The Combat Handbook - v2.0
The Rebirth of True Heroes
I. Introduction
Hero - A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one
who has risked or sacrificed his or her life.
Source: Dictionary.com
This manual has one simple purpose: to crystallize and publicize my two year's
worth of City of Heroes combat experience and the experiences of other brave
heroes into a good solid guide for gameplay tactics. This guide's first
version was written after the "Issue 6" crisis; in fact, it was written in
response to it, and to the coming of the true villains in our midst - the
player villains. That being said, the handbook was originally NOT a work in
progress, it was NOT going to be updated, and the points in it were NOT be
discussed by me after its publication. Upon realization of my own stupidity,
and being humbled by a few well informed posts, I have decided to revamp and
update this guide in time for its one year anniversary. Much of the knowledge
contained in this guide has been seen in many other places before; the purpose
of this handbook is not to claim ownership of these ideas, but to place them
all together in one place for ease of use. If any hero has contributed to this
guide, I will place his name next to his ideas in parentheses like so
(HeroName). This way, everyone gets the credit that they are due.
A hero, a true HERO as described in the above definition does NOT complain
about being powerless, for the true hero's power lies in the strength of his
heart, does NOT whine, because he knows that there are people worse off than he
is, and does NOT have the word 'nerf' in his vocabulary, because he accepts
challenge with a grin, not a frown. This manual is dedicated to all the true
heroes that are still out there.
Special Notes: The entire manual will use the pronouns "him and he" to save
time and space, not to slight the fairer sex. This guide will not cover the
Epic Archetypes or PvP.
II. Purpose and Intent - The Five Archetypes
City of Heroes was designed to be a combat-oriented game. While with each new
Issue more and more non-combat content is being added, the game at its core is
a combat game. The five archetypes represent different methods of playstyle.
Much of the reason why players become upset over changes to the game is that
they are used to one playstyle or another and the changes affected the
playstyle they were used to. Tough cookie. In the world of combat there IS no
playstyle, there is only war, and in war anything goes. The good solider knows
how to strategize and work with what he has, to be resourceful and cunning.
However in this game, the designers have explicitly stated that each archetype
was DESIGNED with one ideal playstyle in mind, one playstyle that compliments
that archetype better than any other. While players are free to attempt other
playstyles with their unique builds, these playstyles have been proven time and
time again to be the most effective:
<ul type="square">[*]Tankers: Melee combat, valuing defense more than offense. Wins by being
tougher than the enemy.[*]Scrappers: Melee combat, valuing offense more than defense. Wins by
destroying the enemy one by one quickly.[*]Blasters: Ranged combat, valuing offense more than defense. Wins by
destroying the enemy from a distance quickly.[*]Defenders: Ranged combat, valuing defense over offense. Wins by helping his
team survive the fight.[*]Controllers: Ranged combat, valuing control over enemy's actions. Wins by
stopping the enemy from doing anything.[/list]
While there are 'blappers' and 'scrankers' and 'blaptrollers' and
'blaptankrollers' and every other possible combination out there, these are the
PURPOSE, the driving force, the Tao of these archetypes. This is what these
archetypes were made for, these are the IDEAL. You can try to swim upstream,
and if you are strong in mind and will, can succeed, but if you are a new
player, going with the flow will get you the greatest deal of success.
Here are your roles:
- Tankers - Your job is simple, take as much of the aggro as you can and
slowly wear down your enemy to nothingness, by using your greatest strength -
your godlike ability to survive almost any battle. Tankers are at there best
when they are in ONE mob of enemies, about 7 or 8, taunting them and making
them crazy while he is whittling their life down slowly. A tanker is NOT
invincible however, no hero is meant to be. The tanker is simply the toughest
hero there is. Your natural gift of Gauntlet helps you to keep the attention of
the mobs off of your allies. - Scrappers - Your job is more complex than that of a tanker. While you are
tougher than any other type of hero (except the tankers of course), you can and
will still fall fairly easily. You were not MEANT to tank, if you were, then
you would be a TANKER. No, your job and your gift is in your massive melee
damage. In general melee damage is substantially greater than ranged damage.
While there are of course exceptions to this rule, your natural gift of
Critical Hits make you the Great Gladiator. You more than anyone else should
pay CLOSE attention to the movement and position of your character. I will go
into more detail on movement later in the manual. It is far better for you to
hit and run, than stand and die. Your teammates would probably agree. And just
remember that your gift of making Critical Hits works far more effectively on
Lieutenants and Bosses than minions. - Blasters - Your job is to deal damage, it is that simple. A lot of damage.
Your gift is your ability to wield that damage from a DISTANCE, saving you the
pain of the melee attacks, since you are physically weaker than almost any
other archetype. By keeping your foes far from you, you enhance your own
survivability, as well as that of your teammates. With your superior firepower
you ensure that the enemies do not survive long enough to reach you. However IF
THEY DO, you have a couple more surprises up your sleeve. I will go more into
Blasters' melee and control powers later on. Your natural gift of Defiance
gives you that last extra bit of punch to try to help you take out an enemy
before that enemy takes you out! - Defenders - Your job is to outlast your enemy, by either making him weaker,
making you stronger, or simply healing yourself from all damage. You are much
more comfortable in a team, if you weren't, then you'd be a BLASTER. You do
have some long range punch like the blaster to damage your foes from a
distance, but your greatest strength lies in your assistance to others, and
your hindrance to your foes. Since you are the most team-focused archetype,
your natural gift of Vigilance gives you the energy when you need it the most
to save your teammates from certain doom. - Controllers - Your job is to utterly dominate the battlefield. Like a great
commander, you stand back and control the flow of the battle, using tactics and
the right hold in the right place to seal the deal. You should make use of this
control wisely, since if you don't, you will fall quickly in battle. You have
both mass control powers for the main mob of the enemies, as well as single
target abilities to control enemies that get too close or bosses. Sometimes you
also have pets that can add to your numbers in a battle. Your natural gift of
containment gives you a bit of extra punch when you already have and enemy
under your control.
III. Primary, Secondary, and Pool Powers - The Great Confusion
Remember how I was talking about 'scrankers' and 'blappers' before? Well, they
are violating the first basic rule built into the game. Listen to this, and
repeat it as a mantra:
My primary powers are my PRIMARY powers,
and my secondary powers are SECONDARY.
Scrappers were never meant to be tankers, Blasters were sure as HECK never
meant to be scrappers, and anyone that tells you otherwise is just plain
confused. A Scrapper was designed to dish out damage, not to take it, and
blasters were meant to attack from a distance, not up close. Scrappers defense
was put in there to be a compliment to their offensive attacks, not to replace
them. Blasters melee and control powers were meant to keep enemies away from
you or kill them quickly when they get too close. I only pick on these two
archetypes because they seem to be the only ones that are confused about their
place in the world. If you really feel the need to play a 'scranker', then play
a TANKER. If you really feel the need to play a 'blapper', then play a
SCRAPPER. If you are an experienced player, you can probably make one of these
unique builds work, but only if you are brave and cunning and have a quick wit.
Most players would do well by sticking with what their archetype is good at,
and trying to be the best tanker/scrapper/blaster/defender/controller that they
can be.
Along with that, remember that Power Pool powers were meant to be a compliment
to your character, they were never meant to be relied upon for major support.
These are nice bonuses that can enhance your current abilities or fill some
small gaps in them, but they were never meant to make you into something you
are not, they are far too weak compared to similar primaries and secondaries
for that.
IV. Movement and position - How a Little Space Goes a LONG Way
Issue 6 has brought a problem to my attention. This is a problem that I have
seen for a long time now, but a problem which has been exacerbated due to the
global defense reduction and Enhancement Diversification. Most heroes in a
combat situation, DON'T MOVE. They find a spot where they feel comfortable and
they stay there. This is a big mistake. In combat, strategy is one part
planning, one part resources, and one part cunning. While you may have the most
'uber' build out there, and you may have the best enhancements and teammates,
if you don't have a good personal strategy and knowledge of your position in
the battle, you are lost. Your enemies are AI (artificial intelligence) and
cannot move except in certain pre-defined patterns, why hinder yourself and
lobotomize your advantage by acting in the same manner??? The following are a
few movement strategies:
<ul type="square">[*]The Stance - Staying in one spot and continually firing off your powers. This
will work in a clutch, but should be only used when solo-ing a Heroic mission
or hunting easy mobs for badges. Real success comes from moving beyond this
position.[*]The Dance - This is a strategy that is perfect for the smart scrapper, or the
blaster or defender with a point blank area of effect attack/buff. A smart
scrapper will make use of positioning and run into the battle, attack a few
times, then run out. Rinse and repeat. This works because enemies must stop,
then prepare to attack you when you get into melee range. You have no such
hindrance, you can prepare a power before you are in range, then when you are
in range it will fire off and you can clear out of the area quickly. Also by
this constant movement, the enemy is confused as to whether to stand and use
ranged attacks or come after you for melee attacks. The AI is 'programmed' to
use attacks almost only when they are standing still. You don't have to play
that same game. AoE attacks and buffs/heals can use this same method to place
their attack or buff/heal, then run back out of the battle to out-of-melee
range. Blasters, Defenders and Controllers can make use of the 'melee or
ranged?' confusion by slowly walking backwards from an enemy. If you get at
just the right distance between you and the enemy, the enemy won't attack
because he won't know which method to attack with.[*]The Squeeze - See those walls and those doors? Make use of them! Use them as
a shield against enemies, by standing up by them. Only about 6 or 8 enemies can
be within melee range of you at one time, if you stand up to a wall that cuts
down that number by at least a third. If you see a doorway, use it to force the
enemies to come through it one by one, and have a tough hero at the door to
meet them and to ensure that either one or none get through at a time.[*]Knockback - Contrary to popular belief, knockback is NOT simply an annoyance
to the melee player. An intelligent melee player will use knockback to his
advantage as another form of DEFENSE. By continually knocking enemies back away
from you, you lower the number of enemies that are in melee range of you, which
means that you will take less damage and survive longer. While they are off
flying, you can get in many more attacks on the enemy's buddies that are still
breathing down your throat. On top of that, since Issue 7, ragdoll physics have
been introduced to the game that make the enemies get up slower from being
knocked down, which means knockback is even MORE effective now than it ever was
before. Other hero types can also make good use of this if they see an ally or
themselves in trouble. Philotic Knight's most innovative strategy (as a Force
Field Defender) was to make the team's tank virtually invincible. The tank
would taunt the mob around him, the mob would come into melee range and then a
repulsion bomb would knock them all back. Rinse and repeat for mobs that are
continually moving and not attacking, while the other teammates blast them into
nothingness. Using knockback for a scrapper is an awesome method to defending
YOURSELF by keeping enemies away from you that you are not actively engaged
with. Knockback can be a great power, IF USED CORRECTLY. It can be a good
component in a strategy, and can also save lives. If not used correctly, it
can really annoy tankers and scrappers by knocking away all of their targets.
