Auroxis

I'd go for something like this, Fold Space is nice for keeping enemies in your Hot Feet + Bonfire and can often help teammates kill faster. Enflame is pretty poor damage on troller. Controller (Fire Control - Kinetics).mbd

@Buffer 1. Regarding the Sorcery Pool: Rune of Protection is indeed solid, but break frees suffice in the odd situation. There's also Clarion as an option for CC protection, you can go for the +Special Clarion for another way to buff Fortitude and still keep some break frees handy. Spirit Ward is superfluous for teammate mitigation when you have PB Fort+Heals in the vast majority of scenarios. Flying pool also nets you more recharge via LotG slots, and doesn't require getting another pool like Combat Jumping for flight control. 2. Achilles' Heel does not go into any of Ice Blast's attacks. You can pick up Force of Will for Weaken Resolve and slot it there, but the attack does little damage for its cast time even if procced. That being said, Weaken Resolve is a solid pick-up instead of Stealth but I wouldn't go beyond that. 3. Clarion is a Destiny incarnate power and is not a substitute to Nerve, which is an Alpha incarnate power. The reason you don't go for Agility or Spiritual is because they increase the enhanced recharge of your blasts, making your damage procs go off less often and lowering your DPS (one of the reasons you go for global recharge over enhanced recharge). Vigor is a good alternative to Nerve, if you prefer going all-out on healing instead of improving your defense buffs.

Should I ignore personal survival and go all-in on healing and team buffs? No. Empathy has very little in the way of self survivability, with Healing Aura and Regeneration Aura being fairly inefficient at keeping you alive against spikes of damage. So you do want defense, and you do want resists. However, you do not need to go for the Fighting pool, and can instead opt for Flying which limits mobs to ranged attacks, helping you cut down on a lot of incoming DPS. As for going "all-in" on healing and team buffs, Empathy already provides a very strong defensive kit and you don't need to delve into Sorcery for Spirit Ward or god forbid the Medicine pool (please don't do that). The Leadership power pool for more buffs is great however, as is Power Boost from Soul Mastery for better healing and buffs/debuffs. In sticky situations where a teammate falls in the middle of a pack and you want to go over and help him out, you have Power Boost + Vengeance + Resurrect + Fortitude for excellent stabilization. How important is my damage output? Should I focus on it, or leave it to the DPS? Yes, you should focus on getting your DPS output high. This is always important, even on Empathy. You could argue it's even more important on Empathy as the powerset has no -res and -regen to help teams against AV's and GM's. Ice Blast is solid on that front, but you need to proc out your heavy hitters for it to be effective. As far as AoE damage, since Empathy doesn't have a lot of ways to mitigate or heal through self damage, I would avoid going for AoE until your nuke unless you know you're teaming with people who can keep you safe. Would sacrificing personal defenses be a mistake, or should I trust my team to protect me? As mentioned above, you definitely need to pay a bit of extra attention to personal defenses on Empathy. After all if you get hit, and you're the only support on your team, all you're left with is Healing Aura and the hopes of Regeneration Aura being up at the time. No ways to buff yourself beyond that outside of PB+Vengeance as previously mentioned. How do you approach this kind of build? Empathy should focus on getting Recharge up as high as possible, as your buff uptime becomes increasingly more important in late-game faster gameplay where just healing isn't cutting it anymore. Recharge also lends itself to having your attacks damage procced, as it lets you have a strong attack chain despite not slotting recharge into your attacks. I would balance it out by grabbing Flying to keep me safe from melee attacks, and Stealth (since you don't have a way to stealth through task forces without it by going Fly over Super Speed). Picking up Leadership, Power Boost, and the Nerve alpha (we don't want recharge in our alpha like Spiritual because it lowers proc rates) lets us buff the defense of 4 teammates by up to +50% with PB+Fortitude+Maneuvers. This might seem overkill, but remember defense debuffs are prevalent late in the game so even if someone is softcapped it benefits them. Defender (Empathy - Ice Blast).mbd

There are indeed some underrated aspects in Sonic Resonance. Disruption Field having no setup involved, Liquefy's new recharge times and proccability (i like the -res and +hold procs in it), and just plain having CC protection. Sonic is a bit low on sustain. But grabbing cardiac for endurance, and rebirth along with a team friendly spirit ward for healing helps address those issues. Controller (Symphony Control - Sonic Resonance) v2.mbd

