Psylenz0511

Demons Thermal is a thematic and powerful combination. Despite you saying you don't want any MM attacks. Crack the whip is fairly decent on Demon MM for AoE get aggro. The mastermind gets shields, heals, and debuffs, quite a bit to like here. Necro/Cold is another good pairing. The lil zombies really benefit from the cold shields and the fire protection. The cold shields have positional defense, too.

I put forcefeedback -recharge procs in Water Burst ( and gale and lightning storm) and I put -resist procs in whirlpool and steam spray. I have everything on high recharge to bring back water burst and geyser asap along with lightning storms and tornadoes, It gets very active. I was reading some misinformed folks thinks you can only cast water burst or geyser while on the ground; it's not true. I also have superspeed with steamy mist for speeding up boss or glowie missions in stealth. Steam spray is kind of disadvantageous to have to keep jumping from hurricane range to cone range but its worth the AoE dmg and debuff. Gale with the KB>KD proc can be used whenever to knock foes off their feets, its effectively as good as a short hold. Don't get me wrong, I am aware that the freezing rain > ice storm > blizzard combo cleans up whole spawns nicely. Ice lacks the -recharge proc in the secondary.

Storm water is thematic, and it works well synergy wise

Kinetics / radiation is well suited to being in the middle of the fray too. It has irradiate and neutron bomb which mesh well. I skipped electron haze since its a cone and I only have so many seconds to cast. The other aspect of radiation blast is that the -defense in the blasts makes transfusion, transference, fulcrum shift and the other buff/debuff siphons more likely to hit. A missed transfusion can be a very sad thing. Another plus is you can make the neutrino bolt a proc monster.

Not to be too picky, but Forcefield Generator in Traps provides mezz protection, too.

I have numerous defender alts: Forcefield/sonic Kinetics/radiation Nature Affinity/fire Electric Affinity/water Storm summoning/water Time manipulation/water Thermal/water Radiation/water Traps/water On a team, the most survivable is my EA/water followed closely by the FF/sonic, and the Traps/water. As far as fun, I like them all. The EA is the 'clickest' as is the Kinetic. The FF/ and the Time are the least clicky but still very survivable and very effective. I think the most underrated would have to be the Thermal/water: shields, heals, debuffs what is not to like?

As far as kinetics go, I like Radiation secondary, sonic, water or electric. You have two AoEs in your electric secondary you can slip some -resist procs in and beef up the damage. Positioning is easier with Rad and Electric than with sonic or water if you want to use the cones. As a sapper you can do it, but it isn't as effective as it once was with the electric secondary. The limitations of a high recharge kinetics user isn't the recharge of your powers, but eventually you hit an animation cap where you want powers to fire quicker so you can get to the next blast or buff. I am sure psyonico has a build there that should suit you.

I like steam spray on my storm/water. It seems to hit pretty hard. I have some range enhancement in it. It's a decently wide cone.

Hold on buckaroo. I get you like thugs better than robots, but the tier one bots have full auto lasers (cones) at level 32 as well.

You somehow didn't include storm in the AoE damage secondaries. 😄 Lightining storm, tornado, freezing rain all do damage and with slow procs you can make more abilities damaging ones too.

"no use for snowstorm" First, I agree it takes a lot of commitment to try to use all the storm powers, but I usually do. Snowstorm does more than slows movement. It is -recharge. Between freezing rain and snowstorm you can reduce incoming damage significantly just with the slow aspect. It grounds fliers. It interrupts kamikaze vahz and CoT, interrupts skyraider engineers, interrupts Rikti communication officers, and other mobs not coming to mind. So it isn't as usable as tornado is 100% of the time, but it does do something. You can put a FF -recharge in gale. It's an aoe. You almost always get the -recharge proc from knocking a spawn group off their feet. To me, knockback functions the same as a short term hold and so many storm kb abilities are AoE. Your foes cannot attack you while they pick themselves back up.

Yes, I find insulating to be a life-saver in frequent situations. In battles where the 5% hole in defense allows a one-shot of damage through which can take out a squishie with less resistance than a brute or tank. For example, when taking out dark crystals in an ITF or battling something like minotaurs, that added absorb is the difference between a death and hanging on for a heal at minimal health. To be fair, there is a heal, too, to help with the other team heals as well as the absorb factor. And in groups, sometimes you are left stranded by teammates who redirect before you notice you are alone. Also, the Galvanic debuffs endurance along with other teammates drains in boss fights. And if you solo any at all, you need galvanic.

TA/fire Dark/fire (works better with corruptors and the scourge ticks on the rains) Traps/dark (for extra immobilize) Rad/water Time/* Depends on the player tactics too, but all should be quite solid

I would like to add, this analysis was done before the buffs to Trick Arrow. Poison gas arrow and disruption arrow are no slouches in the debuffing aspects of defenders. I just have a hard time soloing Trick Arrow, but I would think Trick Arrow/Fire might be godly damage. For the synergy with buffing sets, don't overlook the beam rifle secondary. Disintegration is no joke either.

I remember a post in the live forums that compared the raw -regen of defenders and that traps came out on top of dark and rad although dark, and rad have very good burst -regen.

I love my Traps/water defender. I agree caltrops and seeker drones are very useful. Even if there was no debuff, the mechanic of big spawns wasting their first salvo on the droes and NOT you is a big plus. This gives you time to setup poison trap. I use trip mines in big groups. I monitor my melee defense and if it's over 50% I lay a trip mine for big dmg

I like howling twilight: the autohit stun + slow + debuff regen that also happens to rezz allies if there are any bodies lying around.

I want to do a classic Positron - ouroboros style. I used to have an Ice/FF troller on live that was my 'Posi-buster'. I think my new Ice/electric affinity would provide ideal support to damage dealers to burn through this task force. Ice slick + mezz protection for the win!

Is this your level 50 build or the build you are leveling with?

I think Demons thermal is very powerful not just thematic Nobody likes to be a pez dispenser but the mezz breaking of longer stuns and holds is extra nice Melt armor is more than welcome to groups. Hasten is useful when implementing melt armor and heat exhaustion. If you opt out of scorpion shield I strongly recommend heat mastery for Bonfire with the obligatory KB to KD proc, all bunched up for debuff and damage. I had a level 50 dmons thermal and would gladly provide more coaching.

I think that is debatable

I have a NA/Fire defender, I max out my aoe dmg as best I can.

I would vote for electric affinity. There are a lot of buffs to this set, but the biggest tanky power is the Faraday Cage. Mezz resist, damage resist, kb protection, and next I would go Traps/Dark. Traps is pretty beefy, too, especially if you use Super Speed and stealth to get in place to drop your traps up close.

Bots/FF has beefy defense but the damage isnt buffed by the mastermind so it may be slow going. I would suggest an odd pair if you are up to it, Zombies/Thermal, the lich at level 32 will give you some heft -tohit to go with the nice resistances.

Electric affinity is heavy good on team play, but the faraday cage make soloing as safe as any attack primary.