So beware the power of 'soft control', and make it your friend, not your enemy.
(Fulmens) If you are the Scrapper being targeted through [and have yourself
set to autofollow your target], hit "S" to stop following the person that just
went flying [because of knockback], and DO NOT SWITCH TARGETS until the person
you're "forward observing" for finishes the person off. Otherwise, you will get
annoyed and may find yourself in the next spawn over.
(PhiloticKnight) You could also just switch targets to the next nearest target
and start hitting them. The knockbacked target will eventually come back to
you.
(Reptlbrain) Don't just use knockback to knockback, use it to position mobs in
bunches. Every AT has access to knockback, and it can be so much more useful if
it puts all the mobs into one place, for existing or future AoEs. This may
entail squishies running into combat, to get the appropriate angle to slam
monsters into walls, corners, onto an Earthquake, or into a debuff field.[*]Immobilization/Slow - Blasters and Controllers have a good number of
immobilization powers that they WASTE by using the power as only another damage
dealing power. DON'T. Take advantage of the fact that your opponent cannot move
to back up and make sure that you are not in melee range of him. I've seen way
too many blasters die while they were using a Ring of Fire on an enemy while
standing RIGHT NEXT TO HIM. Be smart and use immobilize to your advantage. The
same goes for Slow powers. It can also be used as a defensive power for your
allies, to keep an enemy away from the tanker that has bitten off more than he
can chew, or save that defender with a sliver or life left and an enemy coming
right for him. Slowing down your enemy or making it so they can't move at all
is a powerful tool in battle strategy.[*]Aerial Assault - This is a strategy that seems simple enough, but that many
flying heroes seem to forget in the middle of a battle. If you are out of melee
range, you will take FAR less damage than if you are in melee range. Make use
of your flight powers and most enemies look at you helpless, because the AI for
the most part is not programmed to jump-attack. For a quick defense, just take
one quick leap into the air, then turn on Hover at the top of your jump to get
out of melee range quickly. Any 'squishy' hero with the Flight power pool
should make use of this tactic OFTEN to substantially increase his
survivability.[*]Line of Sight - A lot of heroes have no idea what this is. Line of sight
means whether or not your enemy can see you. I'm not talking about looking at
the game camera, I'm talking about placing yourself in your character or your
enemies eyes and knowing if they can physically see you. An enemy that cannot
physically see you cannot attack you. The best way to know if an enemy has
Line of Sight on you is to press the B button, this key by default (unless you
changed your keymapping) gives you a first person view like in all those first
person games (DOOM, Wolf3D, etc.). This way, you know if your enemy can see
you. If they can't, they can't fire off an attack. Making correct use of line
of sight can separate a mediocre player from an expert. If you are trying to
pull a group into melee range, the BEST way to do that is to make use of a
wall, or a corner. You fire off a power at an enemy, then get out of their line
of sight. Since they know where they were attacked from but can't see you to
attack you, they will HAVE to come around that wall or corner. Then they are in
melee range. Conversely to that, you can possibly save your life a few times if
you remember to get OUT of an enemy's line of sight to stop from being attacked
by their ranged attacks. This is a short term solution if you have low life,
but it has saved my life many times. A caveat to this is that the game's
mechanics works faster than the graphics, so if you already see the enemy's
attack icon in the top right corner of your screen, then you've already been
hit and it's too late to try to 'avoid' the attack. However, a smart player
won't let themselves be attacked in the first place and will get out of Line of
Sight before the enemy can even fire off an attack.
(Reptlbrain) When a spawn is close to any kind of obstruction, defenders'
(e.g., Freezing Rain) or controllers' (Ice Slick, Quicksand) ranged, targeted
drops are often a nice opener, since they can be placed by pivoting the
"camera" without drawing any immediate aggro. The mobs are already debuffed (or
flopping) before the attack begins. With the animation change on Radiation
Infection (and Darkest Night?), a similar tactic can be used: apply toggle
debuff and cut line of sight before it "hits". This of course also pulls most
or all of the spawn into the debuff field when "the squeeze" happens.
[*]Cutting the Pie (Fulmens) - This is a variant on "Line of Sight." The classic
setup is a Controller, three Blasters, and a corner. Controller immobilizes [no
hold required] the spawn and runs around the corner. Blasters peek out until
first badguy is visible, annihilate it, and move on to next badguy.[*]Fighting Withdrawal - There is nothing wrong or un-heroic about a strategic
retreat. In other games, this tactic is known as 'kiting' because it is a
little like flying a kite. Start retreating by running either backwards and
firing off your powers while you retreat. This thins out the mob so you have to
face less at a time, and helps you survive by keeping you out of melee range.
This tactic is not only for ranged heroes, melee heroes can also stay between
the retreating heroes and the enemy and still get in a few good swipes as they
are running. Just remember, hit, then run, hit, then run. Rinse and repeat.[*]Combat Formations - This SHOULD come instinctively to players, but to some it
doesn't. The archetypes are designed in such a way that one formation is almost
universally successful: toughies in the front, squishies in the back! This
should be simple enough to understand, but many don't seem to comprehend this
very simple strategy. Characters with high HP (Tankers, Scrappers) should be
where the most damage is (melee range). Characters with the lowest HP
(Blasters, Defenders, Controllers) SHOULD REMAIN AS FAR BACK AS THEIR POWERS'
RANGE ALLOWS. No my caps lock was not stuck, I just thought you needed to hear
that loud and clear. Very simple, very effective. This also includes flying
squishies, as long as you are out of melee range by any method, you are fine.[*]Combat Formations Revisited (Arcas) - My only edit would be "Characters with
high defense should be where the most damage is (melee range)." This could be
any AT depending on the situation. Both my force fielder and my stormer host
pick-up blaster/defender teams for invincible missions. These groups have the
advantage of being able to position themselves where ever they prefer. Because
of the massive stacked aura defenses and the usual large amount of to-hit
debuff powers. In fact, with the stormer's teams, hurricane tends to make melee
the preferred location for the team. In City of Heroes, all defense really is is
raising your team's personal defense (or lowering the accuracy of the enemy) to
such an extent that they cannot hit you with a high frequency. To me, it's
never really a question of "are you tough enough to take it" it's a question of
"are you getting hit or not."[*]Jumping the Fire (Fulmens) - This is a small trick with great results. If you
are doing a simple blitz, the Tank [or Scrapper] can keep the team safer by
jumping OVER the spawn and then starting the attack. All those cone attacks
[Flamethrowers, shotguns, firebreath,etc.] will be pointed away from the rest
of the team. . .
(Reptlbrain) Addendum to "Jumping the Fire" (which I have done with a scrapper,
but only to get a better view of the battle/teammates, not purposely to protect
them from AoEs, having never thought of that): On knockback heavy teams,
positioning players on opposite sides of a spawn (if feasible) allows the
ping-pong effect, keeping mobs mostly corralled for AoEs, and probably adding
to the mobs' melee-or-range confusion described by the OP.[*] Remember T.G.I.F., Tanks Go In First (Local_Man) - As a Tank, I wait until
everyone is ready (use the F7 key!), and then I usually go for the biggest bad
guy on the front line. I hope to clog things up for the baddies behind. If
there is another Tank on the team, I try to coordinate with him so that I take
one side, he takes the other. I also try to coordinate with the other tank on
who will really lead into the first attack, so that the other will follow the
first one's lead. (As stated above, communications is key. Keybinds can be set
up for this. I sometimes use /bind [key] "team I have the $target in my sights"
or something like it.) As a tank, it generally is NOT my role to save a
squishy, unless there are very few bad guys left. My role is to try to keep the
bad guys AWAY from the squishies. As a scrapper, I often try to hang out with
the Tank. I let him go into the front line, then start attacking the bad guys
orbiting around him. I only go after his target if it looks like he is in
trouble, otherwise I focus on the others around him. If you have two tanks and
two scrappers, each pair should be a sub-team. I DO keep an eye on the health
of the squishies, and run off to help if someone is in trouble. If there are
more scrappers than tanks, have one scrapper hang back closer to the
blasters/defenders/controllers specifically to take care of any bad guys who go
after them. [*] Aura Efficiency (Arcas) - Having a near invulnerable team with tons of
stacked auras and outside defense (dispersion bubble + triple maneuvers +
steamy mist, etc.) doesn't do much good if the team formation isn't taking
advantage of it. Stacked auras are only a bonus when everyone on the team is in
range of all the auras. You don't always need everyone in a tight cluster, like
my storm defender who piles the team inside of hurricane. This is definitely
the case with the previously mentioned tank/scrap front line and ranged rear
line. But it's a major help on any team when everyone is in range of the
leadership and aura defense powers or when a acc. metabolism or recovery aura
fires and hits everyone on the team. The same for healing powers. It's much
more endurance and battle efficient when a team can take care of all the
healing with a few auras, than with a lot of time consuming single target heals
because no one is close enough for the auras. [/list]
