Avilister

I 6 slot both. I tend to slot 5 Overwhelming Force and 1 Sudden Acceleration KB->KD in Wormhole, and then 4 Expedient Reinforcement (for the set bonus) with the pet Build-Up proc from Soulbound Alligence, and the Overwhelming Force KB->KD with chance for KD proc.

I've got a KB->KD IO in my Grav/Time's Wormhole. It does help. Normally the knockback can potentially scatter them after you warp them in, but with KB->KD, you pull them over and then slam them all directly into the ground. As a side effect, I've noticed that the lack of scatter leads to them tending to end up in an orderly line.

I was playing a Warshade, but yes, I outleveled them. I checked, and they are available via Oro to play through. I was unable to finish a story arc I had started because Shadowstar wanted me to do the more level-appropriate arc instead.

So you're saying to forgo the full Gaussian's set in build up and just slot the proc? I guess that'd free up some slots to put elsewhere... Not sure where though. Maybe some more into Particle Shielding or another recharge redux in Meltdown (or just straight up slotting it for some kind of set bonus)... Hmmmm... Only real downside of reslotting Ground Zero for procs would be losing the 5% global recharge... Might be able to squeeze it in elsewhere though... Will have to tinker some more with it.

So I made a rad/rad stalker that I'm pretty happy with the concept and such for, but I'm looking to nail down a build to respec into once I'm closer to the late game (its only about level 20 right now :P). I don't actually know much about specing rad sets out for Brute or Scrapper, or how much of that carries over into Stalker, so a lot of this is just educated guessing. I'm hoping some folks can help me refine it a bit.

Here's my Dark/Dark build. Its a ProcMonster build that I think I mostly lifted from other threads. I don't actually have this build completed, most of the purple IOs and sets are replaced in my currently live build with nearest non-purp equivalents until I can afford to focus a bit more money into this character.

I hadn't ever used it before, and I wanted to experiment with the grav/time builds being discusssed, so I made a grav/time on Pineapple and played around with D.Shift. It does pretty much work as you describe. In can fight in, and out can fight out. But in and out cannot fight each other. Moreover, based at least on Singularity's behavior, it doesn't seem the NPCs can really tell the difference. They do not attempt to close the range if their ranged attacks don't affect you. That said, D.Shift felt to me like it didn't last very long. The info says about 20 seconds, which I guess right, but the recharge doesn't start until it toggles off, so it cannot be permaed.

