacted by level differences, and level very quickly fighting purples.

In the new teaming environment, with all team members at the same level, I'd say it's more important than ever for defenders to have balanced builds. Debuffs, controls, and blasts are on more even footing with buffs and heals.

Along with the new auto-sidekicking system, the level restrictions on most hazard and trial zones have been removed. So you can go to the Rikti War Zone at any level now.

Additionally, when you exemplar down to level N, you now keep powers you obtained at or before level N+5. This means you can bring, for example, Recovery Aura (18) and Will Domination (20) to a Positron Task Force (15), Regeneration Aura (26) and Psionic Tornado (28) to a Sister Psyche Task Force (25), etc., assuming you got those powers at the earliest level available.

The issue also expands the difficulty tweaking system. By visiting a Hero Corps Field Analyst you can change not just the relative level of enemies inside your missions, but also the effective size of your team. For example, a duo on +2/x6 will fight lots of +2 enemies as though they were a team of six.

Also, if you don't like the color of your blasts, stop by a tailor and check out the new power customization added in this issue. You can change those hot pink bubbles into whatever color your prefer.

==========

Issue 17: The Positron Task Force is now split into two segments. It's still relatively hard for its level, but not nearly as long.

You may now have more missions and arcs active at once. Additionally, you may abandon missions you don't feel like doing.

If you were on a global channel before, it might have changed names. Before Issue 17, global channels sometimes got full with no way to kick off inactive users, so changing the channel's name was the only way to open back up again. Check around to see what the new channel names are.

Issue 17 gave the Defender inherent ability Vigilance a second effect. It still reduces the endurance cost of your powers if you're near hurt teammates. It now also gives you a small damage bonus if you're on a small team or solo.

==========

Issue 18: You can now change alignments and become a villainous Defender if you so choose. You can even take a villain patron power pool instead of an APP, if you switch sides and unlock them. Look for Tip missions to drop. You are also no longer restricted to trading items and inf cross-faction.

Tankers now have 10% more base health. Don't be alarmed when you try to heal them and their life bar doesn't budge much.

==========

Issue 19: The Fitness power pool is now inherent for all characters. This makes Recovery Aura a bit less important. AB is still fantastic for its regen and recharge buffs.

Your old defender can now enter and explore the Going Rogue Praetorian zones, if you have the Going Rogue expansion.

All the train stations are now connected. You can travel from Atlas Park to Founders Falls in one click.

You may now choose alternate animations at the tailor for most of your Psychic Blast powers.

You can now earn an Alpha Slot, the first part of the Incarnate system. You must be level 50, have the Going Rogue expansion, and have access to Ouroboros to do this.

==========

Issue 19.5 (Strike Pack): Each week, a certain task force now gives extra bonuses when you complete that task force. Which task force is the strike target of the week is pre-announced. The current target hero-side is Numina's Task Force.

Looks pretty good. My playstyle will differ from yours, of course, but here are three alternatives I like that you might consider.

Charged Bolt -> Electric Fence

I'm a fan of Electric Fence, actually. The damage isn't totally horrible, the end drain isn't totally horrible, the immobilization is fine, and you're forced to take it anyway. I actually skipped Charged Bolt in favor of slotting up EF and blapping with secondaries. This makes EF does double duty as DoT and rooter. Handy for those times on a TF where you don't have anyone else on the team to root the AV.

Short Circuit -> Hover

If you're melee shy, like me, Hover lets you stay out of reach of the pack while you pop this PBAoE over their heads. Might be something to use at low levels, then respec out of once you start hitting a defense cap.

Shocking Bolt -> Static Discharge

Meh, two holds are enough. Might as well take the one that kills the target's recovery (Tesla Cage) and the one that does halfway decent damage (Shocking Grasp) and skip the one that does neither. Have you thought about Static Discharge instead?

And of course you could always devote your second build to utility, letting your first build be a blap happy damage beast.

Might give FF/Dark or FF/Sonic a try. A cone 100% knockback goes nicely with FF's ST 100% knockback, learn to joust and angle your knockbacks, and enemies land in a nice pile at the scrapper's feet. Add Dark Pit & Tenebrous Tentacles or Siren's Song & Screech or APP mezzes to keep them there.

Yeah, okay, so the OP's build will have issues outside the specific farm missions it's specialized for.

But you can get away with this with Storm. All you need is a second build with just SO's and you'll do fine in non-farm pursuits.

Steamy Mist: lol energy
Hurricane: lol tohit
O2 Boost: lol teslas
Snow Storm: lol oscillators
Thunder Clap: lol minions
Gale: lol princes
Freezing Rain: lol everything

The big bads in that TF are lucky it's too low to bust the Tornadoes out.

Crashing nukes + Defiance 1.0: Sometimes two wrongs do make a right.