VI. Targeting and Combat Strategies - Oh Those Lovely Reticules!
This is another aspect of combat that is almost universally looked over. Most
heroes just use Tab and attack the first target that they acquire, then attack
it until it is dead. This is another big mistake. That is what the computer
does, and don't you want to be smarter than the computer??? There are several
strategies that you can take with different methods of targeting. There are two
main methods, and several smaller ones:
<ul type="square">[*]Focused Attack - All players on the team click the Tanker or Scrapper (if no
tanker is available) on the team window. Now whenever you fire your powers, the
powers will hit the toughie's target. This works really well with high level
mobs that you need to take down one by one, and excellent against bosses. If
there is a boss that heals or mezzes in any way, you should use this strategy
to take them out first. Other melee combatants can attack as they please,
wherever they please. This will draw attention away from the main toughie that
is focusing the rest of the group's attack. The toughie needs to make sure that
he keeps a fresh live target at ALL times, otherwise the team will sit there
doing nothing while the enemies whale on them.[*]Unfocused attack - All players each target a different minion, to take the
minions out more quickly. Use this when the number of minions is large and when
there is fear that you could be 'plinked' to death by 1,000 tiny attacks. As
long as every hero takes on at least one minion alone, they should each be able
to handle the small aggro they draw. This works best as an aggro management
strategy when everyone attacks the enemy mobs at ONCE.[*]Aggro Splitting, Unfocused Attack part B (Arcas) - Outside of a tank, you
rarely want any single hero taking all the aggro completely alone. Try to
coordinate it so multiple teammates can open a battle, if possible. Aggro
splitting is key for my scrapper who runs all-tanker/scrapper teams. Everyone
on those teams is pretty tough individually, but every single one of them would
die if they tried to take ALL the aggro by themselves. But when they rush in as
a group, quickly eliminates the bosses, and split the remaining aggro, the
total damage taken is greatly reduced.[*]Buddy System - This works really well either with sidekicks or without. Each
team member picks a 'buddy', and they attack enemies as a mini-team. This
allows your team to follow more subtle or complex strategies, and gives you
some backup assistance from a close ally.[*]Save Me! - When you see an ally's health meter turn orange or red, and if you
are not a defender, there is still something you can do about it! Click on them
in the team menu and fire off your powers. If you are a tanker or scrapper, you
can click your ally's name, then press F (by default( and more easily get to
the source of the problem. Hopefully you will have enough power to either
destroy your teammates would-be assassin, or at least draw him away. Buffs and
healing also works out well this way. The team window is not just for seeing
who is on your team, it is also a valuable targeting tool.[*]Targeting Techniques (Arcas) - Many heroes have binds set up to target
specific teammates. Others simply click on the hero or the name of that hero on
the team list. I continue to use the old school method of SHIFT-selecting.
Holding SHIFT and pressing the number keys 1-8 will select the team member in
that position on the list. Given practice as a chronic assisting blaster, a
force fielder, a kinetic, or a single target healer, and you can become
incredibly fast with shift-selecting.[*]Aggroball (Fulmens) - The idea is that one character starts with the aggro
and then then someone else steals, thus distributing the pain among multiple
characters. Often a Scrapper/Tank pair can do this nicely- Scrapper takes
alpha, Tank taunts the villains off them. I've also done it with multiple
Blasters, one with Phase Shift, and in other situations as appropriate. [*]Shock and Awe (Fulmens) - This is another "PUG" (Pick Up Group)-friendly
technique, because it's basically what a Blaster does all the time soloing. You
hit the enemy spawn with all the AoE damage the team can muster and then clean
up the lieutenants and bosses. There are subtleties to doing this. For one
thing, most minions take about three AoE attacks to drop - even with buffs- and
Blasters generally only have one or two. So the multiple Blasters have to hit
pretty much together. For another thing, the non-knockback attacks have to hit
first. Think "Burn, then scatter. "[/list]
VII. Communication -
A crucial area of combat that I almost completely forgot
about in my original Handbook was communication. Luckily, alot of heroes have
stepped forward to provide much of this information.
(Cyberforce)
<ul type="square">[*]Talk to one another. Take the time to assess your enemy, develop a strategy,
organize your attack, and devise a "go command" to start it all. Team leaders
and experienced players usually know how best to survive. Listen to them. Here
are some simple rules when on a team:[*]If you don't know, don't do it. Nothing will gain you the ire of your
teammates faster than jumping into a fight before everyone's ready. You will
quickly find yourself abandoned to a buttkicking for your lack of restraint.[*] If the team leader says not to do it, don't do it. Team leaders are supposed
to be looking out for everyone. They tend to be cautious, wishing to slow down
the pace of the mission often to make sure everybody's on the same page. Don't
compromise team strategy by disobeying orders.[*]Tell your team what you are doing. If you're a tanker and you need to rest,
tell the team. If you're a healer and you need to rest, tell the team. If you
want to level up before the next mission, tell the team. Snap decisions,
running blindly into battle or engaging hordes of Trolls on your own and
bringing them running toward your exhausted team is not good RP everybody. [/list]
(gWrath)
<ul type="square">[*]If you need help, ask for help by typing it out or pressing the default
function key. As a tanker teammate, I can run over there or taunt your target.
As a blaster or scrapper teammate, I can target you (which in turn targets your
foe) and blast away. Use the team window or SHIFT+# to choose your teammates.[*]If you're mezzed, type "zzzz". Healers can unmez you or someone can run over
and hand you a break free.[*]If something's broke, fix it. The standard strategy I see in PUG is the
simple "run-in and blow everything up" strategy. Teams likes that bc it's
simple and it works many times. But if you rush in, and get face planted, or
worse, team-wiped, then it's time to talk some strategy.[*]Speak up and take a few moments when the team forms to explain any key powers
or tactics. For example, explain what an anchor is and how you should keep it
alive until all the other mobs are defeated.[*]Change things around to keep things interesting. I play a tank so I'm the one
who rushes in first. Now, I'm trying to lead spawns through choke points for
better positioning. With scrappers, we all go in at the same time. When a
blaster is with me, who has snipe or likes to pull, we try the "double strike"
where I run toward the mob when he starts his snipe. Ideally, we hit em at the
same time, sparing the blaster the aggro.[*]Make up cool names for maneuvers and let your teammates know. For example, I
team with a D3 (called Night's End) who had recall friend. If we needed to make
a strategic retreat, he would zip out to a safe place, while I hold the line.
Then I'm tp'd away (hopefully alive). We called this the "Night Express". It
makes things more interesting and mirrors the comics. Anyone for a "fastball
special"?[/list]
(Local_Man) - I use keybinds or macros for advising my team that team buffs are available.
I have keybinds or macros to tell my team when I need to rest. Keybinds and
macros have really improved my enjoyment of the game. They allow me to have
quick access to the powers I need most in an emergency. For example, I usually
bind any healing power to the "plus" key on the numeric keypad. This allows me
to flick out my thumb to pop a quick heal anytime it is needed. Keybinds and
macros let me do quick communications without having to type.
(Reptlbrain) - The top bar of my power tray is devoted to team combat macros that I need
instant access to: "Incoming!" "Fall back!*" "Holding $target" "Sapper!" etc.
This sounds so much better than Run!, and indicates a fighting withdrawal.
(Su_Lin) - The first thing I think anyone should do upon entering a group, is run an Info
on each and every member, and take note of level and powersets, including
pools. Do the same for every new person that joins the group. As a secondary to
this, it's very important to understand those sets. Take time to skim the
boards, read guides for other ATs, dig through the Hero Planners, and so on.
This is stuff you NEED to know; it may make all the difference if tactics,
communication, et al fail you. If you don't know your defender is Force Field
instead of Storm Summoning or Kinetics instead of Dark Miasma, or you don't
know that Force Fields are a defense-buffing set as opposed to a heal/buff or
debuff set... you're operating on a set of misconceptions. It's important to
know what your groupmates CAN do, enough about what they can do to have an idea
what they're GOING to do, and what you can't reasonably expect them to do in a
fight. If you expect a heal that isn't coming, slows and holds that don't
exist, ranged knockback from a set that doesn't have it, tanking from a
scrapper that can't do it, then it's no one's fault but your own when that wipe
comes. This is a tenet many people overlook, so it may be in best interest if
you happen to be one of these little-understood sets(my Storm Defender comes to
mind) to educate others how your powerset works. "I'm going to trap them in the
corner with Hurricane and you can pound away", etc.
VIII. Other Game Hints and Tips
This section is for other strategies and tips to make you a more effective
player and hero. Anything that doesn't fit in Movement, Targeting, or
Playstyle Strategies will go here.
Inspiration Management (Arcas) - There is no larger crime in a team setting
than walking around with a full inspiration tray. Use those inspirations and
use them often. If a teammate can use it more than you can, give them the
inspiration by dragging it over to him. If no one can use it, throw it out. If
you can't use it right now, but it's taking up space, use it anyway and make
room for better stuff to come. Always keep at least one open slot, you won't
receive anything from villains, as well as that life-saving inspiration from a
teammate, if you have a full tray. There's no time for full-on trading during
an extreme battle.
