Doomguide2005

So in otherwords you basically agree with my original position that HO/HA with other buffs is enough for the vast majority of the game's 'normal' content. That the real edge of AP's advantage is in the games hardest content i.e. hardmode and challenge AE content? PS: Already working on an alt build for my main Empath incorporating AP and intended for Hardmode and challenge content. PS 2: reminds that a long time ago my first GM had only HA ... SO only build with the bare beginnings of i9 IOs did fine until she tried to support the Tanker in the then brand new STF. Respec immediately followed adding HO. Wasn't until creating alt builds for the RWZ challenge in about i13 that I didn't include HO in my Empath build again.

Your data chunk is leading me to a Savage/Regen build not an Empath. My current thinking is I need to create a new Empath and level it up using AP and see how it plays different. After all the discussion I'm thinking 90% of this is play style differences most of which results in what you get used to you tend to be better at doing all other things the same. You level and become used to playing with AP and you are just less likely to get into trouble whereas when you don't you are more likely to find it problematic especially switching up after you've played many hours one way vs the other. A sort of self fullfilling feedback if you will.

Very end heavy indeed. It's easily one of the most end intensive builds I've ever leveled up. This is probably not the final build but It's a good place to start particularly while leveling prior to any Incarnate end cures Tine Sidhe FireSonic (v1.00 i27.6).mbd

I haven't really done this much on HC. Did some back on Live but pre-Incarnate. Soloing through Maria Jenkins with my Claws/SR scrapper but eventually I got bored beating sacks of hit points. I find fighting huge swarms of foes more interesting. The current version of my Claws/SR has solo'd several early TFC AVs but as pointed out they are not particularly difficult. My Emp/Rad has also solo'd a couple early TFC AVs. Both were Incarnates exemplared down. The 3rd who might be up for soloing AVs would be my Earth/Storm though I'm thinking she be much better at it from the 30's onward after she got Rocky and her later Storm powers. In addition to things like regen debuffs and Nihilii's 300 benchmark for dps I'd recommend for your ranged characters a way to immobilize the AV. Nothing will cut into your dps like chasing your foe all over the map.

There are an absolute ton of variables and subjective answers to the basic question(s) unwritten or otherwise in your post. Overall outside of the most difficult stuff in the game at post 50 with a t4'd incarnate very little is out of reach if anything. But in general I'd agree with the other posters in the thread and I wouldn't start with an Empathy defender. I say that as a fairly experienced player of Empathy knowing of several who have solo'd a +4/x8 ITF (think about a very well buffed t4 Lore pet with other company before you dismiss it out of hand).

Yeah about the only trouble I've ever seen in a small, all Empathy team, is AVs. No native way to reduce regeneration in particular. You need either Envenomed Daggers, pets for more damage or regen debuffs (Shivans etc.) and/or maybe multiple /Sonic or something outside of the primary basically to push it over the edge. And yeah the AVs really aren't going to take out an Empath in the duo if they keep the buffs rolling.

As stated I'm not afraid of using AP. I'd use it but the content in most of the game doesn't seem to require it so why subject myself to its debuffs. If my ally is dying while Fortitude, Clear Mind, RegenAura and perhaps Adrenaline Boost are running while I use HO/HA on them I'm more prone to think they are going to die anyway or the team needs to rethink its notoriety settings (or both) than AP and they'd be standing, HO and they wouldn't be. I'm also not afraid to say maybe I'm wrong about that let's work up a build including (and using 😜) AP and see what happens. I've also got about 4 runs in ☆ mode (1 Aeon duo and 3 8-man ITF) none of which were at 3 or 4☆ and were not run on one of my Empaths but mostly my t4'd scrapper so my experience in Hardmode content or PvP is certainly not a place to speak with knowledge about APs value in such content. I'd also say there's more than a few 'shiny' characters and sets out there so getting that actual build and time in might be awhile 😁.

High Defense. If it does not hit it does not mez in most instances. Defense Amplifier Mez them first. Including START Stun grenades. Stealth and target binds to spot them first. Breakfree inspires. Binds to convert inspires to Breakfree types Sorcery pool - Rune of Protection Combat Jumping vs Immobilize (also afaik Teleport abilities should move you around if the mez is Immobilize) Acrobatics vs Hold Mez resistance while it won't stop will shorten time mezzed. Pets from any source to draw fire both before mezzed and to draw them off you while you stand there realizing you don't have a breakfree 😳 Positioning and maneuvering. Pull and then end drain the crap out of them preferably while standing in one of your buff patches Swallow any pride you have and turn it down or otherwise adjust notoriety. Pull to elevators or doors. Even if held stunned and sleeping you can still click a door and most (not all) mobs will not chase you further. The only way my pre IO post nerfs Regen/Broadsword scrapper survived Sappers was tp foe and if she got zapped teleporting one was just this when her end bar vanished.