I'm a fan of crashing nukes. I don't think they need a total overhaul. So if there's one little thing I'd change about crashing nukes, I'd make the extra overkill damage ticks based on the blaster's HP instead of random. Because a Fulcrum Shifted blaster at 10% hp should leave a crater. Maybe shake the desks at Paragon Studios a little.

If there were a second little thing I'd change about crashing nukes, I'd make them deal their damage even if the blaster dies during the windup. Just like the cheating NPCs. Or the cheating cyborg pack self-destruct.

My Kinetic slots Speed Boost for speed.

Elec Blast doesn't suffer from the Psi Blast problem. Elec doesn't suck outright. Elec's problem is merely mediocre damage paired with blandness.

If we must increase Elec's damage (and I'm not sure we must), add a chance for CB, LB, and Zapp to do chain damage to a nearby target. Why should Chain Induction get all the fun mechanics? This will increase Elec Blast's fun factor without rocking the balance boat.

If we must improve Elec's debuffing (and I think perhaps we should), scrap the unpredictable +endurance idea in favor of more normal acting debuffs. This will make Elec Blast's debuffs act more like other primaries'. For example:

Current CB: -7% endurance, 20% chance of -100% recovery for 2 seconds, 30% chance of +2.6 endurance to self
Current LB: -10% endurance, 30% chance of -100% recovery for 4 seconds, 30% chance of +4.265 endurance to self

Note that enhancing these blasts for endurance modification is rare, since the base drain is small (laughable in PvP), the endurance boost to self is unreliable, and the recovery debuff is already 100% -- if it happens at all.

My wishlist CB: -7% endurance, -20% recovery for 6 seconds
My wishlist LB: -10% endurance, -20% recovery for 10 seconds

Now slotting for endurance modification becomes a little more attractive, as you can meaningfully improve the recovery debuff, and PvPers can no longer laugh Elec off as a total non-threat. The debuffs also gain the simplicity, non-randomness and modest stackability of other primary debuffs, such as Ice Blast's, good for the newbie blaster learning curve.

I think you're starting to see why defenders cause altitis.

Rad/Psychic: Pros: broken amounts of AoE -recharge, nice single target blasts. Cons: no Aim, worthless single target stun, miserable damage type, keep eyes peeled for crafted or flashback temp powers to deal with zombies and robots solo. Vibe: scrapperish -- you can take down a problem target quickly, with enough survivability from your debuffs to be not too squishy (and the team likes your debuffs too).

Rad/Rad: Pros: three non-nuke AoE blasts, a respectable damage type, Cosmic Burst, Achilles' Heel procs, and Irradiate messing with stalkers in PvP in so many ways. Cons: Neutron Bomb's damage type is nice but it's still no Rain of Arrows, unpredictable knockback on Electron Haze. Vibe: tankerish -- you can take point, Burst an LT in the fase, entice the other enemies to crowd around (the fools!), heal yourself, and dodge stuff as long as Radiation Infection is going, just watch out for mez.

Rad/Elec: Pros: nice single target hold, stackable with Choking Cloud, with a recovery shutdown built in, PBU+SC option at high levels. Cons: a bit low on AoE damage, a bit low on ST damage when Sparky isn't focusing. Vibe: defenderish -- you make bad PuGs work by providing a backup plan to shut enemies down (provided your teammates suck at mezzing, spike damage, and tanking), and in a veteran TF (where your teammates don't suck), even though your direct damage is low, your rad debuffs justify your place.

Rad/Dark: Pros: spammable cone immobilize, -tohit stacking is nice in the rare cases defender strength Radiation Infection isn't enough (purples). Cons: no Aim, a bit low on AoE damage, emphasis on cones means you might have to rely on slot-needy Dark Pit for minion mezzing instead of Choking Cloud (and the two don't stack), Torrent's knockback is workable but does little damage and has a steep learning curve. Vibe: controllerish -- you're the "no" man: enemies can't move, can't hit, can't recharge, can't regen without your permission... just pretend your teammates are your pets.

Rad/Sonic: Pros: -resistance debuffs make everything faster, -resistance debuffs' hidden boost to Enervating Field's -damage makes AVs and GMs even sadder pandas, nice split damage type. Cons: cones/Choking Cloud mismatch, Shockwave's knockback has almost as steep a learning curve as Torrent, though the damage is better. Vibe: blasterish -- soloable with careful use of mezzes, debuffs, and single target burst, but with a good team backing you up and letting you go full throttle, look out universe.

All in all, single target damage is the limiting factor for defender soloing, so if you're mostly concerned with soloing, lean towards heavier single target hitters (/Psi is best at that, followed by /Sonic, /Rad, /Elec, then /Dark). Damage and defense are altered in weird ways in PvP, so /Rad actually ends up one of the more popular secondaries for PvP. Any flavor of rad emission will do well on PvE teams in general, but /Dark is especially good for PuGging (chaos reduction), /Sonic is especially good for TFing (AVBBQ).