(teflonshugenja)
<ul type="square">[*]Know your enemy - Tactics can make all the difference in the world, but not
unless your team knows which ones to use...and when. For example, I have a
couple Scrappers and a Peacebringer, and when I'm on a team with a Tank I like
to play Aggroball and Jumping the Fire to help keep things under control. It
usually works well, especially since I'm not trying to usurp the toughie's job,
but to complement it. However, against enemies like Nemesis soldiers that are
heavy on AoE attacks, being close to the primary fire target can be a quick
trip to the hospital. If you're fighting Crey or Nemesis, be on the lookout for
Snipers that can start a fight before you're ready. If you're fighting Malta,
mez or quickly kill Sappers first. If the enemy is heavy on mezzes, protect
your toggle-Defenders to prevent a slippery slide into trouble. Remember kids,
knowing is half the battle![*]Be aware of your surroundings - When you enter a room, pause for a second and
remember what your mother used to tell you about crossing the street when you
were a kid: look both ways first! Check your flanks and make sure there aren't
any additional spawns close by that might aggro. If there's a Kheldian in the
team, scan each group for Quantums and Voids. If you see something dangerous,
say something.[*]Stay flexible - Just as you shouldn't try to fight Carnies like you fight
Clockwork, don't stick with a losing strategy. A single wipe can be the result
of bad luck or a momentary lapse in judgment. Multiple chain deaths are
another matter. That's a clue that you need to change strategies. If the usual
charge-in-and-blast-away MO isn't working, try a more cautious approach. Often
it doesn't take anything exotic to make a seemingly impossible situation into a
win. Start with line-of-sight pulls. Most of the time, your teammates will
already know how to best leverage their own abilities to help, once a strategy
has been decided on.[*]Don't Panic - If things take a turn for the worse - if, for example, a second
group of enemies adds midway through the fight - don't lose your cool.
Remember: there is something you can do about it! Not just "you" in the general
sense, but YOU individually. Think about what tools you have to change the
battlefield. If you're a Scrapper, for example, you can make a conscious
decision to focus on occupying a dangerous enemy rather than doing damage, to
take the pressure off your teammates and let them thin the crowd down to
something more manageable. If you're a Defender and you're struggling to keep
the tank up, don't panic, do something by going after the sources of the
damage, even if all you do is knock them down; if the incoming damage is too
much to keep up with, then cut it down at the source. If you're a Blaster,
don't neglect your secondary controls or, if things have already gone too far,
the Nova. Sometimes it's worth the crash if the alternative is being
overwhelmed.[*] Don't be afraid to fight defensively - Remember, as long as your teammates
stay alive, they're doing damage to the enemy. Stay alive long enough and
eventually, you'll win. Shift to a defensive footing. Fall back to a choke
point or change your own personal tactics. If there are simply too many foes to
take all at once, try to Divide and Conquer: split the enemy force in two and
focus fire on one half. Often it only takes one or two heroes on a defensive
footing to occupy a large group of enemies they could never hope to defeat on
their own, but can buy enough time for the team to deal with the rest. It
doesn't take a tanker to do this - in a pinch, anyone with a handful of Lucks
and Respites can buy some time. Just be aware of your limits - know how many
you can take, and for how long, and know when to cut and run. [/list]
Control Strategies (Local_Man) -
<ul type="square">[*]My main is an Illusion/Rad controller, and he uses his pets as the first line
of "control." Phantom Army is even better than the tanks at taking the Alpha
strike, so PA goes first, before the tanks. After the tanks go in, it is time
for AoE holds and debuffs, after the alpha strike is gone and the bad guys'
attention is focused on the tank or PA.[*]For other kinds of controllers, I usually wait for the tanks to go in, then
lock down anyone getting past the tanks. I try to line them up for the
damage-dealers to take out, so if there is a blaster with AoEs, I use AoE
immobilize. If there are bosses, I may try to hold them, or hold the Lts and
debuff the bosses.[*]If there is an Illusion or a mind controller on your team, keep an eye out
for Deceive/Confuse. Try not to take out the bad guys who are Deceived/Confused
until there is no one else to target. Be Patient and let the Controller use
Deceive/Confuse before the battle starts, and it can make a big difference in
the battle. If you have a Defender or Controller on the team with Anchor-based
debuffs, try to avoid taking out the Anchor, if you can. [/list]
Alpha Attack Decisions -
(Reptlbrain) - If the map permits it, the group should also see which approach to
an enemy spawn will be most effective. Just because you came upon the mobs from
the southwest doesn't mean you have to attack them from there.
(Fulmens) - Only one person should be starting any given fight [normally, unless
you are using an Unfocused attack strategy - PK] and everyone should know who
that is. Ideally, this would be " a tanker" or "a sniper" if you're pulling. If
you have someone who goes off by themselves and starts fights, make them the
official fight starter. It may not be the most optimal person, but it will make
them happier and it will make you happier too.
IX. Conclusion - And Final Notes
I began the first version of this manual about two hours after hearing my
brother rant about how Issue 6 'ruined' his level 50 Broadsword/Invulnerability
Scrapper. He had said that he had some small problems with previous Issues but
that this was too much. As a direct result of this conversation, I felt
compelled to write this handbook to assist my fellow heroes in not only
surviving, but prospering in this new, more difficult environment. I see all
new Issues as challenges and a call to action, and a way to weed out the weaker
heroes among us from the ones that are willing to work hard for Our Beloved
Paragon City. In war, as in all the rest of chaotic life, you either adapt and
learn with the changes, or you stagnate and die. I hope that this guide can
help you all to grow and become the heroes I know you can be. I leave you now,
with a word from one of our greatest heroes.
A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and
endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.
-Christopher Reeve: former Superman, current Hero
If you have any new strategies that I may not know about, please feel free to
post them here. If I like what I see, I will add it to the next version of the
Handbook and ensure that you get the credit that you deserve. Any
contributions may be edited for content and/or grammatical errors. Please
report any such errors that you see to me.
Good luck to all the True Heroes out there!
-The Philotic Knight
Original Version: 10/30/2005
Thus ends The Combat Handbook v 2.0!
Philotic Knight's
Comprehensive Guide to Force Field Defenders
Revision 1 - 05/03/2007
Introduction
This guide is meant to replace my previous guide to FF Defenders, both in fact and in spirit. In my previous guide I presented only one general limited playstyle that I felt crystallized the 'essence' of the set. In doing so, I limited the scope of the guide. In this new guide, I intend to provide all of the information that a bubbler needs to play in any way that they wish, although it will still be limited to PvE because I don't PvP at all. We will begin with a powers summary and the specific benefits each power gives along with tricks on how to use them in many circumstances. Then we will go onto your role in a team, and the main strategies you could follow to fill that role.
The purpose of this guide is to concentrate specifically on the primary powers in the Force Field Defender set. I will mention the secondary blasts a little bit but I think there are far better guides to the power pools and epic pools out there. There are many people much smarter than I that can work on providing information about the vast array of other powers players can take. They can even post them here if they want, I'm sure it would be appreciated! With that said, let's move on into the powers!
Powers Summary
Click the power's name to see a screenshot of the power's description from within the game.
Note: The numbers provided are derived from Red Tomax's Guide to City of Heroes ALL MAG numbers are estimated based on my own perception of their effect ingame.
<ul type="square">[*]Personal Force Field
Level Available: 1
Recharge: 15 seconds
Endurance: 0.13/second
Def: 75% (All)
Res: 40% (All but 100% Res to enemy teleport)
[*]Deflection Shield
Level Available: 1
Recharge: 2 seconds
Endurance: 7.8
Defense: 15% (Smashing, Lethal, Melee)
Res: Toxic (40%)
Duration: 240 seconds (4 minutes)
Range: 80 Ft.
[*]Force Bolt
Level Available: 2
Recharge: 4 seconds
Endurance: 5.2
Accuracy: 1.4
Knockback: MAG1
Range: 80 Ft.
[*]Insulation Shield
Level Available: 6
Recharge: 2 seconds
Endurance: 7.8
Defense: 15% (Fire, Cold, Energy, Negative, Ranged, AoE)
Resistance: Endurance Drain (86.5%)
Duration: 240 seconds (4 minutes)
Range: 80 Ft.
[*]Detention Field
Level Available: 8
Recharge: 60 seconds
Endurance: 10.4
Accuracy: 1.4
Duration: 30 seconds
Immobilize: MAG4
Range: 80 Ft
[*]Dispersion Bubble
Level Available: 12
Recharge: 15 seconds
Endurance: 0.26/second
Defense: 10% (All)
Status Effect Resistance: MAG 1 (Hold, Immobilize, Stun/Disorient)
Range: 25ft Radius around the user
Important note: Every major set in the game was designed with one major weakness, that was a part of NCSoft's design philosophy. Force Field's major weakness is Sleep. None of your powers provide you with ANY resistence to Sleep effects. However, remember that Sleep only affects you if it actually hits you, so your only defense against sleep aside from pool powers is, well, more Defense!
[*]Repulsion Field
Level Available: 18
Recharge: 20 seconds
Endurance: 0.39/second + 1 per enemy hit (whether resisted by the enemy or not)
Knockback: MAG1 (each hit)
Range: Melee (7 Ft.)
[*]Repulsion Bomb
Level Available: 26
Recharge: 30 seconds
Endurance: 10.4
Accuracy: 1.2
Knockback: MAG2
Chance to Stun/Disorient: 40%
It should also be noted that this power's description is incorrect, it is now an ENEMY-targettable power, not an ally targettable one. Not sure when they're going to fix the text in-game.
[*]Force Bubble
Level Available: 32
Recharge: 15 seconds
Endurance: 0.17/second
Repel: MAG4
Knockback: MAG4
Range: 50 Ft. Radius around the user
[/list]
Your Role
Contrary to popular belief, the purpose of an FF defender is NOT to be only a buffbot for other heroes. Look at the powers in the set. Only 3 of the powers are defense providing powers. That leaves 6 powers (!!!) that do NOT buff your allies, but do other things instead. Let's give a quick rundown of what all these powers do, and maybe we can see why the majority of Force Field defenders are sadly gimping themselves by not making good use of half of their powers.
We have 3 defense raising powers - Deflection and Insulation Fields, and Dispersion Bubble
We have 4 enemy positioning powers - Force Bolt, Repulsion Field, Repulsion Bomb, Force Bubble
We have 2 'untouchable' powers - Personal Force Field (keep away from ME!), Detention Field (keep everyone away from HIM!)