Hero Controller Build plan made with Mids' Reborn v3.7.5 rev. 21 ────────────────────────────── Primary powerset: Symphony Control Secondary powerset: Sonic Resonance Pool powerset (#1): Speed Pool powerset (#2): Leaping Pool powerset (#3): Sorcery Pool powerset (#4): Leadership Epic powerset: Energy Mastery ────────────────────────────── Powers taken: Level 1: Melodic Binding A: Gravitational Anchor: Immobilize/Endurance 39: Gravitational Anchor: Recharge/Accuracy 39: Gravitational Anchor: Immobilize/Recharge/Accuracy 40: Gravitational Anchor: Immobilize/Recharge 40: Gravitational Anchor: Immobilize Level 1: Sonic Barrier A: Unbreakable Guard: +Max HP 3: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance 3: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance/Endurance Level 2: Hymn of Dissonance A: Unbreakable Constraint: Chance for Smashing Damage 7: Neuronic Shutdown: Chance of Damage(Psionic) 17: Ghost Widow's Embrace: Chance of Damage(Psionic) 34: Gladiator's Net: Chance of Damage(Lethal) 34: Gladiator's Javelin: Chance of Damage(Toxic) 37: Apocalypse: Damage Level 4: Sonic Haven A: Gladiator's Armor: TP Protection +3% Def (All) 5: Gladiator's Armor: Resistance 5: Gladiator's Armor: End/Resist 7: Steadfast Protection: Resistance/+Def 3% Level 6: Impassioned Serenade A: Cacophany: Chance of Damage(Energy) 13: Malaise's Illusions: Chance of Damage(Psionic) 34: Invention: Damage Increase 36: Apocalypse: Damage/Endurance 37: Apocalypse: Chance of Damage(Negative) 37: Gladiator's Javelin: Chance of Damage(Toxic) Level 8: Dreadful Discord A: Unspeakable Terror: Disorient Bonus 9: Glimpse of the Abyss: Chance of Damage(Psionic) 9: Positron's Blast: Chance of Damage(Energy) 11: Bombardment: Chance for Fire Damage 11: Javelin Volley: Chance of Damage(Lethal) 36: Annihilation: Chance for Res Debuff Level 10: Aria of Stasis A: Superior Will of the Controller: Accuracy/Control Duration 13: Superior Will of the Controller: Control Duration/Recharge 15: Superior Will of the Controller: Endurance/Recharge 15: Superior Will of the Controller: Accuracy/Control Duration/Endurance 17: Superior Will of the Controller: Accuracy/Control Duration/Endurance/Recharge Level 12: Sonic Siphon A: Invention: Accuracy Level 14: Super Speed A: Winter's Gift: Slow Resistance (20%) Level 16: Disruption Field A: Invention: Endurance Reduction Level 18: Confounding Chant A: Ragnarok: Damage/Recharge/Accuracy 19: Ragnarok: Damage 19: Superior Will of the Controller: Recharge/Chance for Psionic Damage 21: Positron's Blast: Chance of Damage(Energy) 21: Bombardment: Chance for Fire Damage 25: Javelin Volley: Chance of Damage(Lethal) Level 20: Sonic Dispersion A: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance 33: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance/Endurance Level 22: Combat Jumping A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed 23: Kismet: Accuracy +6% 23: Shield Wall: +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) 25: Reactive Defenses: Scaling Resist Damage Level 24: Spirit Ward A: Preventive Medicine: Chance for +Absorb 31: Preventive Medicine: Heal/RechargeTime/Endurance 31: Preventive Medicine: Heal/RechargeTime 31: Preventive Medicine: Endurance/RechargeTime 33: Preventive Medicine: Heal/Endurance 33: Preventive Medicine: Heal Level 26: Reverberant A: Expedient Reinforcement: Endurance/Damage/Recharge 27: Expedient Reinforcement: Accuracy/Damage 27: Expedient Reinforcement: Damage/Endurance 29: Expedient Reinforcement: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge 29: Soulbound Allegiance: Chance for Build Up Level 28: Clarity A: Invention: Recharge Reduction Level 30: Liquefy A: Dark Watcher's Despair: To Hit Debuff 36: Dark Watcher's Despair: To Hit Debuff/Recharge/Endurance 43: Dark Watcher's Despair: To Hit Debuff/Recharge 43: Dark Watcher's Despair: Recharge/Endurance 43: Annihilation: Chance for Res Debuff 46: Lockdown: Chance for +2 Mag Hold Level 32: Hasten A: Invention: Recharge Reduction 42: Invention: Recharge Reduction Level 35: Conserve Power A: Invention: Recharge Reduction Level 38: Temp Invulnerability A: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance 39: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance/Endurance Level 41: Energy Torrent A: Bombardment: Chance for Fire Damage 45: Positron's Blast: Chance of Damage(Energy) 45: Explosive Strike: Chance for Smashing Damage 45: Centriole Exposure 46: Centriole Exposure 46: Force Feedback: Chance for +Recharge Level 44: Assault A: Invention: Endurance Reduction Level 47: Tactics A: Adjusted Targeting: To Hit Buff A: Adjusted Targeting: To Hit Buff/Recharge A: Adjusted Targeting: To Hit Buff/Endurance/Recharge 48: Adjusted Targeting: Endurance/Recharge 48: Adjusted Targeting: To Hit Buff/Endurance Level 49: Power Boost A: Invention: Recharge Reduction A: Invention: Recharge Reduction ────────────────────────────── Inherents: Level 1: Containment Level 1: Brawl (Empty) Level 1: Sprint A: Unbounded Leap: +Stealth Level 2: Rest (Empty) Level 1: Swift A: Invention: Run Speed Level 1: Hurdle A: Invention: Jumping Level 1: Health A: Panacea: +Hit Points/Endurance 42: Miracle: +Recovery 42: Numina's Convalesence: +Regeneration/+Recovery Level 1: Stamina A: Performance Shifter: Chance for +End 40: Performance Shifter: EndMod 48: Performance Shifter: EndMod/Accuracy Level 14: Speed Phase Controller (Symphony Control - Sonic Resonance).mbd Controller (Symphony Control - Sonic Resonance) v2.mbd

