Doomguide2005

O.o Think I'll call myself an FM next time I'm asked in chat. Wut? Force Multiplier 😁

It happens, even when I find myself running at +4/×8, but like ImpousVileTerror I typically just shrug and deal with it best I can. And since I'm often running support characters I try to not get too scrapper-locked and keep my buffs flowing

O.o. I just added several new things to my personal list of "I *JUST* learned" stuff.

Yep, I've done it on Live with Cold/Ice/Power Defender --> Power Build Up+Aim+Tactics and watched my To Hit in combat attributes turn blue (indicating a hard cap). Defense also has a Hard Cap which varies by AT. Ironblade is sort of correct in that those caps are typically meaningless as, due to the "clamps" in the attack equation, you never drop below 5% or above 95% final to hit values. But certain critters can put some significance back into it. Paragon Protectors hitting their MoG, DE eminators, Captain Mako when he hits Elude etc..

Coyote pretty much hit it on the head I was looking for greater clarity and since it is a thread about the OP's Empathy buffs I made the assumption you were on an Empathy character. Thank you for going into more detail. With what you provided I'd say that Aid Another isn't Empathy so while it may be evidence Aid Another causes aggro that doesn't necessarily mean Empathy's heals do. And regardless of everything else those foes attacking a +42 lvl character 'a few moments' later is decidedly odd AI behavior. In any case I don't think the OP should have any concerns about drawing aggro with his heals.

@Frostweaver -> You're saying you were a lvl 50 Empath, not exemplared, helping a lvl 10 in the Hollows ... when he dropped all his Troll foes then turned on you while you had Stealth from the Concealment pool active and all you had done is use Heal Other +/- Heal Aura on the lvl 10?

Could be, I've never tested it. And never really been in a situation where it wasn't utterly muddied by everything else going on around (and by) me. I also tend to run around with SS active along with a stealth proc and SS does have a -1 to threat in addition to its stealth component which might be enough to dump the aggro caused by buffs/heals faster than it generates. Unfortunately no idea when I'd be able to test/experiment with things. Computer died and left me with just a phone for internet access.

Ahhh, shudder +4 Eyeballs. Definitely slowed me down and sometimes wishing the build including a well slotted Elude to off set the over the top To Hit they have. Another option would be the Accolade Archmage (+60 def and 60% resistances). That combined with Gaes of the Kind Ones is how I rode out the Elude crash in the days before IO's and IO sets existed. Pop Geas right before the end crash, +/- a single blue inspiration then use Archmage post crash. Could finish the fight and by the time I got retoggled the debuff from the crash was over.

I so badly need to get in game and test this out. I've played an absolutely crazy number of hours on Empaths, granted only once 1 to 50 paired with a controller set. I can never recall pulling any aggro with either my buffs or heals where it was obvious to me. So if it (and it would have to be just HA it's the only non single target heal) does it's got to be miniscule compared to everything else. But given my playstyle I'm usually either blasting like crazy between buffs (teamed) or running solo (also attacking like crazy, duh). And unless it went seriously pear-shaped I'm still drawing aggro with my own activity on a team right up until it all headed south with attacks. Basically AFAIK nothing Empathy does creates or draws aggro. The two Auras (Recovery and Regeneration) and Healing Aura are the only powers that even effect more than one Ally never mind foes.

This. Though it's not intended to work that way. Vengeance stacking not Veats toggles that is 😁. Bit like how GM (a team of all Empathy defenders) would prevent (often not always) toggle dropping of their Leadership toggles when Nukes weren't crashless. Stack so much recovery their end never bottomed out. Edit: Technically I think it would but we'd get a tic or more of end back before the toggle would check/pay its end cost so the toggle cost would get paid and no drop.

Maneuvers, Assault and Tactics all stack. And teams that start doing this get all sorts of powerful even if it's just made up of AT's that get the lowest buff benefits from them, such as 8 Scrappers. The only one I'm not sure about is Victory Rush. No personal experience and can't go in game or to Mids' currently, but I'm sure someone will pop in and say Y/N.

Support the idea but I am a bit confused by the last bit about Rikti actually beaming down during their invasions. My computer, and therefore access to playing died a month or so back, ... but last time I was in a zone when an invasion occurred on homecoming Rikti did spawn in if you were messing with their bombs? I presume if I had stood around outdoors (I was in Founders') they would have showed up as they do on the hill in Talos? Or are you meaning something else?

What do you consider sufficient defense? 33% puts you one small 'Luck' (+12.5%) from the soft cap 20% puts you one medium 'Good Luck' (+25%) from the soft cap. That's without considering Radiation Infection debuff or Seeds You said for solo or duo vs AV's. Which is going to be the more common?

What everyone has been saying about Pain being a buff and more ally centric set is true. This is a weakness when solo. On the other hand it can be viewed as a strength when teamed. Because you don't have to pay as much time and attention to your pets it gives you more time to spend buffing and aiding your team. The fire (pets) and forget nature of Illusion makes it easier for busier sets (single target ally buffers) like Empathy or Pain to focus on their thing.