Most people see this set as a defense buff set and nothing more. However, looking at what these powers do, they do something far more valuable. The intended role of a Force Field defender is to defend his allies on the battlefield, using every trick that they have in their toolbox. We have defense to make all of our allies and ourself less squishy, we have knockback powers and a repel power to control the position of enemies, and we have 'untouchable' powers to protect either ourselves or our allies from danger. This is our role, to Protect and Serve our teammates. Other defenders may be able to heal, or debuff, or buff in other ways, but no other type of defender is designed to be as much of a team player as the Force Field Defender. You can solo if you wish, but your home is in a team, and you can see that this is true because a large portion of our powers cannot be used on ourselves!
Strategies
Your strategy as a Force Field Defender will depend alot on your team makeup and the circumstances of the battlefield. ALL Defense is situational, so with most Defender Powersets, you are more than likely not going to be using all of your powers all of the time. The smart Defender knows where and when to use his/her powers for the greatest team efficiency. These are the primary strategies that you could follow, depending on the team makeup:
Tanker or AoE Heavy Teams: Since alot of your powers are knockback or repel based, you will want to avoid using them in this team to scatter mobs. However, that doesn't mean that they are useless. Instead of scattering the mobs, you should use your knockback powers to actually knock enemies TOGETHER, into one big mass. That way the toughies can stand in the middle of them and smash them to pieces, and AoEs do the greatest good. Hop around the battlefield like a crazy whack-a-mole and keep circling the central mob, knocking enemies into it or BACK into it, whatever the case may be.
Scrapper or Ranged (non AoE) Heavy Teams: Here you can use your knockback powers to their greatest effect, by keeping all of your enemies as far from your allies as is possible. The Blaster will love you both for the extra defense that you can provide them, but also for keeping the enemies far away and on their backs. The key to working with scrappers is to always be wary of the enemy that your scrapper is attacking, and to knock all of the OTHER enemies away from him, to keep his health bar up and his annoyance meter down. Knocking your scrapper buddy's target away from him is a NO-NO!
Mixed Teams: Pay attention to the first few mobs that your team runs up against and see how your allies perform. If you notice a certain ally always taking too much of the aggro, concentrate your knockback abilities on that person and help keep them alive longer. If your team is doing well, you can concentrate on your blasting more than your knockback, but keep those shields on, and make sure that you are wary of the battlefield! In a mixed team things can go wrong very quickly, so be prepared to turn into a knockback machine if this happens. The few seconds you can keep your enemies busy and off of their feet could mean the difference between life and death for your team.
Blaster With Benefits: Since Defender's secondary powers are blasts, you could conceivably build a character that only used the defense providing powers, and then concentrate on your blasts and optimize them for damage. However, since Defenders do only 2/3rds of the damage of a blaster, I'd recommend against this and instead defend those teammates that can do far more damage than you can.
No matter what you do, you are more than likely going to be using alot of knockback, so I strongly suggest you also read Let Fly! - A Guide to Knockback Control by Midnight_Flux. It is an excellent guide and a must read for beginners on knockback.
Tactics
Deflection and Insulation Shields - Recommended Slotting: 3 Defense Buff (1 Endurance Reduction Optional)
The simple strategy with these is this: always keep them on all of your allies. No matter what. Period. They last 4 minutes, so either get yourself a timer, stopwatch or use a program like HeroStats to make sure that your allies' bubbles never expire.
I will provide you however with a tool that I consider to be very valuable, a bind! Using this bind is simply one of the FASTEST ways to buff up your team with both shields. Create a directory to place the bind files in, I place mine in a directory called c:\CoH. Then create the two text files shown below:
File name: shield1.txt
g "powexec_name deflection shield$$bind_load_file c:\coh\shield2.txt"
File name: shield2.txt
g "powexec_name insulation shield$$bind_load_file c:\coh\shield1.txt"
Now go into the game and type the following line to initialize the bind: /bind_load_file c:\coh\shield1.txt
What these files will do is make the letter G on your keyboard an insta-shielder, so that every time you press it, it will place a shield on your selected ally. Then the next time you press it, it will place the OTHER shield on the ally. The order doesn't matter, since it loops back anyways. So all you have to do to buff your team really quick is to select a teammate on the list, hit G two times in a row, wait to hear both shields apply, then click on the next teammate. You can also click the blue arrow on the right hand side of the team window to see all your teammates buffs and make sure that both shields took effect. If you wish to, you can of course edit this bind to point to a different letter, and you can put the files in any directory that you wish, as long as you change the directory listed in the bind files to where you put them.
If you are having trouble with this, or if you just want to learn more about binds in general, try out The Incomplete and Unofficial Guide To /bind by Curveball.
Dispersion Bubble - Recommended Slotting: 3 Defense Buff (1 Endurance Reduction Optional)
This power should also be on at all times, unless for some reason you are running low on endurance and your teammates are doing okay in the health department. Also, try to make sure as many allies as possible are within the power's 50 Ft range. If you can't get everyone, at least try to make sure that the weakest allies are within range (i.e. Blasters, Controllers, and other Defenders). If you are facing alot of enemies with Status Attacks (like Sleep, Hold or Stun) then you might want to make sure that this is over your tank, who will be holding most of the aggro, or whoever is 'acting' as the tank for the team.
Now onto some powers that require a bit more thought.
Personal Force Field - Recommended Slotting: 3 Recharge (Up to 3 Defense Optional, it already comes with 75% Defense Bonus!)
The very first power in the Force Field set, and what I consider to be the signature power. What do force fields do? Provide defense. And what does PFF do? Provide ultimate defense. It makes you NEARLY invulnerable to almost all types of attacks (about 75%), and the attacks that do get through have their damage reduced by about 40%. Higher level enemies may still be a danger, especially if they are more than 4 levels above you. This is a great 'emergency' power, as well as a great power to use while traveling to ensure your safety. However, I do not think that these are the only uses for this power.
PFF has a pretty decent recharge speed, so while it doesn't come back fast, it does come back quick enough if you want to use it to 'sit out' a bit of a battle. A good strategy here would be to have your Dispersion Bubble up along with the PFF, after you've buffed your teammates with Deflection/Insulation shields. Then, when you enter the battle, the tougher members of the team can handle and absorb the primary attack, while you stand ready to assist. If an ally or your entire team looks like they are in trouble, then you can instantly drop the PFF and give the team/ally the bonus that they provide. A benefit of this tactic is that since you have NOT been attacking any other mobs, all of your attacks are READY and can be fired off in a chain to hopefully destroy any dangers that an ally might be facing.
PFF has another great use that I found quite interesting, note that the power makes you invincible but not INVISIBLE. What does this mean to you? It means that while the enemy cannot hurt you, they CAN see you. This is fun for alot of laughs once in awhile, as you sit in the middle of a frustrated mob trying to defeat you. However, for combat, this quirk can be a unique asset. What it means is that you can be a very short-term Tanker! You can do this one of two ways. You can either turn on PFF first and run or teleport into the middle of a mob, angering them to no end; or you can use an attack power on the boss of the mob (preferably an AoE) and then instantly turn on your PFF to absorb the retaliating attack. This works especially well if you stand far back, activate your attack power when you are OUT of range, then run into range. The attack will finally activate and you can have your mouse over the PFF to turn it on instantly (assuming you move with the keyboard). Now you can't be a TRUE tank with this trick, since you can't hold aggro, but you can hold SOME of the aggro while dispersing the rest of it to the rest of your team evenly. And dispersed aggro on teammates is always better than concentrated aggro on one teammate (except tanks), because it can be handled easier. Do not attempt this trick if any of your buddies like to use alot of AoE attacks, because then THEY will most likely draw the concentrated aggro right away.
Another facet of this power is that it prevents any of your powers from effecting the outside world. This means that you can use Force Bubble or Repulsion Field to grab the attention of all the enemies, then rather than having to turn these powers off, you can just turn on your PFF and the powers don't work on them anymore. After the enemies try to hit you a few times and they find out they can't, you will lose aggro and can probably turn PFF off again, which will reactivate these powers. Be careful with this though, as Force Bubble in particular is an aggro magnet if PFF won't come back right away.
Force Bolt - Recommended Slotting: 1 Accuracy, 3 Recharge (1 Endurance Reduction Optional)
This is probably one of the most useful 'utility' powers in the game. It does a TINY amount of damage, but it's not worth slotting for it. Use this for pinpoint knockback to pick enemies off of an ally that's taken on more than he can chew, or to supplement what Repulsion Bomb didn't knock away. You can make this power into a machine gun with a few recharges and can keep enemies on their backs by shifting your target every second. Another trick is to use this on a boss or really nasty enemy to get it away from the team, then immediately use Detention Field on it while it is flying away. That way by the time the team gets the the enemy, the Field should have lifted. Also good for sniping around a corner, just run around the corner, fire off this quick blast, then run back. It is quick enough that you shouldn't feel any return fire before you get around the corner. This is probably the most important power after the three shields.
One special note about knockback is that with the new ragdoll physics, you will want to make sure that the enemy is standing back up before you try to knock him back again. If you try to knockback the enemy before he gets up, he could get up WHILE he is being knocked back, which means he can and will still attack you with a ranged attack. It's a weird glitch to see an enemy flying backwards while still getting up, but until NCSoft fixes it, we just have to deal with it and time our knockback appropriately.
Detention Field - Recommended Slotting: 2 Accuracy, (3 Recharge Reduction and 1 Endurance Reduction Optional)
Imagine that the battlefield is like a chess board. Wouldn't you like to be able to take the Queen out of the game until there are no other enemy pieces left? This is essentially what Detention Field can do for you. You can use it on an enemy to take that enemy out of the fight for a short while. I have found three general uses for this power. When soloing you can use it as an alpha strike to make one less enemy that you have to fight at the same time. You can also use it on a dangerous boss or Sapper to take him out of the picture. The third use I've found for this power is to take out enemy 'buffers' from the battle, such as Devouring Earth eminators that they drop on the ground, Malta auto-turrets and Sky Raider's Force Field Generators. After all the other enemies are gone, the Detention Field should have lifted, and you can easily take out the helpless buffer if you choose to (they give no xp as far as I know). A very versatile and useful ability. I also recommend a separate macro to warn allies that the target cannot be harmed, something like this:
/macro Det "team Don't attack the $target! It is Detained and cannot be harmed! Wait for the bubble on it to wear off!"