Well I might experiment in an alt build but in general it is not a trade off I'm willing to make on my Empaths. Too much given up for me to due extra damage when the team could be doing so through my buffs. I'm quite satisfied to let loose with a Spirit Drain boosted Atomic Blast which if it doesn't kill stuff outright leaves them all running their version of a hold animation while quickly getting picked off by Fortitude and Assault buffed teammates at minimal risk of return fire.

Having been on many Green Machine teams i can definitely vouch for the utter overkill 8 Empaths will become. Do you need accuracy. Not even close to need. At 8 Incarnate level GMs normally enhanced your overkill is in overkill as in if the foe was at the Tanker defense hard cap of 225 you'll need roughly each Empath to stack 5 Fortitude a piece and with no accuracy enhancement at all your final to hit will be 95%. Many GMs at the recharge levels we'll reach can readily cast 5 Forts across the team each if my quickly done napkin math is correct (8 Tactics +144 To Hit + each additional Fort another +18 To Hit). Which brings me to @Sovera's comment above. My friends and I did what she described. By the low 20's (you know that distant nearly impossible level to reach) we were obliterating +4/×8 Arachnos in Faultline up to and including Arbiter Sands and other AVs. There were just 5 of us. 1 Scrapper DM/WP and 4 Defenders. 1 each Dark Miasma/Archery, a Dark/Dark, a Cold/Dark and a Sonic/Dark (yes we weren't intending a superteam merely a team themed around Dark power sets and ...). We were our own worst enemy as it turned out. We bored ourselves to death and as a team we didn't get past 30th. I think only my Sonic/Dark reached 50.

It's been awhile. You can accuse me of wondering if the stripes still match but hoping maybe .... *sigh*

I haven't really delved into procs (as in proc centered builds) much but Rad blast is certainly well set for it and keep telling myself I need to explore it with 1 of 3 builds. On my Emp/Elec while I'm slotting for damage first I'm usually also pushing the -endmod and -recovery particularly with the AoEs after all the faster the shocked condition comes up the better. Easier these days with the newer endmod sets. But I'm also paying even more attention to the -recovery than the -endmod. The drain seems to occur but keeping them flatlined is really where I'm looking to be.

indeed!, hence why I lead with Irradiate, nice debuff that tics to interrupt annoying mob powers while synergizing with her Tactics and Fortitude to help ensure everyone is hitting their targets including me when Atomic Blast goes off dropping a potent defdebuff and mag 3 Hold in addition to damage. Point is select your priority whether its debuffing like mad or damage. But either way if you don't chose to push damage well you aren't going to get it even at defender levels. Which is good enough to chew up mobs on a Emp/Fire running point on 800 series missions even if not Blaster level.

Indeed if your best blast is only 3 tics of 30 damage you clearly are not building, even on SOs, for damage in your blasts. Not everyone wants a highly offensive Empath (or Pain), but as @MonteCarla points out Cosmic Burst unenhanced for damage does 77 (rounded). Fully enhanced on SOs should be about twice that. Everything after that is more damage (Assault and several Pain powers can self boost it further). My Emp/Rad is around is around 300 with PBU and recharges in about 2.5 seconds. But she is built for higher defenses and offense while remaining perfectly capable of keeping a team buffed and green using IOs (any lack of damage output or buffs to the team is pilot error not the fault of any power) but has very little outside of PBU to self boost the damage further discounting Inspires. And that does not count the mez and debuffs accompanying her blasts. Point being if you don't slot for damage regardless of SOs vs IOs vs sets vs Incarnate Abilities it's not really the blasts themselves not doing enough damage. You won't be doing blaster level damage but those values should be notably better than 3 * 30 damage, Edit: And she will leap into endgame mobs with little hesitation commonly letting loose with Irradiate followed by Atomic Blast if for some reason there's much standing at that point after the team also lets loose (yes that means she's often breaking the alpha return) she'll start in with Cosmic Burst and Air Superiority on a boss who's rapidly stunned and doing flips while I mix in the buffs to teammates while continuing to blast. She tends to do this more with her Dark Mastery build rather than PBU but Oppressive Gloom plus Stun Grenades and Cosmic Burst tend to leave entire mobs out of commission.

