Force Redux

If not /Sonic? I'd suggest Water/FF Corruptor, let scourge take advantage of Whirlpool. Water also has the better AoE (but not as good ST) and some debuffs also. It's you want to stay a defender, however, FF/Water is still solid. I have one at 40 myself.

Definitely not villifying him, but the dev team and vision for the game leaped miles ahead when he was gone on to Champions Online. That's all.

NC Soft. Jack Emmett.

I'm signaling my interest...

I share your pain as well. I really would love a fix.

hi Oedipus! Good to see you here again, after so many years - I recognize your contributions at the old forums! I thought heavily about a either Power or Soul Mastery for the Power Build Up and a Resistance Shield. I figured I could make up 6% defense with the two IO procs, but in the end of the day I held back for a few reasons: 1. Not enough Melee/AoE defense meant I'd have to be more careful to stay at range. With Scorpion Shield, the huge S/L/E defense covers most of that hole. And in many maps either vertical height, or other constraints means keeping at range isn't always possible. 2. Neither of those APPs have an AoE immobilize. If they did, i might see a way to help keep things at range, but without it, it 1) makes it hard to keep big groups in my cones and 2) to keep things at range. 3. Power-boosted Shields, while nice, are still a bit of a luxury. I can already get everyone to +48% Defense vs. All with regular Shields, Dispersion and Maneuvers, and not sacrifice my own survivability or slotting sets I like. However, if you could recommend a way to around the loss of Scorpion Shield, I'm all ears, lol! (or all bubbles) 🙂

I went through about 4 different names and concepts before I settled in on one. lol. Thankfully we can change names at will, right? I used to delete whole characters for the want of a new name in the old days. I'm on Everlasting as well, hit me up if you want to team, so long as I have some time. 🙂

True that. I made 18 million on two TFs at level 50 this week. Yike! I wasn't even trying!

Posted PB! 🙂 Most fun build I've had since returning. Hope you enjoy it too. Good to know other there are other bubblers out there!

I gotta give you a huge thanks, don't think I ever would have tried it out without your suggestion. And I really like it. So much more value than Force Bubble. Its the SA proc that really makes it shine.

Excellent ParaBruce! Got on one live, or gonna whip one up on Justin?