And use that macro AFTER you've successfully trapped the target. I tried to bind it along with the power, but when the power did fail once in awhile, it just made me look dumb and confused my allies.
Repulsion Field - Recommended Slotting: 2 Endurance Reduction (3 Recharge Reduction if you want to use it alot or even Enhance Knockback if you want them to fly farther)
This is called Repulsion Field but the effect is actually a knockback effect, and its primary purpose is to keep melee enemies away from you by knocking them back. It does cost a bit of endurance when you are surrounded by a mob, but if you are on the outside edge of combat, this should not be an issue. The field itself doesn't use much endurance when no enemies are near you, and it can save you from sneak attacks from the back (I'm looking at you, Stalkers), or it will keep alot of tiny minions off of you (like Devouring Earth Swarms!). It, along with the PFF are the two primary powers to defend YOURSELF from attack. Note that with PFF on, this power is useless, so you would use this power when you still want to be able to attack enemies rather than hide from them. This power is also not as much of an aggro magnet as Force Bubble is, because it will only aggro enemies that you CHOOSE to bump into.
You can also choose to be a more active Defender and run around like crazy with it on to keep all the enemies off their feet. Just make sure you're not pissing off any tankers or scrappers by leaving their mobs alone. The 'crazy man' strategy is very useful for saving your team from a wipe and giving them a few precious seconds to escape.
Another use I found for this power is to save a teammate in trouble. Simply turn the power on and run to them, knocking the enemies away from them. If any attackers are killing your ally, you can also go towards THEM and keep them off their feet for a while. If you get into trouble from this, you can always turn on your PFF to protect yourself and to disperse the aggro you've obtained.
Finally, sitting with it on next to all but the most powerful villains (some Bosses and all AVs) will stack the knockback effect and make 90% of mobs go flying where a regular knockback power might just make them grunt.
Repulsion Bomb - Recommended Slotting: 1 Accuracy and 2 or 3 Recharges (This power can Disorient, but it's such a low chance it's really not worth slotting)
This power works like Force Bolt, but with an Area of Effect knockback and a 40% chance to disorient. Good to save teammates with, good as a battle starter, or just good as a general knockback power.
I think you could use this all of the time along with Force Bolt to keep enemies away from your squishy friends, and even your squishier (post-Issue 6) scrapper buddy, with their consent of course. All the scrapper has to do is pick one target and auto-follow them while attacking, so that when you shake all of the enemies off him, he can run right to the one he wants.
Another trick you can do I call the Big Bang and Crunch. You have an ally hold aggro, either a tank or another hero with taunt. Then you use repulsion bomb on an enemy near him and knock all the enemies back or onto the ground. They then have to get up, shake off disorientation and/or run back to the hero. This is plenty of time for yourself and other blaster types to go nuts on the enemies, hitting them as much as you want. The enemies then come back to the taunter, and you rinse and repeat. This tactic will not work as well as it has in the past because of the longer recharge time on the power than it used to be. You can also use this with Force Bolt to position enemies together or against a wall for Area of Effect attacks. You can then use Force Bolt to tuck in any that get out of the area.
Force Bubble - Recommended Slotting: 1 Endurance Reduction (Optionally 1 to 3 Recharges depending on how often you think you will make use of the power)
Finally we come to the final power of the set, the Force Bubble. It keeps enemies away from you, and pretty FAR away from you. This is a power that should probably not be used all the time, as it is noted for being the ultimate aggro magnet. This is mostly a click-and-use, then turn off when you don't need it kind of power, unlike Dispersion Bubble.
You can stand in the far back of the team formation and use it to keep your squishy friends safer, you can also even use it to 'pin' enemies against walls and corners to keep them immobile. A neat trick is to have your toughie friends sit on the very edge of the bubble, and if they run into trouble, they can hop back just a couple of steps into safety! You can also aggro some enemies around a corner and use this power to KEEP them around that corner, while your buddies blast away at them and you are relatively safe. You can also use this power to help your allies escape in the case of an emergency.
You can also make USE of the fact that the Force Bubble draws aggro towards you. Again, spread aggro is almost always better than aggro concentrated on a squishy, so you can use Force Bubble to push against the enemies and draw aggro to yourself. Then if you start to get low on health due to their ranged attacks, you can quickly turn on PFF. You now should have most of the aggro still on you, but you're almost invulnerable. When the enemies are aggroed by other heroes, the aggro will be more spread out, and will be less dangerous to any individual hero. You can rinse and repeat if another hero for some reason draws most of their fury.
Another neat trick only works in certain circumstances. Basically when you are in a room which goes INTO a short-in-width hallway, you can stand right around the corner of the hallway and turn the power on. Then whenever any mobs are aggroed, this acts as a barrier which they cannot pass. You can use this either just to keep the enemies away from your teammates, who are in the room and can blast at a safe distance, OR as a great way to give your allies a safe retreat.
Finally, the enemies in the game have two 'modes', melee mode (when you can see a melee weapon in their hand) and ranged mode. It usually takes a few seconds for them to switch modes, and when they are in melee mode, they many times prefer to STAY in melee mode. You can take advantage of this with the Force Bubble. You can either wait until the enemies are engaged in melee battle with another hero, or engage them yourself up close and personal, and then instantly activate the power. For many of the enemies, they will still remain in melee mode for a while and will keep trying to run at you rather than attack. If you continually back up and move forward again, moving the bubble and pushing against them in the process, you should be able to keep this up for a good while.
Secondaries - Our Offensive Powers
I will not go into too much detail about this subject, since there are so many possibilities to test here and I don't have the time or patience to test every build. The only note that I will make is that the Philotic Knight is actually an electrical blast secondary, and that the secondary effect of electrical blast (endurance drain) is a Godsend. There is nothing more beautiful in the world than using a Short Circuit or two (using PFF between uses to protect yourself) and watching the the mob of enemies sits helpless staring at you, devoid of any will to do ANYTHING. Defenders got all of their secondary effects boosted in Issue 5 so take full advantage of this!
Here are the list of the blast powers and their secondary effects. As a Defender, I would recommend slotting at least one enhancement in the 'secondary effect' of each of the powers in these sets if you have the slots to spare:
<ul type="square">[*]Archery - None (Has an inherent Accuracy Bonus to all of the powers instead)[*]Dark Blast - Reduce Enemy's Accuracy (ToHit DeBuff)[*]Electrical Blast - Endurance Drain (Can make enemies helpless, and can sometimes return endurance to you)[*]Energy Blast - Knockback (incase you wanted even MORE of that wonderful knockback!)[*]Psychic Blast - Slow Enemy Recharge (and the set has alot of controllerish powers)[*]Radiation Blast - Reduce Enemy's Defense (Defense DeBuff)[*]Sonic Blast - Reduce Enemy's Damage Resistance (Resistence DeBuff)[/list]
As for our secondary blasting powers however, our role as stated before is to DEFEND. There are many FF defenders out there that see themselves as a blaster that can buff. I see this as the biggest mistake an FF defender can possibly make, since they only do about 2/3rds of the damage of a blaster with the same damage slotted (estimated). While you are out there adding your minuscule damage to the team's effort, some of your teammates may be dying by your side. While you may have offensive powers, these can and should be used in a DEFENSIVE way whenever possible rather than an offensive way. If you have all of your allies shielded up and they don't seem to need any other type of defense, then go ahead and blast away all you want, but be ready to switch into defensive mode at a moment's notice.
Repeat my mantra over and over again:
My primary powers should be PRIMARY, my secondary powers should be SECONDARY.
If you want to play a blaster, PLAY A BLASTER.
But hey, it's your $15, do what you want. I'm just trying to help you be the most effective Defender you can be. And a dead enemy is not attacking your team, so there is something to say about slotting some extra damage in a couple of powers...
Conclusion
I hope that this guide has been enlightening and educational to the new and old Force Field defenders out there, feel free to add to this thread any new tricks or strategies that you may have knowledge of. And to all you old-timers out there that are set in your ways and see yourself only as a buff-bot, I truly do feel great sympathy for you, for you are missing out on the strengths of 2/3rds of your own powerset, and you are gimping your ability to DEFEND your teammates substantially. In the end, you need to remember one thing: you are a Defender. This is your name, this is your role, and this is your destiny. Embrace it!
And while I do have alot of information here, you should never rely entirely on one source for all of your knowledge, here are a couple of other FF guides that I strongly recommend reading:
Starshield's Guide to FF/NRG DefTrolling
This guide is an excellent companion to my own guide for the Active Defender.
And
CDN_Guardian's Guide to FF/NRG Offenders v5
A great guide for the person that wants to play an Offender or a solo bubbler.
Appendix
In this section I will be copying and pasting information that I find from other players that do not directly fit into my guide for some reason or another.
Here are some nice tips from fellow bubbler McNum
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I do like your PFF strategies. Might want to highlight that with Dispersion Bubble and PFF both running you are still weak to Sleep effects. Do not do this against foes with Blind. It's our weak spot.
Also, Repulsion Bomb has a long activation. Really long activation. I had it once, but it wasn't that useful to me. I find Energy Torrent a much better positioning tool on my own FF Defender. Fires faster, hits harder.
Also there is an interesting synergy with certain Pool powers, which you don't mention at all. Now Medicine is simple enough. Hits get through once in a while no matter how good the defense is, spot healing can be nice. Aid Self + PFF is a particularly fun combo. You rarely get interrupted. The Medicine Rez... is ok. It rezzes to full HP, but no End.
Another pool power you might want to consider is Maneuvers. On anything but a Forcefield Defender this is a mediocre choice. On a Forcefielder, it's the difference between 40% and 45% defense, which is very significant. Why? Base minion accuracy is 50%. 50-40 is 10%. 50-45 is 5%. So Maneuvers can double the defensive power of a bubbled teammate who's inside the Dispersion bubble. Quite handy.