Only for the MM, but Shifting Tides uses your damage modifer and your pets proc Shifting Tides.

Endurance is tight, but I went through enough iterations to get it stable with Musc and without Ageless. Requires steady casting of Toroidal Bubble but that's not too big of a deal.

I went Mace on mine for the Achilles' procced Poisonous Ray (to get more DPS out of shifting tides procs) and FFB procced Disruptor Beam, but looking back I'd go Earth instead. Fissure applies its damage faster, and provides a more steady source of FFB procs for a very strong AoE chain alongside Whitecap. And Seismic is a great boost for your personal DPS. The only downside is Rock Armor FX.

@aethereal I tested with damage procs:

So from my tests the Teleport+Attack "Redirect" powers proc in a quirky way. The PPM calculation seems to be using the origin power's recharge and area factor (which is none) rather than the executed power's recharge+area factor, making Spring Attack and a few other similar powers have a 90% proc rate. I'd love others to test it themselves to see if they get similar results.

I get it @Maelwys, but i also linked to a showcase of the build clearing a +4x8 mission with vengeance mobs and an EB with defensive clickies to spare, so it's not like i didn't take tanking into consideration.

I wouldn't go Mace Mastery with Robots/Time, as Protector Bot's shield makes the the +def from Power Boost Farsight superfluous for the most part and Scorpion Shield is overcapping you by quite a bit. You can just go Mu Mastery for the res shield, and +rech and -res procced Thunder Strike instead (so you have all 3 -res procs covered, and force feedback proc makes it easier to build recharge). You can IMO even drop the fighting pool for an easier time with endurance, since you're already softcapped. It's definitely not a losing battle to go heavier with your proc slotting, just requires a bit of tinkering.

Not only does the MM have time to fire off those procced AoE's, but you get to fire the opening volley to thin the herd which makes your pet attacks more focused and efficient. That's why I enjoy playing with procced attacks on MM. Also, you don't necessarily have to proc those fast recharging ones in the primary powerset. In the secondary powerset and power pools there are often excellent proc opportunities (like Whitecap, Explosive Blast, Thunder Strike and more) which not only contribute damage but also inflict -res and grant +rech via procs. Yes you need to find a balance with endurance issues and defensive concerns, but that's part of the building process. Take the build I posted for example. You cast tide pool and command your minions into it, then Whitecap into the pack, fire off the -regen grenade, and then Explosive Blast (which in hindsight should be slotted with KB->KD). Through this you get very high FFB uptime, two -res procs on the pack, and enough damage to kill minions so your pets can focus on the remaining debuffed LT's and bosses.

Here's a build for you to work with. Has positional defenses close to the softcap (protector bots give +19.5%), S/L near hardcap, and some nice FFB and -res procced attacks to keep your PotD perma and DPS high. Mastermind (Robotics - Marine).mbd

Force Field is generally overlooked since it's seen as a vanilla powerset and pairing, but after the buffs to the powerset and certain MM epic power picks it's become quite a strong pairing with bots. You can softcap yourself with bots fairly easily, you have some -res, a proc bomb, and you get CC protection which frees up a Destiny slot for either Rebirth or Ageless. The softcap and CC protection means you can be fairly aggressive with your attacks, as combining your procced-out Force Bomb with more aggressive power picks (like Fold Space and Mu Mastery's Thunder Strike+Electrifying Fences) turns you into less of a stereotypical boring AFK mastermind and more of a sentinel with powerful pets, which shores up the DPS issue with bots. Bots also gives you -regen which FF lacks.

