Linea

Heavily Armored Version ... Adjust levels etc to taste. Poison DP - Beta - [i25].mxd

(old) Cheap Easy mostly SO Builds ... but effective. ... ... then some more expensive (old) variants FF Water - Budget Build 2 - [i26].mxd Traps Water - Budget Build 1 - [i26].mxd FF Water Dark - Soul Drain - Overwatch 1 - [i25].mxd Traps Water - Quarterback 1 - [i25].mxd

The idea of the build was to test resist cap and (almost perma) +self_damage_cap. I soloed a +4x8 ITF with it. Standard Rune/Hybrid/Rune/Demonic/KitchenSink rotation. It plays a lot like a BioArmor scrapper. When you get defense debuffed you WILL die if you don't react and do something; However, with all that resist and absorb you typically DO have time to react. Without the absorb and resist you'd otherwise drop to cascade failure too fast to react. You can get defenses via temps and candy. I probably have a defense based perma-snipe version somewhere, but the +self_damage_cap is lost. And it's not translated to /Ice as ice doesn't have a snipe. This is probably it: Nature Fire - Laoraine 2c - [i25].mxd

I went pure resist build with self +damage ... I built it as Nature/Fire, but Nature/Ice is an easy translation. Nature Ice - Fourcade 1 - [i25].mxd Nature Fire - Fourcade 2td - [i25].mxd

I'd like to see 801 style remakes of all the major villain groups and then see 801 style radio missions that offer incarnate rewards. The obvious downside being, if you aren't on an incarnate team, you might get slaughtered. Other options and avenues would likely reap better return on investment for dev time.

Here's one of my older builds, designed as resist cap self damage cap, not defense based. Being NOT defense based it is much harder to drive than a defense based build, but the damage potential is nice. Nature Water - Fourcade 2 - [i25].mxd

Here are two very old, heavily armored, non-proc builds. (more modern proc builds will have more offense, but also likely less armor. Not that you need /that/ much armor.) The one was intended to be run with Amps, and possible dampeners and base buffs as well. The other is stand-alone. Storm Water Dark Defender - Druidess 2c - [i25].mxd Storm Water Scorpion - Alpha 1 - [i25].mxd

Tanks that can crank out 250+ dps in order to take out a +4 AV solo are not "average" tanks. I've done it, but it's not something I'd recommend to the average player, or even above average player. Tanks that can do that are probably Top 5% or better. I'm aware they are using the extra super difficulty settings only available in TFs, that is why I added "(but with all the toys, temps, and inspirations)". With the toys it's almost anything, without the toys and no deaths, it's a much much smaller subset. I wish there was more content like this, but without the AVs, as the dps-check is the most annoying aspect of this kind of thing.

I've soloed a +4x8 ITF with (almost) everything except a petless mm, (but with all the toys, temps, and inspirations). ... With galacticly wide varying degrees of difficulty, some combinations are simply not at all worth ever trying again, it was entirely too difficult. Emp/ and Tank are two that are right on that line, with kills taking up to an hour ... and you have to kill (or almost kill) that %!@#$^% as many as 6 times ... that's up to 6 hours, not worth it. In the end, the game balance really boils down to the AT modifiers, and then in-AT set balance, and issues with IOs. The former AT-Modifiers are well balanced, and WAI overall. The latter is totally whack, and always has been. Example, the best blast set (multiplied by IOs) can do 3.5x more damage than the worst blast set (also multiplied by IOs). That discrepancy gets even worse if the latter (worst) set does not have IOs nor incarnates or is poorly built. And that's the kind of thing we typically see. It's not Defender vs Corruptor, it's a T4 Corruptor built for damage being compared to a SO defender built for support. OF COURSE it's going to be a whack comparison. But build that defender as a T4 Offender, and it might out perform the Corruptor (when I did this comparison fairly and equally with mirror builds, they came out even with the defender builds a bit easier to build and a bit more flexible).

