Tankshock

I see its use. Just not applicable to playing the game, imo. Not to mention, the devil is in the details. Minor changes in power combos are significant. Knowing which unsupported set can last longest against 20 Lord Recluse without a break doesn't really interest me. I've had more incarnate SD than Rad. They don't play as uber as Rad/MA. Studies support my gut on this. 😉

So it's better in an incredibly specific AE mish? I think you're missing the point here. There is no doubt that you can create a situation where Shield is best. It's a great set.

You make a good point on procs, but I can only go by the data mined from my extensive research. Seriously tho, Hail being up so often does a lot for the -resist. Beam and Seismic just don't compare overall, imo. Water in particular is solid, but I think DP has it beat. But Time is doing the heavy lifting, it does virtually everything. Slowed response with Achilles Heel in a high rech build is high end -res (-50 to -70 on 16 targets in a 25' ? Yes please). -Regen is certainly nice against hard targets, but everyone has the dagger so it's not a big deal anymore. Not enough to make up for everything else Time does.

DP is great for procs, plus Slowed Response. It probably does AOE -resist better than Sonic, but certainly does damage better (because of procs)

Ah, Regen. Now there's a set I've not heard in quite some time. It was once quite famous across all of Galaxy. What's that, you've never heard of Galaxy?

/agreed on the survivability and overall usefulness of Dark Melee. And if this were 2008 scrapper would likely be the right answer for every question. I miss those days...

I reference those tests on page 37 of the sources. They were flawed for our purposes here. But yes, in very specific circumstances while running solo, DDR is king.

You're making your teammates sad. 😞

Agreed, DDR makes Shield always a good choice. Esp with the typed changes. But max resist with high healing means it never really matters.

Shield Charge is nice, but Rad Therapy is just better. DPS, recharge, heal. Ice is a nice secondary for Blaster, but TA has the extra AOE needed to be the best Offense. At least that's what the data shows. Glue Arrow and Oil Slick mean you never stop doing high end AOE, even in a kill most ITF.

One of us is definitely not reading the other. 😉 If a new person sees "high end" and thinks it applies to them, well I approve of that mindset, but... And it's not my problem if someone doesn't put FF in Dragons Tail. I'm talking about optimal slotting here. 😉

I agree that for most content, tanker survivability is not a concern. But when it does matter, the def from MA marries best with Resistance sets. It's largely wasted when paired with SR or SD, for instance. MA also has nice ST, while Rad has 2 good AOE.

Paired with Rad, it provides the Def to basically max out both pretty easily. Plus the healing from Rad Therapy spam. Amazing combo of AoE, ST, and high survivability. Joking aside. 😉

Ok, this qualifies as peer review.

DP keeps opponents at 30-50% resistance debuffed. That's the best team support debuff in the current iteration of the game. I'll grant you that Time might only be 99% probability of being the best. But that's only to avoid an argument. 😉 It's so good on virtually any team. Max defenses, great recharge, healing, accuracy. You can grab noobs and let them feel the power of being a hero, and any vet team loves recharge and -resist.