So after lurking around the stalker forums for a while, I made 3 and ran them through DFB and the Kin/En is what really grabbed me of them (the other two are the much-touted BS/Shield and a Psi/Dark, which I may still level up later). So, a few runs through DFB got me up to 16ish where I logged for the night (as this was at the end of my play session anyway). Today, of course, I've turned to Mids and build planning before ever logging in. I've done some poking around on the forums and used some things I learned here on the Stalkers board and then a few more things I learned in the Brute and Tank boards and I landed here. It seems okay, but I figured I should run it by some other people before actually investing influence in it. I'll note I'm already considering swapping Body Blow for Quick Strike to have another place to throw a FF+Rch proc to tap when something I really want is on CD, though I imagine the math says a proc on it would be infrequent (I haven't actually calculated it myself). Some highlights: 51% S/L def and comparable def to F/C/E/N (though N lags behind somewhat to 43.2%), mid-20% positionals. 50% S/L Resist with 30ish E/N and even 20% Psi (though F/C are only 17%). Just short of permahasten without a FF+Rch proc (of which there is only one in the build currently). Two meaty ranged attacks, despite being a melee AT. A PBAoE dmg+kd power, roughly 50% uptime on Shadow Meld to really slam those defenses to the hilt. Nearly perma Energize. Perma Energy Drain that can add up to 5.4% more defense with 10 targets (or, multiple activations on fewer targets - I'd guess it'd be fairly easy to keep up about 5 or 6 buffs constantly which is closer to a 3% def buff - plus buckets of endurance). Between Assassin's Mark procs and Concentrated Strike crits, Build-Up should be recharging frequently. Anyway, here's the build. Again - tell me how I can improved it 😄 Villain Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.1 https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer Click this DataLink to open the build! Surprise: Level 50 Mutation Stalker Primary Power Set: Kinetic Melee Secondary Power Set: Energy Aura Power Pool: Flight Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Speed Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery Villain Profile: Level 1: Body Blow -- Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg(A), Mk'Bit-Dam%(50) Level 1: Hide -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Ksm-ToHit+(3), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(3), Rct-ResDam%(5) Level 2: Smashing Blow -- CrsImp-Acc/Dmg(A), CrsImp-Dmg/EndRdx(42), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42), CrsImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), Mk'Bit-Dam%(43) Level 4: Kinetic Shield -- RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(5), RedFrt-EndRdx/Rchg(7), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(7), RedFrt-Def(34), RedFrt-EndRdx(36) Level 6: Assassin's Strike -- SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprStlGl-Dmg/Rchg(13), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), SprStlGl-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), SprStlGl-Rchg/Hide%(17) Level 8: Build Up -- GssSynFr--ToHit(A), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg(9), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(9), GssSynFr--Rchg/EndRdx(11), GssSynFr--ToHit/EndRdx(11), GssSynFr--Build%(13) Level 10: Entropy Shield -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 12: Placate -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 14: Fly -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 16: Power Shield -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(25), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(31), LucoftheG-Def(31) Level 18: Burst -- Obl-%Dam(A), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Obl-Dmg(37), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Obl-Acc/Rchg(40), FuroftheG-ResDeb%(42) Level 20: Kinetic Dampening -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(21), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(21), UnbGrd-Max HP%(23), GldArm-3defTpProc(36), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(37) Level 22: Hover -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(23) Level 24: Afterburner -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 26: Focused Burst -- Dcm-Acc/Dmg(A), Dcm-Dmg/EndRdx(27), Dcm-Dmg/Rchg(27), Dcm-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(29), Dcm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29), FrcFdb-Rechg%(31) Level 28: Energy Drain -- EffAdp-EndMod/EndRdx(A), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(48), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(48), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(50) Level 30: Boxing -- Empty(A) Level 32: Concentrated Strike -- SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAssMar-Dmg/Rchg(33), SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), SprAssMar-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), SprAssMar-Rchg/Rchg Build Up(34) Level 35: Energize -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(36) Level 38: Moonbeam -- SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg(A), SprWntBit-Dmg/Rchg(39), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), SprWntBit-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(40), SprWntBit-Rchg/SlowProc(46) Level 41: Shadow Meld -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 44: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(45), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(45), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(45), ImpArm-ResPsi(46), Ags-Psi/Status(46) Level 47: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(48) Level 49: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50) Level 1: Assassination Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(19), Mrc-Rcvry+(19) Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A) Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(25) ------------ | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1500;690;1380;HEX;| |78DA9594594F135114C7EFA553A11B500A142C8B6511CA32A52ECF045914B109491| |35FEB502E65D2494BDAA9A12E0F3EF801F40597571770FB2CAEDFC11797448D1897| |7A98F3074CE6C9499ADFBDFF7BEF39FF39E74ED39B73C117676F4C0B199AB58C4A2| |59BB10DABA0CA4DE9AA6DD866A9E811423465AAE58DB259518D34E9C18E6C5A594A| |E94B6651D9662E3B63DB46AE10DB5F9C536BAA5851FA7C5195F3B5EC4CB56C88C07| |2A964E90B96995FB7433CDE1B9AC5BCDF996536945A0D3BC3C5E265B362AE989669| |D7BAE737CC9CBE1F3853AA5AD9B451B155B9D6457674FAAD84059EBA146B84114DA| |40ACC333EA274D63CA28306294D34FCA6692F71C9E3CCB52FCC5C185B45DD2B2F09| |474B18E02A734C8139B0C09CA53C1ECEE3F5F8398F16601E09822166BC9939D8C25| |CA5BC5E9CF5BE642FC157CCE6D7E01B66EB5BF01D53D1D946786E7CD0E0684D0FC1| |474CFF63709B19DC61CE93671FE715BE38BFC71AC50B703C1118672D400942D042D| |83747675B50D716D4B5AB95D91701DB99798A1986C7B060DF4375F630F49339F207| |FCC54C4CF3BE05CA13416D225F596BFF067E6776FE600E9E40ECA874FAEB23DF1D7| |C5676C063273C8A4E21A278A728D6D6C964377C766FF1FD397A07BCCBECB907DE67| |F6DD64BFE7C8674C7A9D7AC46EB196C43D48E21EA4D07F49BE7A91BBB74E8F30297| |33F32F76F6ACEAE6335F00A789519BF065E672E52E601DCFE01746C107C4F051946| |DCE16DDE7F7C077C023E658E3C634E3E67EE06851885CB51C4F390F37174631CDD9| |84037267641746532219D0A4D9EC6D7406775744347C593E8C600AD4D616D0AB952| |604C3BF8BAEB3D87E3BD29556ECCA54CB994944B39E9524EB9940B2E65593BF87F1| |0D2517CAD62EF3E3BDE3EF86955FEBBFAE950699071AE4ADB457EE3B6F35C9D8FAE| |539F0F1529B7F82675DD66D6FFE7F90BF0A61A1D| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

