My generic Invulnerability questions

I've recently made an Invulnerability Brute and I quickly realized that some of the game balance issues I remember have been fixed, altered, or rebalanced. I'm interested in getting a refresher on the Invulnerability powerset (and, specifically, how this powerset differs from old and current Tanker builds). One thing I remember from back in the day was the endless complaints on the user forums about Resistance being stronger than Defense. That doesn't seem to be the case anymore and kind of kneecaps a Resistance-focused powerset (or does it?). Input is greatly appreciated.

I am trying to do sort of an "avenging angel" thing. Currently I'm building a Brute with Broad Sword / Invulnerability / Flying. The idea was to get a Defense bonus from Hover, and to float around Mission maps smacking bad guys with a sword. I do care about being a competent build in terms of numbers, and if I can learn more about Invulnerability, Resistance in general, and Brutes while I approach this somewhat unique build I'd like learning from the experience.

Defense is better than Resistance in that Defense avoids debuffs and controls entirely.  If you are being targeted with an attack that penalizes your tohit, but avoid it, you don't get either the damage or the debuff.

Resistance is better than Defense in that Resistance resists debuffs specifically to Resistance.  If you have 90% resistance and ten dudes target you with -50% Resistance debuffs, half of them miss and from the other half you end up with >40% resistance.  If you have 45% defense and ten dudes target you with -50% defense debuffs, nine of them miss but the one that hits you drops you to -5% Defense.

Because of that problem with Defense, sets that focus heavily on Defense usually also have Defense debuff resistance.  Invuln does.

There are two "flavors" of Defense, positional (Melee, Ranged, and AoE) and typed (s/l/f/c/e/n/p).  Attacks are usually tagged with one or more of each, eg, "ranged fire."  You use the best position or type you have against that attack, so if you have 30% defense to Fire and 40% defense to Ranged, you have 40% defense to that attack.  (I don't recall if attacks with multiple damage flags either split into multiple defense checks or if they just use the best of all of them, but I think it's the former.)  Very rarely, some attacks either don't have a position flag or have a type other than those seven (such as toxic).  If it has neither, Defense simply doesn't work against that attack.  (This isn't significantly different from Resistance.)

More is better for all types of damage mitigation, but the value of Inspirations as gap fillers also help to form some convenient target points.  For example, 45% is the endgame Defense target because math, and small Defense inspirations are worth 12.5% each for 60s.  So a mediocre Defense target is 20% (2 insps from 45) and an okay target is 32.5%.

Although it may be counter-intuitive, Invuln is functionally a typed Defense set with a lot of S/L Resistance and a click heal.  You can and should build on the Resist values the set offers, but your first priority is actually hitting the Defense softcap of 45% for all but psionic damage, and getting psionic Defense up to some reasonable amount (certainly >20%).  Your other goals should be to build up your Resistances generally (cap your S/L resist, and get Energy up there); to specifically improve your Psionic Resistance (ideally to >50%); and to build a comfortable amount of global haste (ideally +100% or more so Dull Pain with 100% enhancement +rech is permanent).  Improving maxhp and regen is also always good.

You can skip Parry.  Ordinarily Parry is an excellent Broadsword defensive power, but it just doesn't work very well with Invuln.  If you manage the +100% global recharge, you can also drop Slash, since you can then chain Hack -> Head Splitter - > Hack -> Disembowel, which is a nearly optimal attack chain for BS.

I read your post, started a long reply, and then read the reply above me.

Everything he said is true.

Back in the day I downloaded a flashy program someone made to allow me to spec out a build and see the math I'd get. I presume there's no way to do that with the revised mechanics. Can you give me some guidelines for how I should decide on where my Enhancement slots get assigned along the way? I'm presuming Hover isn't a bad idea for (+Def) but how many slots to use is probably an important part of that. I had an Invuln./S.S. Tank some time around I4 and remember Invuln. Tanks being End. guzzling hogs because of the toggles. I presume that isn't the case any more, but are the toggles worth burning more than three slots on (for Resistance Increase S.O. x2 and End. Reduction S.O. x1)?

Here's a link that will take you to the program you presume doesn't exist.

All low-level builds guzzle endurance.  Melee actually have it easier than most, but will die quickly if they run out (vs just "be useless for a minute," at least in group content).  Click powers like attacks use a great deal of your endurance.  While you're levelling, you should have your attacks slotted something like 1 Endredux, 1 Acc, 1 Rech, 1 Dam.  If it's an important attack, like Hack, you can bring that to six with more Damage and/or Recharge.  You should have your toggles slotted with 2 endredux and 2 or 3 of "whatever the thing is" (Defense or Resistance).  Non-attack clicks should have 1 endredux, 2 recharge, and often 1 or more of whatever the thing is (like heal for Dull Pain).

Fitness is inherent, so unlike i4 you don't need to burn a power pick getting Stamina.  Slot it to 3 while levelling; end-game it'll probably be 2, unless you need to fit in a set.

This has been very helpful.

I've been flying around with Hover and smacking bad guys with a sword. The costume has animated beating wings that are smart enough to behave correctly when in flight, and the attacks are effective enough to feel they meaningfully impact. The build is working out really great overall. At this point I'm speculating on how to get a "fiery sword" thing going on with the blade for that full "wrath of god" look, but changing powersets seems to be the only option. Unfortunately, the sets that have fire sword visuals usually only have one or two attacks that use them and they don't get drawn and stay out like in the weaponry-related powersets. That means I'm probably going to be staying with Broad Sword and looking for a cosmetic solution, if one turns out to be available.

I'm interested in the debuff that the sword attacks apply. Can I get some personal "quality of life" opinions on Broad Sword's debuffs versus the mez effects other sets apply?

TW has a flaming sword

I'm interested in the debuff that the sword attacks apply. Can I get some personal "quality of life" opinions on Broad Sword's debuffs versus the mez effects other sets apply?

-def isn't the best on its own, but it allows you to slot a proc in it from the Achilles' Heel set that adds a chance to reduce resistance, which improves your damage a great deal.

If you use a 'fist' aura your weapon swings will have a glowing trail in whatever color and style you choose for the aura.  Broadsword has several glowing blade options, some of which look more fiery than others.

Whats the upper limit on Achillies Heel?  Does it stack with itself (and if so, can you expect it to?)