In the same style as Maneuvers, you can look at Grant Invis. Also a so-so Defense Buff that becomes great paired with Forcefields.
Other things to note... Epic pools. In general there are two big ones for Forcefield Defenders. Power and Psychic.
Power gets you Power Build Up (double power on two sets of double bubbles!) and Total Focus. Also there is Conserve Power, but frankly with Stamina forcefields isn't that much of a drainer. A full team every 4 minutes does take a bit of end to bubble, but that's about it. Temp Invul is nice, nothing special, but it is nice. Sadly, Total Focus doesn't hit that hard for a Defender. Our melee damage is quite pitiful, even TF feels it.
Psychic gets you Dominate, Mass Hypnosis and Telekinesis. Pretty much the controller style pool. Do note that some of the Forcefield powers may not mesh too well with Mass Hypnosis, Repulsion Bomb in particular. MH doesn't draw aggro, though, so it's a nice opener. Telekinsis and Force Bubble might also be overkill to have both, but one shouldn't undervalue the usefulness of Force Bubble in a Safeguard. You can pretty much make the bank lobby heroes only, with the villains trapped inside the bank. TK stacked with Domination pretty much holds a boss outright, but if you have a secondary with a hold already you probably won't need TK for this. Also with Mind over Body, you can together with PFF get truly awesome Psi resist. Like one of the best Psi resists you can get heroside. Who takes the Psi Clock King's alpha? The Forcefielder, of course!
About secondaries. Dark is pretty nice with FF. ToHit DeBuffs combined with Defense is never a bad combo. Energy gets you some alternatives for knockback, like Energy Torrent instead of Repulsion Bomb. But it's a matter of playstyle. You can play Forcefields in many ways, often decided by secondary. Some lend themselves well to more control, others for a more direct approach to defeating bad guys. Don't undersell the secondaries, Defender damage may not be high, but any damage you can do is damage the other team members won't have to and some secondary powers come with massive debuffs, like Irradiate (/Rad) does.
Forcefields is the set to counter Malta Sappers with. High Energy Defense and an End Drain resist so powerful that a Sapper at best gets 5 End from a hit. The End Drain resist of Insulation is massive.
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Arcas, a vetran FFer posted the following quote a long time ago in one of my old threads. It is preserved here for your perusal:
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The fact is, force field does work. The problem: The majority of the players do not work with force field.
I make force field work. Through brute force. And the way I do it is very unique to me, and honestly, it's not something I expect most other people to do.
My force fielder leads all of his pick-up teams. Every single one. A force fielder (to me) is a knockbacker with a few shields on the side (as opposed to the other way around). Anyone can roll out of bed and toss up a few shields every four minutes. I'm a lot more concerned with what else a force fielder does.
A force fielder that doesn't do a lot of knockback is on the same page as the attackless empath. They have tools to protect the team that they choose not to use. Most FFers that don't knockback and don't use detention field... usually do so because they are afraid of being booted. People don't like knockback after all. When you lead the team yourself, it's not something that you have to worry about.
My force fielder rarely recruits melee heroes. I know knockback would probably annoy them and I wouldn't want to put them in an uncomfortable situation. So they just aren't brought aboard. Mostly he teams with defenders, blasters, kheldians, and the occasional controller when the defenders are a bit low.
The missions for his teams are always invincible. And in them, he plays the role of the knockbacking artist.
Take a team of the force fielder and 5 blasters. Normal force fielders, probably throw up some shields, grab a book, and let the blasters get to work. Maybe safe, if the blasters combine fire and know what they are doing. But you might lose a couple teammates to too many hits leaking through the shields.
The knockbacking artist on the same team: shields up, opens the battle with a personal force field battle charge to soak up a few hits. Launches out of personal force field to unload force bolt on two bosses. Deftly turns to encase the third boss in d. field. Then returns to juggling the two bosses completely out of the fight until the team is ready for them. Everyone probably gets out of this battle with no less than 80% health.
Damage mitigation for force fielders: knockbacking artists >>> shield and stand around. Enemies on the ground aren't attacking your team.
As for power choices:
Force Bolt: The first 6-slotted power, and from 1-25, easily the most used power. Through enhancement, it becomes the chain-gun. Juggle bosses out of the fight, blast melee opponents off your friends, or just plain unload to cause some chaos and knockback damage mitigation. The use tappers off a bit after repulsion field comes into play, but it remains one of the core powers from 1-50.
The shields: Enough has been said.
D. Field: Nicely slotted. Used whenever I deem it necessary. Much like Tornado on my stormer. It isn't rocket science, when my teammates find they can't hit a certain opponent, they just switch to another for a few seconds. They don't like it? No one is twisting their arm to make them stay on my team.
Personal Force Field: The trickster. Decently slotted, especially with recharges. For opening battles, taking initial aggro, ducking inside for a few seconds as needed, and following Longbow forces around in Siren's Call with dispersion bubble, shields, and a on-off-on-off motion with PFF to annoy and confuse the villains of the world. 
Repulsion Field: On as much as possible. Takes some of the effort off of Force Bolt which was used near constantly in earlier levels. And leaves Force Bolt for more critical targets. One of the key blaster/defender team tactics, is just keeping everyone close together, so all auras stack and the aura heals overlap and reach the maximum number of teammates. When everyone is close, everything coming the way of the team tends to run into repulsion field. Enemies on the ground, aren't attacking your team. No, it doesn't do this job as good as hurricane, but it does hold its own.
Repulsion Bomb: Main use is the battle opener. Repulsion Bomb, followed by PFF, and running in. In most cases, once those first few shots (from those who managed to stay on their feet) are bouncing off PFF, the rest of the team is charging in with a wave of offensive fury. Once the battle begins, 90% of the time it's already over.
Force Bubble: Aka the "I win" button. I get tons of use out of Force Bubble, completely because I never hang out with anyone that would complain about it. It tends to alternate with repulsion field, because there is a time for one and a time for the other. You never want force bubble on 100% of the time for a variety of reasons. Usually the battle begins, the aggro begins to be split between the team, then force bubble is activated. Giant four branch room lab room? Probably want to switch it off to not aggro everything and hop on repulsion field for a bit. Much like a storm defender in a combined space, force bubble is the warehouse/sewer map "I win" button. And a borderline unfair/overpowered "I win" button. I know this has a lot to do with how I use it, and the types of teams I run, but it works for me.
Getting aggro from force bubble? Switch it off. Can't do that? That's why we have PFF. That's why we have inspirations. And most importantly, that's why we have teammates.
There is a great fallacy in every defender whine thread that the defender in question is somehow the only person resposible for defending the team. You have help. Other defenders/controllers are usually there. And beyond that every teammate is resposible for the defense of the team, regardless of AT. Even if its something as simple as tossing you an inspiration when you need it. You're not in it alone.
There's this public perception that the force fielder is somehow charged with this impossible task of simultaneously shielding up, knockbacking away all enemies, tossing out inspirations, running leadership powers, using his medicine pool tricorder, and keeping himself alive... all in the defense of 7 thin-skinned fetuses who otherwise do nothing but stand around and need to be protected. Your teammates are tough. You protect them, but they also do the same for you, and more. Everytime I hear a defender say, "I can't protect my team," I immediately wonder what the team was doing to protect itself.
Moments before I started writing this post, I just left a group led by my force fielder. Half the team left after a successful invincible mission and I looked for a few more before the next. With all the defenders/controllers locked up in teams or not interested, the final team ended up being myself (force fielder), a peacebringer, 5 blasters, and the final addition a ill/emp controller. The blasters were emboldened by the presence of the shields and the empathic buffs/heals if needed. The controller contributed heavily with the illusion powers. And of course I was there with knockbacking fury, force bubble, and shields. But the fact is, the major defensive contribution for the team came not from my force fielder or the controller, it was from the blasters and the peacebringer. Sure, we support types did our part. But the sheer damage, rain aura chaos, extra knockbacks, sonic attack/ice attack/peacebringer attack debuffing. These played a huge role that, combined with the support, made the mission comically easy, even on invincible.
There is more to defending a team than heals, buffs, shields, and anchors. Things like slows, knockdowns, knockback, disorient, blast-based debuffs, chaos (from rains), immobilization, intangibility, holds... a continued underappreciation of these tools is rampant in the defender community. I wish I could just plug into everyone matrix-style and download instant experience of playing a storm summoner or trick arrow for 20-30 levels, sitting them in a room with 5 blasters and saying "Ok, figure out how to defend your team." The things they would come up with are the same things PhiloticKnight talks about all the time.
Other issues:
Archvillain fights - I'm not going to sit down and whine because my force fielder is "useless" in 1% of the fights he'll ever be involved in. So he can't knockback. He still has shields, he still has blasts and their related debuffs, he still has leaping in their face waving his arms madly then jumping in PFF. But most importantly, he still has teammates....
Anchors, Knockback, and XP/hour: I've had more than a few people, some of them from the SuperTeams, tell me that my thoughts on knockbacking and chaos are just wrong. That to get the best XP/hour, you have to keep mobs cluttered together, you have to have them in anchor range, etc.
My stormer would be the first to say that in an invincible mission with 7 teammates... there are armies of enemies. No matter how much knockback is present, you can still fire in a random direction and still hit 10 villains, especially in warehouse/sewer maps.
For anchors, knockback is only a problem because most anchor defenders don't anchor the most critical target (read: boss). They try to get cute and outsmart their team by anchoring something that won't be defeated quickly (boss) or easily (minions), in order to keep the anchor going as long as possible. Why not just anchor the thing that needs to be debuffed the most, the most critical target to the team... the boss. Then if any knockback happens, the debuff is still exactly where it needs to be. Once the boss dies, rejoice that a critical target is gone, and in another 5-8 seconds, re-apply to the next critical target. Worried about the team during that time? They'll be fine. Bosses kill teams. Lieutenants hurt teams. Minions tickle teams.