Hmm, I could have sworn that they did. Well, time for a field test. I have a Dark/Dark tank, Warshade, and Bane Spider all at 50. Dark/Dark tank, all powers off: 11.31% def in and out of combat (from enhancement sets mostly); 18.52% with only Cloak of Darkness on - combat does not alter defense. I stand corrected. Warshade, all powers off: 3% def (I need to slot a few of the other static +def enh, it seems); 7.35% with Shadow Cloak on - combat does not alter defense. I again stand corrected. Bane Spider, all powers off: 8.5% melee defense (ranged and aoe are higher, in part due to auto powers and set bonuses): 20.49% melee def with Cloaking Device on 14.5% defense in combat - 5% lost. Note: Cloaking Device also explicitly calls out this behavior, whereas the other two make no mention of it. "Even if discovered, you are hard to see and retain some bonus to Defense." I don't have a character with the concealment pool to test that one, but it does appear most of the rest do not suppress their defense bonuses as I thought they did.

I strongly doubt that and would encourage testing the value. Other similar powers, such as the Warshade stealthing/defense power, Arachnos Soldier Cloaking Device, and Dark Armor stealth/defense power all have higher defense when you're actively stealthed and lower defense when you're in combat.

Is it 9% all the time or only out-of-combat? A lot of stealth powers have higher defense when you're out of combat and lose some chunk of that defense (often half, or a flat 5%, or something) when you enter combat.

I've had a level 50 Warshade back on live and I finished leveling my WS here on homecoming a few days ago and have played little else since. Stygian Circle is really the answer to every problem. While the IO sets do help reduce costs and everything, there comes a point where, with enough recharge, that doesn't matter at all. Why not? Because you can hit SC every 10-or-less seconds to refill your health and stamina bars completely once its slotted up - provided that there are any corpses at all on the ground. After level 30 or so, I don't think I ever had a stamina problem again (granted, I leveled up, and still am, triform, though I'm putting a human-only build together). Remember, as a MFing Warshade, you need a constant supply of bodies. Always be hunting corpses.

I think maybe you need to read up on the ProcMonster threads in both the Controller and Defender forums. While what you say is, on paper at least, correct, testing has shown that this is not the case for rain and patch-type powers. For whatever reason (possibly a bug?) they seem to proc enhancements at far, far lower rates than expected and procs with durations (such as Achilles's Heel) don't last for their full duration.

As I still haven't actually respec'd (I've been working on a Dark/Dark Tank and a Warshade, both of which are now 50 :D), I'm going to seriously consider these suggestions. You're right, I don't often pull Volcanic Gases out. It is frequently either an 'oh-shit' button or something I'll toss out if all my disorients are are cooldown and I want to lock down a group. Its extremely long recharge means that isn't something that can be done frequently, though, and Thunder Clap certainly could be. Hurl Boulder I'll have to look at a little more closely. I am dubious because of its notoriously long cast time, but you make some compelling arguments for it.

I got my Dark/Dark to 50 and most of the sets slotted (its still missing a few things, notably the ATO sets from the build above, but is otherwise well underway). I ran the Posi1 TF and, owch, my end bar. I also realized I hadn't picked attacks at levels that were particularly exemplar-friendly. If I respec again, I'm going to take Siphon Life at 16 rather than waiting so I don't have to resort of Sands of Mu, my staff, Boxing, and other temp powers for an attack chain. That said, my end bar suffered enough that just spamming Shadow Punch on cooldown here and there would often give it a chance to recover a bit. I am starting to look at what I'd like to do for incarnates and would like opinions. Given how end-hungry the build is (though this is alleviated significantly at higher levels once Dark Consumption is in play), I was considering Cardiac Core. In Mids this appears to have significant impact because of the sheer number of toggles involved in a typical DA build. I figured I could follow that up with either Barrier (if defenses are needed) or Ageless (if I just want more Recharge) in the Destiny slot. Any opinions from folks with more experience with the DA set?

Yes, this is new behavior that came in on I24 or I25. Targeted anchor abilities will stay on corpses until they despawn. Also happens for the Radiation anchors, Snow Storm, etc.

Yeah, I'd been trying to re-figure where to put the Orb ATO. That may be a good way to handle it. Hmmm. Fortunatly haven't actually respec'd into this build yet, as I wanted to see a bit of feedback and I've been working on a dark/dark tank. May mod the build a bit...

