Shoulung

I second the widow/crab suggestion. I suppose you could also dip into the fighting/super speed/jumping pools for melee attacks if you’re really set on defender. I personally think a sonic resonance character would be more useful at end game than time, as most of the squishy people focus on soft capping their defenses and you can also get stacked defense via maneuvers, so resist is probably going to do more to fill team mates‘ holes.

Empathy; nobody needs your heals and they won’t bother to gather for your buffs.

To be fair, I don’t think the game was designed for anyone to be able to solo AVs, power creep just made it possible for some builds

Some of dark miasma’s debuff are stationary which has caused me issues when fighting AVs, and traps is going to have the same issue with the run happy fools. For that reason alone I’d favor time, though I do believe one of their three debuffs is also a stationary targeted aoe. One bots combo I’m currently testing out is with sonic, as it does the same thing as FF, but for resist instead of defense, and also has some debuffage. Considering I can already help out pets defense via leadership (not a ton, granted) seems like an interesting course to pursue.

Looks like you’re missing a pet def/res IO or two, maybe the one from the recharge intensive set?

I’ve got a thugs/dark that felt a little squishy leveling up to 50 on regular IOs, but plays much better with the pet res/def auras and set bonuses, even when exemplared down. The only time it’s frustrating for me is when trying to solo TFs, as the AVs run away, and doing level 50 group incarnate as they die a lot, but I think every MM suffers from that problem.

I did fine leveling with just the 4 points of protection, for both my fa and da brutes; both leveled in regular content. I suggest seeing if the IO works for you, if not respecing is easy enough. Then again, if you’re already getting the other two powers for whatever reason, then acrobatics won’t hurt too bad. Personally, I’ll trade a slot for a power every time.

True, worthwhile if you’re working toward acrobatics. There’s an IO you can slot that’ll match that kb prot though, and you’ll definitely want kb prot for your fa farmer.

I’d say physical perfection is still over slotted, and assault should be good with just one end red. I find on my farmer that ageless cured all my end woes. In weave I’d probably take another slot from above for more def and a 2-slot set bonus. Combat Jumping is over slotted unless you’re chasing a specific set bonus. I’d take one of your res IOs out of weave to free up another slot for set bonus; the defense from weave is much higher than combat Jumping, resulting in a corresponding higher increase for eac def IO investment. Just some quick things I noticed.

I find combat jump to be a really small increase for the cost of a power pick.

I remember someone mentioning in these forums, that attacks always check against the highest of your defenses, and that since aoe was either a melee or ranged attack, that as long as you had ranged and melee maxed out, you didn’t need to worry about aoe defense. Is that incorrect?

The one thing that the leadership pool doesn’t give me is resist, and I managed to cap out resists on my thugs/dark, but not defense. Maybe the decision would benefit from a consideration of the defenses inherent in an MM’s secondary. That’s carrying both leadership and fighting pools btw.

I read through this, and I didn’t see inspirations mentioned anywhere. I think they could really tank the readings because player usage varies widely.

Probably explains why I never bothered with tankerminding or bodyguard mode. Then again, I always take the fighting and leadership pools on all my masterminds because a dead MM means dead pets. I will point out out that most MMs with ranged builds will use the goto + defensive mode to keep them alive while they jump in, or tp in and debuff/detooth mobs while their pets play catch-up, all of which is too complicated a play style for me. Congratulations on never having lost your pets or taking a trip to the hospital on your MM btw, Red, don’t think I can say that of any of my characters, ever.

To get attuned you have to click on attuned; the ah also has an option for crafted ones. Yes, attuned level with you.

My 50 dm/wp seems to do just fine unless I’m messing with AVs/GMs; then I have to work at it. He doesn’t have a lot of incarnate stuff yet, so not sure how that will affect it. Also, he’s a tanker, not brute.

I’ll stand by my point for tankerminding.

If I was tanking for my pets I’d go fighting over leadership at that point, because you get both res and def out of it, and your pets aren’t really having to defend against anything. Leadership is more beneficial for team play though.

I don’t know about better defense, but the enforcers use maneuvers/tactics auras that can be slotted with gaussian’s build up proc. I think that’s the only way pets can get a build up effect, but not certain. Also, demons cast their res shield on the MM too, which should stack nicely with nature’s buffs. I am curious as to why you prefer ranged pets though, as nature’s heals are centered around the caster and you’re looking to tank. In regards to personal safety, I think I’d prefer the demon res buff as that’ll benefit you’re getting to cap easier. Power pools only offer one power to improve res and two for def, so I’d say get what you can out of your pets.

Looks like our runtimes are going to be Thursdays after 630pm est.

Ah that’s right; thanks!

Why muscular? Thought global recharge didn’t affect proc chance. Thanks for the replies!

The Lonely Mountain is is seeking like-minded dwarves to join me in battle as we seek to master this world and return to our own. Looking to have a small SG that gets together 1-2 nights a week, working our way up through the TFs as a group. For the first group I’d like to get 8 /shield melees together to create our own phalanx! I think it would be interesting to see how much all that Grant Cover helps. For the next groups I was thinking a buff/debuff team and then a ranged team. Please reach me via @sicarri if interested. I’ll also try to remember to check back here.

Just be aware stone can be a little rough for a new player.

As far as hasten, I’d say it’s only important for improving dps. I think contamination from your radiation would already help with the aggro issue.