I don't know if there's any consensus on what's an "acceptable" amount beyond you need more if heavy debuffers (a big swarm of Cimerorans, for example), start initiating cascade failure before they just plain defeat you (with a lucky streak or landing enough hits to outpace your regen). That would, at least for me, be clear indication you needed more DDR. Some of whatever that risk is could be mitigated by the same things most AT's do when worrying about cascade failure. Add more defense above the cap so when the first debuff lands you are still over the cap (and it takes at least 2 debuffs in a short time to take you below the cap). My scrapper ran at about 46% positionals but the largest debuffs I can recall from when I was monitoring things was just over 3% fighting some Arachnos (i.e. the debuffs prior to her DDR was about -60%). She could pretty much stand in Cimerorans forever without seeing much build up from their debuffs, their previous debuffs would wear off before the next would occur. So tldr -> depends on the build. More cushion over the cap, more passive regen the more the build will tolerate having less DDR. PS: She also used Rebirth, often as much for teammates and the boost to regeneration.

*Nod* and especially if combined with defense +/- mezzed foes should be plenty sufficient. To get those levels of recharge does require pretty much emphasizing recharge over everything else, at least it did on a build for a Plant/Storm I put together back on Live for a friend.

Agree with Sir Myshkin with respect to the I-cap, defense and incarnate content. My Claws/SR ran a great deal of i-Trials while at just the soft cap. Inspirations plus the numerous buff of teammates usually had me at 60+ defense. Her 32+ hp/ sec regen, and 2100+ health took care of what did get through. I ran Tough 😜 but I could do so and attack non-stop anyway *shrug*

13 defender primaries Hmm ... that's at least one super team I'm thinking 😁

It takes an extremely high global recharge but it is possible to get to perma Indom Will on a controller (around 215% recharge) if I recall correctly.

Unfortunately I can't currently look at or use Mids' (phone is my only source of internet) but I'm thinking post what you've been working no matter how horrid you think it might be and I'm fairly sure suggestions and potential builds will roll in.

Well outside of running my Empaths with Green Machine probably the toughest small team (all friends) I ran with, well by about the upper 20's (on primarily SO's at +4/x8) I think we bored ourselves to death we were crushing content so thoroughly. It was an all "Dark" themed SG we started. 5 strong -> 1 Dark Melee/Willpower scrapper and 4 defenders -> 1 Dark Miasma/Archery, 1 Trick Arrow/Dark Blast, 1Cold/Dark Blast, and 1 Sonic/Dark Blast. Not sure who I'd drop to make it 4 🤔. Obviously we had an over abundance Dark Blast 🤪.

Looks solid in my head. Recovery is probably solid enough if Dark Consumption cycles fast enough to fire off before your blue bar starts to bottom out while attacking. Grab the +end accolades and you should be in good shape. How's the DDR? It's what stands between you getting defense debuffed into a cascade failure or not. Toggles alone should put that up enough to help considerably, but it's the passives that'll move it from a small worry into the realm of "I'll be dead from damage" before cascade happens. It's one of /SR's greatest strengths when compared to pretty much every other set, defense based or not. Random thought: If you want to use something other than Barrier for any particular content grab a Defense Amplifier. It would also push your build to the I-cap. Guessing you're building to handle +3's owing to the level shift?

No unless things have changed you don't need to level your character up again by doing content. Probably (without taking a peek myself) what they are talking about is more like what you do when doing a respec. You "level" your character up to their current level rechoosing powers and slots as you go but it's done all at once at the trainer not by running content. Just went and read the article and I can see why you find that confusing. The part that I'd focus on is when the article talks about how each build has the same amount of experience. And yes one of the downsides is the expense of maintaining 2 or even 3 builds.

There are many (likely all when you get into Incarnates and high end IO builds) AT's that can solo a wide variety of AVs including many controller sets. The ones that do it easiest will generally have an easier time because of strong mitigation usually starting with strong, i.e. capped, defenses vs the AVs attacks, then resistance(s) against stuff that gets through those defenses, a blue bar that won't run out, and usually some combo of resistance and regeneration debuffs. Illusion was able to do it pre IO's owing to its pets who could tank and survive an AV's attacks. Coyote mentioned some of the common power sets used for such things. Pick a pair of sets you think sound fun and go from there.

And you raise excellent points @Coyotewhich is why I said it makes a difference depending on team vs solo. I should have added what sort foes you typically take on as well. And again that's more critical when you are solo than teamed (and scales up, rapidly, with team size). I'm probably also guilty of viewing it a bit too much through the lens of Earth control and that sets superb ability to control multiple foes/areas such as in the case of multiple ambushes you mentioned. Capped defense does mean less worry about over aggro, pet aggro occurring or otherwise getting in over your head. As for being able to initiate combat that's why and what I use stealth for personally. Often using SS and a +Stealth IO ... just need to stay aware of which foes either ignore stealth or have +perception. And lastly we get multiple builds. Use them. Be all defensive with one, the other more based on recharge. Team vs solo.