So Dark/ is weird because it spreads out your status protection into two different abilities. Cloak of Darkness is a good example of this. It carries your Immobility protection. You could get that from somewhere else, notably Combat Jumping, but there's another reason you want Cloak of Darkness - it has some baked-in +DEF(All). It also has some +Perception that I'm just noticing for the first time, but that's sort of situationaly useful. Yes, the stealthy part of it feels sort of un-tanky, but if you're running your damage aura or otherwise engaged in combat, that's probably not going to matter very much. To some of your other concerns. At low levels, you bother with Shadow Maul because it has a much faster recharge than Sands of Mu, is enhanceable, and you can use them BOTH. At high levels, a lot of people spec out of it (I am planning to) because it has a long animation that sort of locks you in place. Death Shroud is, literally, asking for death because it is your taunt-aura. I put it off to level 14 in order to ensure that I had my defenses in place before asking more enemies to try and kill me. The reason to take Taunt on a lot of tankers is simply agro control. You can force enemies to focus on you rather than your team and Taunt itself has the advantage of being a 70ft ranged power, unlike your damage aura or pretty much any of your other abilities. If your squishies are hanging back and getting beaten up by something, you can peel it off them from afar with Taunt. As for Dark Armor being Resist focused, most of the Armor sets are. Most also have at least some Defense baked in (Dark's is in Cloak of Darkness) and almost all tankers (and really anyone planning on spending time at melee range) take Weave to pad out their Defenses a bit. You can also get Defense from set bonuses, which is one of the principle advantages of IO sets. Dark Melee also has -To-Hit baked into most of its attacks, which is sort of an offensive defense, since these enemies will have a harder time hitting you (the base is around 5% on most of the attacks, and this can sort of be thought of as an extra 5% defense against things you've hit with one of your melee powers for a few seconds.) Note that Dark Armor is notoriously and intensely endurance hungry (there are so many toggles, particularly when you throw in Tough and Weave and maybe Maneuvers). Incarnate picks that help to mitigate that and slotting for Endurance Reduction before slotting in actual IO sets will help to mitigate that. Here, for some reference, are two builds. The first is my "leveling build" using SOs (or, really, level 25 IOs), which includes powers up to level 38 and slots through about level 36ish (it doesn't spend all the level 36 slots). This is usually about when I have invested the time into a build to know whether or not I want to invest the influence into it for IO sets, so I usually don't plan vanilla builds beyond the mid-30s or so. Also included is my planned build for level 50. It does use a lot of IO sets, but honestly, once you get rolling, this isn't too hard to afford. Look on the Guides forum for the threads about how to make money - those methods work (I've been using them). A few days of investment can net you millions and millions of inf (like, hundreds of millions, really). Note that these builds make use of Fly/Hover/Afterburner for flavorish reasons (and I find Fly the most fun travel power), but probably a better build would go with Combat Jumping, Super Jump, and then some other 3rd power (maybe Touch of Fear to try stacking Fear magnitude on bosses? or Assault or something?). A lot of builds also drop both Cloak of Fear and Oppressive Gloom, but as I haven't had much experience with Dark Armor, I wanted to give at least one of them a shot, and Cloak of Fear also has a bit of -to-hit built-in, so I went with it (though Oppressive Gloom is cheaper to run in terms of Endurance, but has some health cost associated when it hits targets). My "leveling build", which is good until somewhere around 35ish and has some sort of vague outlines for what to do after that. (70% S/L resist, 60% Psi resist, 12.5% defense all) My level 50 build with IO sets (but no Purple IO sets, which are just too expensive for me right now, even with the methods mentioned above for making money - too many alts to feed). (82% S/L resist, 75% Psi resist, 36ish for most Defenses, 40% Ranged defense, a bit short of perma-Hasten.)

I've tried my hand at an Earth/Storm/Stone build that takes advantage of the information in this thread, the Defender thread, and the Storm/ thread. It can be found here:

So I've gone back to the drawing board and wanted to see if I could build Earth/Storm to take advantage of the information presented in the ProcMonster threads on the Controller and Defender forums. The following build is the result. Note that I have not actually implemented and tested this build yet, but will be trying to do so over the next few days. This build takes advantage of some things that I learned in the proc-focused threads, including that Freezing Rain and Earthquake do not substantially benefit from damage and -Res procs because rain-type abilities in general just don't proc them very often (and the -Res procs for some reason don't stay on for very long when they do proc). This let me move some slots around. I've included more FF:+Rech procs and a lot of the set bonuses are heavily focused on recharge. All the FF:+recharge procs should mean that you get very good uptime on the buff it provides between all the various abilities it is in. It may actually be in a few too many, as I suspect it may waste some procs of it. We'll see when I get the build put together and have the chance to play it. This build is much more focused on damage, including slotting Stone Cages for damage and switches from Mu Mastery to Stone Mastery for Fissure (which also sort of replaces the Stun lost from dropping Thunder Clap) and Seismic Smash (which is apparently really great damage), and Rock Armor for more defense. The build is at more than 46% S/L def and about 24-27% def to all other types, but has Earthquake slotted for around -14% to-hit (which sort of brings you to around 38ish defense against targets affected by it) and can push another -30% to-hit if you can find a good corner to herd enemies into (or vs an AV or something that is repel-immune). End management is going to be an issue, even if you don't run Tactics or Tough all the time; and, really, you shouldn't need to in most circumstances - there's a lot of -Def in Earth/Storm in general that should keep you hitting pretty reliably (plus a +18% to hit from set bonuses). Tough you can pretty easily flip on for the really dangerous encounters or if you have a teammate with an endurance buff of some sort. It will probably benefit from Incarnate picks that help out your blue bar in some way. Really, my only regret with this build was not being able to fit Thunderclap in, because I really like the way it looks, but I wasn't using it very often and it was sort of hard to use sometimes given that it was a PBAOE. Fissure is a targeted AOE, though the range is short and the area is smaller. Hopefully it balances out and the extra damage gets me to use it more (and thus throw out more control as well). Here's the Purple-OK version, which trades out a few sets for their Purple upgrades and takes advantage of a few Purple proc enhancements. It is probably better but, I think, not enough better for me to want to spend the extra influence on it.

The Arachnos Agent badge is displaying the completed badge text while the badge is still in progress and showing a progress bar. Other Day Job badges show text like "Spend time logged of in X to earn this Day Job Badge." while the badge is still in progress.

The Wiseguy badge (the level 30 badge for villains) description reads "Arachnos has awarded you the Hero.gender Badge for reaching Level 30." Emphasis mine. This is on a level 50 male Natural Arachnos Soldier.

Yeah, I'll admit I don't use O2 boost much or ever. If I had a mind to respec at the moment, I'd probably drop it for something else. The heal isn't big and its only been useful for removing stun on folks that have used an awaken without having an anti-mez handy. As for Stone Cages, there's very few 2-3 piece set bonuses that are worth pursuing. I've got them slotted with two Acc/Ends from different sets since controller AOEs have pretty low innate accuracy and its a 15end power. This gets its accuracy up to 'okay' territory and drops its cost by a third. Then it has the Energy Font ATO in the other slot, because Stone Cages has a pretty low cooldown and is pretty easy to throw a few out in a fight to get a proc off that and spawn another little buddy. I find I can usually only get one or maybe two out at a time, but Stone Cages also turns KBs into KDs, so keeping stuff in them is still worthwhile to keep groups clustered up. I also make judicious use of Hurricane to nudge groups into tighter piles so the rest of the team can burn it down faster (I've actually had people compliment me on it! :D)

Here are two builds. I'm using the first currently. It has less defense, but I've found that in general this isn't a huge problem due to the -ToHit on Earthquake and, in a pinch, hurricane. I'm using a lot of KB->KD IOs that may not be necessary if you're using Earth Cages a lot. I'm starting to use it more since I got the ATO in it. That said, it really helps Tornado and Gale in particular, as you can use Gale as an "oh crap, knock those dudes down". Grant Invisibility is mostly a LOTG mule, but it can help stealth other players through things using Steamy Mist in a pinch, as long as they can stay close (I don't really do this often). Without the KB->KD IOs I'd probably stick a damage proc in Lightning Storm. That said, this keeps it from flinging people around if Stone Cages misses someone or adds join the fight and I haven't locked them down yet. The second build I put together to try to maximize defense a bit more because of someone critiquing my relatively low defense. Note that this only proved to be a problem on missions where we were trying to stealth through and something with +Perception actually managed to see through it. If we actually bother to stop and fight, all the -ToHit and Knockdown tend to keep me relatively safe (I was able to solo the two Elite Bosses at the end of the Mender Ramiel arc without too much problem, for example). I provide the build anyway, because people are obsessed with defense stacking, even in the face of other effects (like control, and I stress that as an Earth Controller, you've got a lot of this) and debuffs (which you also have a lot of as Earth/Storm). Both builds are no-Purple, because I've got money to fund this much, but not THAT much. Build 1 - Better Recharge, somewhat lower defense and Build 2 (higher defense, somewhat less recharge)

To add to that, a lot of Kinetics effects really want you to be up close and personal with your targets. Particularly as you enter the 30s, you'll want to be close not just for Transfusion, but also for Transference and Fulcrum Shift.