As for XP/hour, a four defender, four blaster team with knockback steamrolling through an invincible mission, really doesn't look all that different from a all-rad SuperTeam steamrolling through an invincible mission. Sure the rads are probably a few steps faster. But they're both in that same category of "ridiculously fast". The slower knockbacking/chaos team is really only dealing with 1/3 of spawns at a time, because the other 2/3 are on the ground, running from rains, or involved with something other than the attacking your team. Thats serious damage mitigation. And any XP/hour arguments become moot the moment ANYONE on the team hits the ground and gets some debt.
Situational Powers: 'Situational' is what defending is. A true empath is thrilled to never EVER have to heal. My storm summoner (who also did invincible blaster/defender teams), would go 5-6 straight missions without using tornado a single time. But when it was needed, he was glad it was there. Likewise, my force fielder would have a blast if he could just shield and fire attacks. But sometimes force bolt has to be used. Repulsion field has to be used. D. field has to come out. Force bubble needs to be activated. I'd rather have the powers to deal with those situations when they arrive, as opposed to having the situations arrive and not having the powers to use. If you're power is situational and you never have to use it... guess what? That means you're doing great.
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Thus ends PK's Comprehensive FF Defender Guide Rev. 1
Philotic Knight's Mini-Guide to Debt
In most MMOs, death is a horrifying thing. You could lose your stuff, your skills could degrade, you could even lose your first born child! However, thanks to those handy dandy bracelets all the heroes in Paragon City wear, death is no longer a problem! We defy death! However, while death is no longer assured, the only other thing to be sure of is taxes. And for heroes in Paragon City, taxes take the form of Debt.
Most people see Debt as a hindrance, as something to be avoided at all costs, which it is. However, it is also something else. Your 'death' is a hint to the game that you need more help. So what is debt for and what does it do? Debt is the help the game is giving you because your experience and abilities are not up to par to face the challenges you are attempting. Debt helps you in two ways.
Debt as Educational
'Dying' tells the game that you have made a mistake, and what is the best way to prevent mistakes in the future? Practice! And that is what debt does, gives you more practice with your character by reducing your xp by half and making you play the character at a slower levelling rate. Are you really in a rush to get to 50? It's not all that it's cracked up to be. Enjoy the game as it is, and if you die too often and incur too much debt, then the game is telling you that something is wrong and you need to change what you are doing! Take this hint and try a different playstyle. The game might even be telling you that you are playing an archetype that is not the right fit for you!
Debt as Lucrative
Debt not only halves your xp, it also doubles your influence. Why you might ask? Simple, to buy more and better enhancements to improve your character's abilities! Whether it be by upgrading existing enhancements, buying a few inspirations to help you out more the next time, or deciding to change the way your enhancements are slotted for a different strategy, doubled influence means double the chance to improve your character! See it as a blessing rather than a curse!
Conclusion
Debt is the friend of every hero. Instead of truly dying and losing everything, heroes have been blessed with the chance to have 'infinite lives', and to grow and learn from their mistakes. This doesn't mean that you should SEEK debt; most citizens would rather have their heroes standing on two feet fighting crime rather than eating gravel. What it does mean is that you should see debt for what it truly is: A chance to learn something new, and improve both your own skills and the skills of your character. Good luck crimefighters!
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Thus ends Philotic Knight's Mini-Guide to Debt
The Conscience of a Defender
by The Philotic Knight - Written on June 23rd, 2007
Another one got trolled today, it's all over the papers. "Crimefighter Defeated in Crey Lab Debacle", "Defender Faceplanted after Suicide Debuff Attempt"...
Damn fruitsalads. They're all alike.
But did you, in your three-piece psychology and 1980's D&D-brain, ever take a look behind the eyes of the Defender? Did you ever wonder what made him tick, what forces shaped him, what may have molded him?
I am a Defender, enter my world...
Mine is a world that begins with Outbreak... I'm smarter than most of the other archetypes, this crap they teach us bores me...
Damn underachiever. They're all alike.
I'm in Atlas Park or Galaxy City. I've listened to scrappers explain for the fifteenth time how to defend them. I understand it better than they do. "No, Mr. Wulfereen, I didn't heal your HP. I prevented damage with defense buffs..."
Damn blue shield. Probably spammed the h34lz. They're all alike.
I made a discovery today. I found my secondary powers. Wait a second, this is cool. I can pwn mobs too! If I take a dirtnap, it's because I screwed it up. But if my teammate died, it's because they didn't look at what my powers DO. Not because I didn't rock the aura...
Or debuff the AV...
Or heal at just the right moment...
Or deal with the blapper that attacked the next mob solo and should have made a scrapper in the first place...
Damn fruitsalad. All he does is play games. They're all alike.
And then it happened... a door opened to a world... rushing through my endurance bar like heroin through an addict's veins, a website is loaded, a refuge from the day-to-day incompetencies is sought... an AT message board is found.
"This is it... this is where I belong..."
I know everyone here... even if I've never met them, never talked to them, may never hear from them again... I know you all...
Damn blue shield. Taking up all the bandwidth again. They're all alike...
You bet your [censored] we're all alike... we've had to take down Skuls when we wanted to best the Nemesis... the bits of mobs that you did let slip through were already half-dead and disoriented. We've been kill-stealed by scrappers, or ignored on the teamseek window. The few that offered to team with us found us willing heroes, but those few are like drops of water in the desert.
This is our world now... the world of the Gale and the Force Bubble, the beauty of the buff. We make use of powers that would be considered 1337 if they weren't denounced by some WoW rejects with a one-track mind, and you call us gimp. We explore power combinations... and you call us gimp. We seek after new playstyles... and you call us gimp. We exist without power prejudice, without mindless hack and slashing, without pre-made builds... and you call us gimp.
You build farming teams, bridge in Peregrine, cry nerf, post flames, troll us and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the gimped ones.
Yes, I am gimped. I'm gimped because I choose to team with you. I'm gimped because I choose to use EVERY power at my disposal to save your squishy butt, not seek out the most uber leet build for XP. My crime is that of being smarter than you, something that you will never forgive me for.
I am a Defender, and this is my manifesto. You may stop this individual, but you can't stop us all... after all, we're all alike.
+++The Philotic Knight+++
---
Post style shamelessly jacked from the much better and more powerful "Hacker's Manifesto", aka "The Conscience of a Hacker" by The Mentor.
Thus ends The Conscience of a Defender
New use found for Force Bubble! If a bubbler stands in the center of the Mothership during a Rikti raid and turns on Force Bubble for a couple of seconds, then turns it off right away, it clears the center of the ship and the bubbler should have gained almost no aggro! A good way for the bubbler to help start the raid, or to clear the board when the going gets tough. Keep doing it off and on over and over and the sub-ring around the center will keep the Rikti near the center, but still out of melee range of the squishy heroes/villains! This makes the raids MUCH safer and easier!
Another one here that I took from one of my posts on another thread. This one I call my Guide to Leading a Cavern of Transcendence PuG!
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Ooh, he's a confident one!
Okay, up the ante. Cavern of Transcendence Trial PuG. Go.
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Actually, speak of the devil, I make it a point to run that trial every chance I get. It's worth a fast and easy rare recipe for me. I form the PuG myself, educate the masses on where to sit and stay, and always make sure that I have Recall Friend and either Stealth, Phase Shift, or Personal Force Field. With me running the show and tp-ing everyone, the missions always end up running something like this:
1. I tell a mythical story about how "difficult" the mission is, how we can't have any deaths because all 8 people are needed to open the door, so there can't be ANY mistake. Everyone gets all nervous, especially considering the timer and the fact that the mobs keep respawning so we can't clear the mission. They LOVE that part. So I basically scare them into submission.
2. I then tell them how WE are going to run the mission, which basically means that they aren't going to do ANYTHING for most of the mission except stay where I put them and not touch anything unless I tell them. A huge sigh of relief permeates the team.
3. I proceed to "place" everyone at the stones, while they have a good old time chatting with each other and BS-ing. If there happens to be a mob too close to a stone, I tp the whole team near the mob, we destroy them, and I start over. I actually doesn't take as long as you would think.
4. I place the last person, then get to my stone. I tell them to hit their stones when they SEE me say the number 3. We always get it right the first time by using this method.
5. I tell them to stay put until I tp right by the door and tp them in a "safe zone" between two mobs.
6. We then proceed to clear out the mob right in front of the door, then I have either the tank or myself open the door and we clear out the mobs holding the hostage. Mission Complete.
7. There is usually at least 45 mins still left on the timer.
The ONLY time that things don't go exactly that way is when someone doesn't do what I say.
On my PuG I am almost NEVER leader, but I end up becoming the de facto combat leader. After a few team wipes and after I show them how *I* play and the results I get, they usually step in line and start doing as I suggest.
Once the team "gets in the groove" and stops playing stupidly, I step back and shut up and do my part. The leader keeps his star and a good time is had by all.
The Cavern of Transcendence Trial is the only mission that I've ever had to take true leadership over. And my method works perfectly if everyone does as they are told.
On all other PuGs I've been on, if they don't work out right away, I "train" them and then they work out fine with little input.
Then again, this might have come from the fact that I EXCLUSIVELY play PuGs (I have no in-game friends at all), and I've been playing almost EXCLUSIVELY on Freedumb for the past two years of my three year heroic career.
I have become the PuG master. 
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In this thread I will repost all of the guides and major writings of my former identity, The Philotic Knight. Since that identity is semi-retired, and the devs have said that we should place everything in this forum that we would like to have preserved, restricting myself to one single thread for all of my past writings would probably be for the best of everyone. Consider this a time capsule. Each post will be an entire guide or previous post.
Any mods that might be reading this, please feel free to delete any of my other threads in this forum, and change all of the links to those guides to this location instead please. Thank you.
So without further ado, here are my MAJOR collected writings under the name The Philotic Knight.