PvP Maddness/Woes

As for a Dark/Dark Defender being bad in PvP?not really, I have been surprisingly running into stubbern players who think they can take me down, and they wont run.Brutes, Corrs, ect.Anything but a Dom or a Stalker...that is of coarse if I can hit the Dom first, then he is dog meat.

Don't take Fly. You'll just get Webnaded/Air Suped/CAKed/Lifted/Glue Arrowed/Levitated/insert any other one of over nine thousand -Fly possibilities. Then you'll have no travel power and be screwed. And let's not even mention someone kiting you with Super Jump, Super Speed, speedjumping, or possibly even Ninja Run. It won't matter if you can pull an AS off if you can't catch up to them to kill them.

If you want to fly in PvP, buy a Raptor Pack from Firebase Zulu/Grandville and invest in Super Jump and Super Speed for serious PvP travel. Even then, you'll probably only use it to go after someone who's flying way up high in the air.


As for Dark Miasma... I won't comment much. My experience with it is about 26 levels of PvE and a partly IOed Rad/Dark Corruptor in PvP who didn't pose much of a challenge, so I can't say anything definitive. However, I think the reasons why Dark is being said as "Bad" is 1) Your heal can miss. 2) Tar Patch is nearly impossible to aim against a mobile foe and it can be escaped rather easily 3) Darkest Night is detogglable with a mez (Aim + Ranged Stun = DN turned off. Rad Emission also has that issue). 4) Howling Twilight, while a great debuff and mez, has a long recharge. 5) Shadow Fall provides defense and resistance in low, maybe negligible amounts for PvP and everyone packs +Perception to see through the stealth 6) Fearsome Stare might suck... dunno. 7) Petrifying Gaze doesn't do damage. 8) Foe Intangible powers outright suck in PvP 9) Dark Serv... errr... Fluffy is probably easy to kite and doesn't make much difference.

Now, don't quote me on those reasons. That's just my guess. I can also see where Dark Miasma can be quite nasty. Find a foe without a mez, say a Fire/Regen/Body Scrapper, and DN can be quite nasty. Land massive debuffs with Twilight Grasp and Howling Twilight and lure him into melee for Tar Patch and force him to stay there between having to be in melee to hit you for worthwhile damage and spamming fear and hold on him and you could have a very dead Scrapper. Of course, that's just perfectly theoretical of course and I have absolutely nothing to back-up the possibility of that scenario. I could have struck a bull's eye, I could have missed the dart board completely.


Now, if you want to roll a Defender in PvP, keeping in mind I'm thinking from a solo and not a team standpoint, I'd suggest...

Rad: Reliable self-heal, good multi-buff (recharge, end recovery, damage, etc.), albeit long recharging, a pair of nasty debuff toggles that each make the foe more vulnerable and you less so, and a permable click-debuff that can do things like break perma-hasten and perma-dom.

That's the only one I have any serious experience to back up. With much less certainty, and someone correct me if I'm way off base here, I'd also say...


Storm Summoning: Knockback, debuff toggle that prevents flight and can break perma-skills, a strong, but difficult to aim, debuff that lasts even if they escape the patch, a great defensive offense toggle that kicks melee's butt if they can't drop it, pets that can cause mezzes and kb, and a stationary pet that blasts the crap out of foes and saps them too. I base my Storm recommendation on an excellent don't-remember/Storm/Mu Corruptor who pwned face off anyone in close range, even if Hurricane and Snow Storm got shut off. Could only beat him by keeping my distance, which eliminated my big hitter in Total Focus (people say using that is a bad idea, but after stacking -res from sonic attacks, being able to take off 1/3 to 2/3rds of a squishie's HP is just too tempting).

Force Field: Nearly irresistable, ranged knockback (Force Bolt can reach something like Mag 40 or so KB), an excellent, fast recharging panic button, self-defense + mez resistance toggle, and a ranged kb/mez attack. Repulsion Field and Force Bubble may also have some use too against melee, but I also hear they're not worth it.

Cold Domination: Snow Storm, like Storm Summoning, Sleet, similar to SS's Freezing Rain, a nasty, fairly spammable debuff packed with -def, -Recharge, etc, and two nasty debuffs that, while very long recharging, will pretty much ruin the victim's day. My own theory crafting says Cold Dom is weak for PvP, but I've never played the set. People who have tell me it can be quite good.

Kinetics: I'm not sure this should go down here, but I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt. Heal requires to be close ranged to benefit and can miss, but it's a spammable debuff and sapping power. Siphon Power and Speed debuff the target while boosting you. I'm assuming Intertial Reduction stacks with Super Jump, which would be great for travel. Transference is a pretty hefty sap and Fulcrum Shift... probably just a slow recharging Siphon Power for PvP purposes.


Why not...

Dark Miasma: My own theory crafting would say it'd be pretty decent, but apparently I'm wrong.

Empathy: Healing Aura, Regeneration Aura, Recovery Aura. Only slightly better than having no primary.

Traps: Your silly vulnerable while setting up. Once you got things down, you're good as long as you don't move much. You can try TPing foes, but that can miss AND often they can just run out of the traps. On the move, you're nearly useless. I'm also considering a couple of times I rushed a Traps Corr on my Defender, took all of his traps to the face, and walked away with about 75% of my HP remaining and him 0%. Once people realize you're traps, you'll just get kited from range. That or people will ignore you completely, leaving you to sit in your fortress of gadgets all alone and bored. Traps seems to be really powerful on MMs though... I think it's the pets.

Trick Arrow: Not sure why, but TA is pretty craptastic in PvP. The debuffs just don't seem strong enough and I think that might be why. Disruption and Oil can be escaped, everything else can't. Heck, Flash Arrow is an auto-hit. Glue and Entangling stop flying, the set has a mez to break toggles, Acid and Poison are pretty strong debuffs. But as a whole, it's just lacking something. After a little thought, perhaps it's missing more direct mitigation (strong to-hit debuffs, defense, etc) AND a recovery mechanism (Radiant Aura, Twilight Grasp, etc.) and that's why it's not any good in PvP?

Sonic Res: Similar boat as Empathy with not much being useful. Sonic Dispersion is good, and Sonic Siphon is spammable, but that's about all you can do. Sonic Cage is crap and Liquefy crashes your recovery, which is almost always a bad idea. Everything else involves allies, so no go here.

Again, looking from a soloist standpoint. Teaming Defenders may get different mileages from different sets than solo ones.

I love Fire_Minded topics.

Step 1) Ask for advice.
Step 2) Don't get the advice you wanted to hear.
Step 3) Rage/troll.

Out of the stuff you listed I'd say the Fiery Aura/Superstrength tank might have the right mix of survivability and damage for you. Now, it's been a while and I don't think Fiery Aura has KB protection, so you'll be wanting to invest in some IOs to cover that gap.

Still, throwing Boulders, Fossilize, KB Blow (? is this still good these days ? ) and clicking Healing Flames should get you a few kills and increase your survivability.

Don't hesitate to pick up the Hyper Phase temp power and Super Leap/Superspeed are still great movement powers (some may say the only, but some Fliers have been seen in zones, often to their detriment) even with all the suppression out there.

Basic thing though is to grow a thick skin and laugh off the many defeats; eventually you'll get a hang of stuff and getting your own kills or setting them up.

Cheers...