purplereign

Thank you so much! I'm working on my Thermal/Ice to see if I like it!

Thank you so much for posting your build and your PoV! What are your thoughts on skipping the fighting pool and its impact on your survivability? Do you notice issues with not having it? I feel so hard-wired to take the fighting pool in any toon that may even approach melee (even with Hover).

I, too, would like to see one!

I started trying this character out and I'm having an absolute blast. Any tips/tricks you can share as far as piloting goes? Openers, how you play around contaminated, etc.? Or even attack chains

Really appreciate the context here! Going to give your build a try! Having recently jumped into Tankers, I'm trying all sorts of Tankers! Main ones right now are Rad/Rad and Ice/Ice! Thanks for all the hard work you've put into these builds and this thread!

Heyo, Infinitum - I just started getting into tankers (I'm normally a Troller/Fender player), and I like the idea of bringing some of that energy with me and so Ice/Ice seems like a helluva way to do it. I'm curious as to why your build doesn't take the Ice T9, Hibernate, and/or taunt. I'm new to the AT, so I'm probably missing something obvious. Appreciate the build, is that the most updated on you have, too? Best

Woah INTERESTING! This seems pretty fun actually. I've been concepting a FF/Dark Defender for a hot minute. Maybe this is the approach I need to go.

Long time no talk, Linea! You helped me back in the day on some Nature stuff! Really cool to get your PoV. I noticed something you briefly mentioned: PBU*FF, I assume that's a Power Boosted Force Field build of some sort? I'm intrigued to see what that's about. Do you have any examples you could point to for it? Voltak knows I've been on the hunt to find an uber fun/power support build.

Great recommendations, and I abso-freakin-lutely plan to take Leadership. Regardless of what I play, I will dip my toes into that pool 100%. Teleport Target is an interesting one! My only issue is limited pools: Speed, Leadership, Fighting are required for me... and I usually fill that last one with Jumping for CJ as it's a great, cheap toggle that serves as a solid LoTG mule among other things. Shucks.

Appreciate the idea! I have thought about Sonic defender a number of times, but I've heard it's just... not very good? I'm not super worried about playing something top tier, but maybe I'm wrong? /ice certainly isn't bad on a Defender for me, I was working on a Nature/Ice for a hot minute. I loooove their ST chain and their AoEs are pretty straightforward to use. Not sure if it's something I want to play right now because it falls short in a number of places, but it's a cool idea. You could even play around with some cool themes there.

That was my eventual main on live! I started out, learning the game, as a DM/Regen scrapper (back when we had busted toggles haha) but then when I knew what I liked made a swap to Earth/Storm and ran that toon for ages. It was super, suuuuper good. Curious to hear how Ice/Elec goes. My only concern is no direct synergy that I can tell.

This is suuuuper interesting! Thank you so much for your breakdown and build! Quick question regarding -regen. You said that Time Crawl is your only -regen, but doesn't Time Stop provide -regen, too? I suppose it's pretty low, too. Not sure if the hold is required to go off for the -regen to hit. Also, I know you aren't a fan, but I think I'd struggle to not take Haunt. They're SO CUTE. Plus you can make them perma I believe. So you just throw 'em out and let them do their work.

Yay! Thank you! This is a really interesting build! Out of curiosity, how come no Short Circuit? In a way I would have expected dropping Lightning Bolt since your recharge allows for the ability to pretty much rotate between charged bolts and zapp, or pretty darn close. And Short Circuit gives you another AoE. Also, is Shock worth taking? Do you primarily use it for AV-type foes to ensure high -recovery?

Yea if it weren't for all those gosh darn anchors. I mean, I know they made it better with anchor debuffs persisting through death, but It annoys me to no end when the anchor target just decides to run in a completely different direction for no reason and I lose my debuffs hahaha.

DEFRUPTING! That's amazing. I want to roll a Defruptor.

Thank you! This clears up a lot!