Be sure something odd isn't turned on ... like Rest. Edit: To be clear I don't know it's Rest but Rest does have some extreme debuffs if a foes catches you in Rest. Edit 2: anytime i get some value that is way off from expected checking to be sure something isn't on (or off) is my first step. Force Feedback, for example, when things get calculated i see throw folks often. They think "wow, I have really good recharge"

Oops. We're in total agreement i was looking at the blue energy resist when I wrote that

Or the reverse. Over 75% ... 75.15%

Not sure if I'd use the word signature but they do tend to be my go to characters GRETA-001 >> Claws/SR scrapper about 200 vet levels and definitely my main Reyna Morningdew >> Empathy/Rad. My go to Empath. Seismic Susurrus >> Earth/Storm controller for those times i want controlled chaos

They did tweek threat and aggro recently if I'm not mistaken so the HCWiki article is not only old but probably slightly out of date but likely still of value. That said the aggro cap is (was?) 17 or 1 greater than, outside of Incarnate abilities, the largest damage AoEs. Your threat list can be greater and is constantly recalculating so as foes are defeated new ones will aggro onto you from your threat list. Your tauntless rusher will likely aggro the latest mobs as they will now likely be highest on his list. Meanwhile the bosses that would otherwise continue to follow him now look at their threat list and now the that debuffing support character who's still attacking find themselves zooming up the list ... and the MI or DRM turns their attention on the attacking support. And disaster is set up.

I recently discovered that the p2w (START) vendor in Fort Trident can also be used similarly to the pocket D vendor (though I'm unsure if there's any advantage to having both options) I also have started using both the Plasmatic Taser and Stun Grenades both of which can help deal with the waves Doc Vahz summons. In addition to the Shivan option mentioned above (in Bloody Bay) the p2w vendor also offers summons options including the police radio back up which my Empath utilized when tackling Doc Vahz and is a relatively cheap option for a new or leveling lowbie. And I would also second the recommendation to use sg base empowerment buffs

It varies quite a bit but AT, sets and level all play into it. I have one "outlier", my main a Claws/SR scrapper, who runs basically across the spectrum depending on goal and mood. About the only thing she won't do is turn it down so much threads and shards can't drop. Probably hits +3/×8 mostly for content with a level shift effectively dropping that to +2/×8. I'll tear through tip missions at +1/×1, then turn around crank it to max and try an 800.1 series, incarnate mission arcs or most recently a crack at the new 1☆ Lady Gray solo. Managed to take down the CWK in the first mission though I'm fairly certain Penny met a rapid demise while I was busy with the AV and waves of clockwork. Generally her upper end is dealing with AVs ... I generally find it too tedious solo so I generally avoid fighting them unless teamed which is why I dropped the TF at that point. Had my share of silly scrapper tricks solo vs AVs on Live no real desire to do it more. I was more curious about ☆ Rikti mob abilities than actually soloing the whole thing ... fascinating 'nuff said

All critter damage resistances act as resistance to resistance debuffs vs that damage type. So no afaik any critter can, depending on their damage resistances, resist any resistance debuffs acting against that damage resistance type not just AVs and GMs. That's why in, for example, Hard Mode it's beneficial for any AT to hit 100% damage resistance. That way even a Scrapper or other AT can resist all of a incoming debuff meaning no matter how large the attackers resistance debuff their resistance to that damage will be capped at 75% not 75 minus the incoming debuff as they can in fact resist 100 % of the resistance debuff. Only unresistable resistance debuffs would apply.

Ranges from barely a clue till 40+ to right out the door I have a strong idea both of which reflect right back to how familiar I am with the power sets and AT. Earth/** controller I've got a solid idea out the door. Ditto for SR or Empathy. Darkness Control/Electrical Affinity though I'd a lot less sure till 50+ as I have yet to play either. Mids is almost always for a "final" respec in late game, sometime after 35+ most likely unless I'm experimenting with a otherwise familiar pairing.

Yes though not sure how many are back regularly. I know I see Jane online regularly. The sg started up on Indomitable. Most of mine are on Everlasting.

Hey bAss welcome back. Silhouette from the Lethal Ladies