Empaths can ... But you really have to build for it, and built for it early, and you really only "get there" level 40+. I start my IO builds at level 7 ... most people only IO /after/ they hit 50 and get some incarnates. Alternately, you can do the same with a pair of empaths that buff each other ala "Green Machine" from very early levels. As soon as you have Fortitude and can buff your partner, you swap buffs and become very strong (thanks to your partner). Very much akin to a ranged equivalent of a "regen scrapper". Vanilla Empath, solo, lower levels, on SOs only, you're going to need to be a very advanced player to get there. It's been done, back on live years ago even, but it is very difficult. I'd probably recommend Emp/Energy for that, as the KB used correctly is very powerful. Solo Defender, there are many many other sets that are either easier to drive, or better end results. Empaths can do it, but it's more difficult. Teamed, there's absolutely no reason a defender (Including Empaths), level 40+, can't be contributing significant damage to the team, even blaster equivalent damage.

Here's how I did Nature/ armored self damage cap. It's an i25 build (resist) armored build, so not only could it be updated it could also be shifted to more damage as well.Nature Fire - Fourcade 2td - [i25].mxd I did a defense version with a less damage Nature Fire - Laoraine 2c - [i25].mxd never tried a more hybrid version like yours.

Dang! Gonna be missed.

/Ena does well, but you will want to layer on Rune/Hybrid/Rune to buffer your resists, and you need to stack as much energy drain +defense as you can due to psionic ... and you may from time to time need a small purple or medium purple primarily to further shore up psionic. You can also use the various Psionic Temp armors as supplement. The psionic isn't as big an issue as it is often made out to be. Yes Psi can kill you, but it also comes in packets half the size and half the frequency of other damage types (with the exception of Mr G's Arc). Kat ENA - Mu 1i - [i25].mxd

* Tactics and Ageless Radial +Special will put a big dent in Arachnos annoyance factor, so long as the rest of your build is otherwise solid. One or the other helps, both together are exponentially better. If you still have issues you can layer on Base Buffs (+recovery, +end_drain_resist, +perception), and even amps if you're still desperate after all that. On builds weak to them, you can also make sure to carry 4+ yellow (any size) to act as psuedo-tactics, 8+ medium purple (or larger, or dual) to act as psuedo-ddr. * Every build is different, this is the most generalized advice Here are three of my favorites. Kat Bio Scrapper - Alpha 3 ITF - [i25].mxd Time Fire - Quarterback 2d - [i26].mxd Water Atomic - Ciaraine 2b - [i25].mxd And here are some others that should be more pointedly useful: Rad Kat Tank - Radicat II - Mu 3f - [i25].mxd Fortunata - Isabella - Rev 8i (Psi-Tank) - [i25].mxd Huntsman - Agent Seventy Seven - Malfactor 2n - [i25].mxd

icap is 59%. the majority of -ddr comes from M/SL sources (not all, but most). For the very high-end content you want an effetive buffer of 20+ defense (a single hit can debuff 20+), and you want at least moderate resists to give you a reaction time buffer. I use the above build to solo 801.5 and 801.f +4x8 very very comfortably, with the only thing more durable being an SD/RadM tank. (Solo, +4x8, 801.5 or higher, teamed with any external buffs at all things will change, lower difficulty content and things change.) This is the build that demonstrates why /Ena hasn't been ported to tanks 'yet'. I was soloing 50+1x8 Rikti at level 13ish. Not purposefully, but it happened so I just rolled with it, was slightly surprised, then dug in for a good fight. Actual in-combat numbers for the build are insane ... Full Tier 4 Incarnate, Rune/Hybrid/Rune, Demonic, and all the other goodies ... DDR can still be an issue, and you can still cascade fail, at least minimal caution should be used around debuff heavy mobs. You can absolutely still die, even with this build, especially in 801 content. (but you could probably afk council, and other easy content) there's another post somewhere with even more info:

I recommend: /EnA (Defense, Any AT), Rad (Resist-Cap, Brute and Tank), /Bio (Heal-Armor, Any AT) . . Defense Alternate for tanks: SD/ and Inv/ Kat ENA - Mu 1i - [i25].mxd Inv RadM - Prototype E 7c - [i25].mxd Kat Bio Scrapper - Alpha 3 ITF - [i25].mxd Rad Kat Tank - Radicat II - Mu 3f - [i25].mxd SD RadM Tank - Alpha 5b - [i25].mxd