As far as AoE goes, Dark doesn't pair amazingly well with Marine due it putting you in Melee range which isn't great for tight cones like Tenebrous Tentacles and Nightfall. However you still have Blackstar which puts you there, and if you bunch mobs up you can still get some mileage out of a procced Torrent. You can pick up Dark Mastery here for a thematic fit and a way to get more burst AoE with Gauss procced Spirit Drain (Oppressive Gloom should stack with Dark Pit, but I never tested how viable that is). For debuffing, Dark's -ToHit pairs nicely with Marine as you don't have that much +Def on it outside of Barrier Reef. So it shores up that defensive layer nicely. For DPS, Dark is fine with Moonbeam and procced Gloom+Torrent, but isn't anything special outside of that. Marine helps on that front as procced Whitecap + Shifting Tides covers your DPS in teams. Picking up Fire Mastery for procced Char+GFS will help further with DPS, but may be a stretch thematically. Consider getting procced Weaken Resolve to get some more -res for your team in your rotation.

Just keep in mind that even on 4-star content people don't lean into building towards def/res caps because of Barrier.

You can see my Bio/Battle Axe build in action here, it's DPS focused but has well enough defenses for most content. Bio gets a lot of its tankiness from uptime on its self buffs:

On Controller I use 5-piece Ragnarok + Gauss Proc On MM it depends, but generally same as above (Thugs like using the gauss proc in Enforcers) On Corruptor I use 3-piece ATO (end/heal proc), Purple Damage Enhancement (semi frankenslot to maximize damage), and Gauss Proc can go here or in Aim depending on preference (I prefer to skip Aim on my Fire/Marine because between Pool+Whitecap+Inferno cast time I spend enough time setting up a nuke). On Defender i've yet to decide, slotting ATO's in it is good for passive heal/absorb but isn't quite as impactful as the +end corr has, and Gauss Proc consideration is similar to corr (On my Marine/DP I placed it into Dark Epic's Spirit Drain for my Hail of Bullets opener).

To be clear, I slot mine for %damage Enhancement, NOT damage procs. And as I stated, I HAVE tested damage procs, and they work as I stated: Minimal chance of activation, every 10 seconds, just like how damage auras operate. If the damage aura comparison doesn't work for you, think of it like a Rain power ala Rain of Fire and Ice Storm. Except instead of dealing a little bit of damage every fraction of a second, it can deal a moderate amount of damage every fraction of a second, only when triggered by something attacking the target.

Outside of %Damage and Endurance Reduction (I prefer going for set bonuses over frankenslotting here), you can also fit the Gauss Build-Up proc into it since it has a very high chance of giving you the buff every 10 seconds, more-so in teams much like Tactics. On MM it's very similar, but on Defenders and Corruptors it gets interesting as they can slot their team heal/buff ATO's in there to trigger often. Corruptor basically gains another team endurance recovery power with some periodic healing with just 1 slot, and Defender can choose to grant the team more passive AoE healing and Absorb with two ATO placements.

I said this would happen before the Tanker buffs were implemented, but that's all in the past now. IMO any change to Brutes cannot simply be an indirect buff to damage, it has to add an identity which other AT's do not already possess, and/or build further on what advantage a Brute already has (early game, newbie friendly). My suggestion is to add three Fury toggles: 1. Brutal Fury (Same as before, also passively on by default): Up to +200% damage 2. Efficient Fury (The new "early game" Fury, obtained at level 10): Up to +150% damage, +20% Accuracy, +20% Endurance Discount 3. Inspired Fury (The new "late game" Fury, obtained at level 30): Up to +100% damage, chance to proc damage on an enemy within melee range when it's attacked (like Shifting Tides with slightly less radius)

Here's something I cooked up, it's focused on DPS and team support with sufficient defenses. Power Boosted Fortitude sustainable on 4 people. Defender (Empathy - Beam Rifle).mbd

Just turn on the combat log, you'll see it's you dealing the damage. That's part of why Marine is good on Corr, since Shifting Tides utilizes your damage modifier and damage cap. On teams which trigger it and buff your damage often it's a great source of damage.

Damage procs definitely worked when I tested it, but they had a minimal proc rate and only checked once every 10 seconds as mentioned above.