I actually have two Poison toons I'm tinkering with right now, Poison/Elec and Poison/Fire. Your suggestion of Poison/Dark is probably better simply because Dark offers -ToHit on top of Poison's debuffs. Nature was an obsession with mine for a hot minute, because I genuinely felt it was a top 3 Defender primary (I still think it is). I just couldn't get over how obnoxious it felt to try and hit people with all three buffs. I know it's not the end of the world, but I went to some extreme longs to make those perma and whiffing on people felt horrible, especially because it feels like the primary reason to play Nature. Sure their healing is good, decent debuffing, but those buffs are nuttttssssss

That's perfectly fair, and just being honest, I'm kinda tired of /Sonic on Defender. It is, without a doubt, the best Secondary bar none. So much so that every Defender I rolled for several weeks straight was /Sonic. The -res is too, too good. I have a Kin/Sonic Defender in the low 40s. Super powerful, but lacks some flair and fun for me personally.

That's a HILARIOUS story (sorry!) about the blast hahahaha. I definitely got a good chuckle. Cold Dom is a beast, and a well appreciated recommendation. It really is, in my opinion, an S-tier defender set. The buffs are easy to maintain, and Benumb/Sleet/Heat Loss has to be one of the best trifectas of debuffing powers any set can boast. I just... I don't know if I find it super fun? Is that weird? Like it checks off so many boxes, but I'm dumb I guess. Maybe I just need to really, really give it the time it needs to shine. I actually rolled a Dark/Storm recently, but it's only mid-20s, so far from being able to tell if it's something I'd like. What do you think of Dark/Elec? And yes, Elec/Elec defender is dope and I got mine to high 20s yesterday and the impact is tangible. I can feel my value to my team, but it is certainly offset by feeling pretty busy.

It's funny you mention it, I actually have an Electric/Cold Troller. I was really into it at one point, and quite really remember why I stopped playing it. I've always felt that Electric Control was an underrated set, and you could do some pretty interesting things with it. I'm actually not super worried about damage output as I never really intend to solo. That being said, I'm very curious to hear more about your Plant/TA. I've been considering this combination. I've been wary about Flash's -ToHit and it's interaction with SoC. Thoughts? Plant/TA sounds very fun.

I'm actually wondering if you can help me with a common topic that I've discussed at length and has been a subject of debate for as long as I can remember. In short, I've always been under the impression that end drain is a subpar way to focus a build because mobs require the smallest pixel of blue to be able to use abilities again. So, while you can drain them to zero, any tick of end regen means the end drain is somewhat wasted. Is that... true? false? Poorly explained?

I really appreciate your breakdowns and descriptions. You are actually very in-tune with what I'm looking at. Ice, Dark, and Earth are the control specs I've been looking at most and /TA and /Poison are the secondaries I've been looking at most... Largely for the reasons you've outlined. I have a TA defender at the moment, mid-20s that feels extremely good to play so far. I met an Earth/TA troller yesterday that gushed about their love for the powerset combo. Frankly, and don't roast me for this, that combination feels a tad... overkill? I know that's somewhat antithetical to what I'm looking for, but I guess what I'm trying to say is... there are TOO many control powers, that in 95% of situations, I simply wouldn't be able to get all of them off. Ice/Poison seems more manageable and interesting and I like the idea of playing in melee with that combo. Given this, what other combos would you consider (though I'm seriously on board with Ice/Poison)? Earth/Poison? Dark/Poison? Earth/TA? Ice/TA?

It's certainly an appreciated point, and one I understand well, especially as it relates to viewing your contributions to a team from a different light. I actually have a grossly slotted Ice/Cold corr, and I feel very, very strong. The approach I'm looking for on this end is a bit more "hard" control/debuffing, so that my team feels more in control. Corrs are darn fun though.

I'm definitely looking forward to you posting the build so I can wrap my head around what your prioritize for powers and slots. I appreciate your breakdown and perspective on Elec Affinity and certainly understand the importance of comfort and knowledge. It does, currently, feel very very busy, but I'm also probably using abilities I don't need to use on CD just for the sake of using them. One last point, which I don't even think matters here, is that I never ever plan to solo hahahaha

Funny enough, Ice/Time was certainly something I was considering for a hot minute. In fact, I think I still have an old build from the forums dubbed, "the wall" because nothing gets past ice/time hahahaha. I also really like the idea of ice/elec. Elec Affin feels very busy and Ice... well, Ice isn't. Would love to hear your thoughts on this stuff. Generally, I don't feel like Ice/Elec has any natural synergy. Just two good sets. Also, for what it's worth, is Elec Affin good as a secondary? Everyone I see who champions Elec Affin talk about it specifically as a Def primary.