I'll put the Beta one on live as 801.9 ... soon(tm). 801 has evolved a lot since pre-shutdown. The ones on test are pre-shutdown versions. 801.2 (live) is my current armor standard. You should be able to solo it +4x8 and complete it in less than 2 hours. My Empath and Blaster can both do that with insanely extreme difficulty. (once and only once with the empath and blaster, all other runs are +1x8 and that is probably a more fair rating for them.) Re Beta: Ah, those are really old ones I pulled as "unplayable" 😜. Those are the very old ones from pre-shutdown, that eventually 'devolved' into what is 801 on live here. The only thing I have that can handle what we'll call 801.9 is Lucy SD/RadM. She managed 25m to 30m one day when seriously challenged by someone else. That challenge gave me the motivation to work my ass off and survive, including phasing as needed when I got debuffed too deeply. It's not pretty, and I'm really not sure how well it's designed, it honestly was a mistake, but since it was difficult I kept it and used it to poke holes in armor. The newer 801s are a much better design, but also much easier as I aimed for 801.2 to be soloable +0x0 on SOs by a defender or controller (piloted by me), but still challenging to as many builds as possible solo +4x8. Obviously there are upper limits when you also impose the lower limit of +0x0 on SOs. 801.3 (live) and up break the lower limit rule. 801.5 (live) and 801.F (live) should be survivable by any tank armor set except Regen. Kiski (Time/Fire) can generally surivive +4x8 about 15 minutes, but eventually she blinks. 801.5 kills 95% of tanks that join me on runs, but at the same time I've had at least one of every armor type do an excellent job of team-tank (with the exception of regen), and All my tanks handle it fine. I warn each group ... even then, 1 in 8 people rage-quit, and the tanks are the worst for rage-quitting, despite all the warnings. I've had teams go through 4 tanks, and had to beg friends to join mid-mission just so we can finish because all 4 tanks rage-quit and I wasn't currently on something that could do the "team-tank" job (there are 4 tanks, why can't I play squishie today?!?). People just don't believe it might be a challenge, and when it is, they meltdown. 801.f (live) is both harder and easier than 801.5, hence the different designation. If you are careful it can be easier as you can see everything coming. If you are not careful aggro explodes and it's more difficult. F is 6 so this is another way of saying 801.6 since it's a completely different design and doesn't play the same as the others.

I don't have his build, he went a different direction than I did. But see the following: You can also search for "Burke" and "Strauss" as keywords. Those were the code-names for emp builds I did for others. You should probably make sure to look through the archives as well: MRB: https://tinyurl.com/y6akcwre MRBU: https://tinyurl.com/vnhnjlo Mids Archives: https://tinyurl.com/wsn5v4j

Unless you play like a Linean Lunatic. But I'd agree for 99% of content and playstyle. And Traps will even let you take out AVs (with relative ease) while you're at it. Traps is very very nice.

Here are three variants out of the archives, I ended up building Dark/Rad for this project, but the build may still be helpful in some way. Dark DP - Beta Template 1 - [i25].mxd Dark DP - Beta Template 2 - [i25].mxd Dark DP Dark Defender - Stellina Template 1 - [i25].mxd

A) Almost any defender. It's just figuring out the build and playstyle. B) Listed in order of ease of play and/or lowest cost FF - Classic Offender, particularly if combined with Hover-Tanking, and a blast set with a heal. FF/Water for instance. Traps - Another Classic Offender, see FF above. Eafn - Cheap easy build if you can keep your pet alive and play at low notoriety settings. Sonic - This one is much harder than FF. Time - This one is a little trickier early on without status protection, but amps will fix that. It's a beast end-game, absolute beast. Nature - This is another more difficult one, but endgame, and/or with amps and a good IO build can be very nice.

No easy task, no matter how you go about it. It's much easier on almost any other build. ... famous last words.

Here's the only Inv/ build I have handy. You'll have to translate it to StJ, but it should give you some ideas. It's durable enough, but feels a bit light on damage, and wrecks the blue bar, dropping like a rock vs sappers. Inv RadM - Prototype E 7c - [i25].mxd

The way I play, pets are perma-dead, even Singy and Stoney. Fully Buffed Resist Capped Stoney goes down in less than 10 seconds. (The way *I* Play. No one said you have play /that/ deep in insane.)

Alpha Concept Character Armored Builds ... I never built any of these, something else got the pick for that project. Grav Martial Dom - Mattea Concept 1 - [i25].mxd Grav Rad Dom - Mattea Concept 1 - [i25].mxd Grav Rad Dom - Mattea Concept 2 - [i25].mxd Grav Savage Dom - Mattea Concept 1 - [i25].mxd