I want to mention, while all of my IOs are Attunable (all of them, except for basic IOs so I can exemp down easily), I afforded this without any farming alts, or hand-outs. I didn't really play the market, either. I would run Summer Blockbusters for the set enhancments, sell my SOs, craft and sell some recipes that were valuable, traded Merits for the ATO sets, etc. This is a very affordable build. If I can do it, anyone can. Really.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Force-Majeure: Level 50 Science Defender Primary Power Set: Force Field Secondary Power Set: Sonic Attack Power Pool: Flight Power Pool: Medicine Power Pool: Leadership Power Pool: Speed Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery Hero Profile: ------------ Level 1: Personal Force Field LucoftheG-Rchg+(A) Level 1: Shriek Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(9), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(11), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11) Level 2: Scream Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(13), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(13), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17) Level 4: Deflection Shield LucoftheG-Def(A), LucoftheG-Rchg+(5), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(48) Level 6: Insulation Shield LucoftheG-Def(A), LucoftheG-Rchg+(7), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(48) Level 8: Hover BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A), BlsoftheZ-Travel/EndRdx(37) Level 10: Aid Other Mrc-Heal/EndRdx(A), Mrc-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Mrc-Heal/Rchg(36) Level 12: Dispersion Bubble RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(19), RedFrt-EndRdx/Rchg(21), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(21), RedFrt-Def(23), RedFrt-EndRdx(23) Level 14: Fly WntGif-ResSlow(A) Level 16: Howl SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg(A), SprDfnBst-Dmg/Rchg(25), SprDfnBst-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25), SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27), SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(27), SprDfnBst-Rchg/Heal%(29) Level 18: Aid Self Mrc-Heal/EndRdx(A), Mrc-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(19), Mrc-Heal/Rchg(37) Level 20: Shout Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(29), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(31), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33) Level 22: Shockwave SprVglAss-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), SprVglAss-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), SprVglAss-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), SprVglAss-Dmg/Rchg(34), FrcFdb-Rechg%(34), Empty(34) Level 24: Maneuvers LucoftheG-Def(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(36) Level 26: Tactics AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx(A), AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(36) Level 28: Field Medic EndRdx-I(A) Level 30: Siren's Song CaloftheS-Acc/Rchg(A), CaloftheS-EndRdx/Sleep(37), CaloftheS-Acc/EndRdx(39), CaloftheS-Sleep/Rng(39), CaloftheS-Acc/Sleep/Rchg(39), CaloftheS-Heal%(40) Level 32: Hasten RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(40) Level 35: Amplify GssSynFr--Build%(A) Level 38: Scorpion Shield GifoftheA-Def(A), GifoftheA-Def/EndRdx(40), GifoftheA-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(42), GifoftheA-EndRdx/Rchg(42), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(50), Rct-ResDam%(50) Level 41: Web Envelope TraoftheH-Acc/Rchg(A), TraoftheH-EndRdx/Immob(42), TraoftheH-Acc/EndRdx(43), TraoftheH-Immob/Acc(43), TraoftheH-Acc/Immob/Rchg(43), TraoftheH-Dam%(45) Level 44: Dreadful Wail Arm-Dmg(A), Arm-Dmg/Rchg(45), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), Arm-Acc/Rchg(46), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(46), Arm-Dam%(46) Level 47: Afterburner LucoftheG-Rchg+(A) Level 49: Repulsion Field EndRdx-I(A), Empty(50) Level 1: Brawl Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Dash Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint Empty(A) Level 1: Vigilance Level 2: Rest Empty(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift Empty(A) Level 2: Health Mrc-Rcvry+(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(3), Prv-Absorb%(48) Level 2: Hurdle Empty(A) Level 2: Stamina EndMod-I(A), PrfShf-EndMod(3), PrfShf-End%(5) Level 50: Degenerative Core Flawless Interface Level 50: Agility Radial Paragon Level 50: Ion Total Radial Judgement Level 50: Rebirth Partial Radial Invocation ------------ | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1504;696;1392;HEX;| |78DA6594496FD36010863FBB4ED3EC6DD395A47B4BBA8686F6C02A04B4298206555| |4E21A59CE97D66D14474E2AC1910377C481B20828BD714188F50FB0FE0576712F20| |71E410269E97A6C296A2C799F9DE99F13B713297E6828F16AE9C104AF874412F97B| |373322F8B39697B970D53160D29E80AA52DDB9053197D4D6ED8D24B91EE7FC7B2A7| |36F2F9A493CFA64D59C8C5773317F4E28ACC2597ADA269644F562ABAB12E024B965| |548A60BE6CA6A25E4DC6764CE34CCA28C38DF16A54ED2F2AA59F23BDF974B52E662| 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Here's the build, itself: Feel free to ask questions, make comments, or otherwise provide thoughts. This build works for me, as any good build should, and it may need tweaks to fit your playstyle. I like a steady-state playstyle, rather safe, but with good, consistent results, with less spikey results. I often forget to click things, too, so I keep clickies to a minimum.

For those who just love Force Field like me (and a certain Knight who haunts our forums), as well as those who are interested in looking at an older (but very viable) Defender primary, I present the Sound Bubble build. Why? Because you always wanted to play a ranged character who can hold their own in a fight, as well as still bring some goodness and force multiplication to a team. Because you like hearing from team mates "Bubbles? I love bubbles!" Because you just don't want to sit back and heal, you want time to shove your blast rays down some Freak's throats, too! The Sound Bubble is based on my long-time love of Force Fields, a much overlooked (but very useful, if a bit one-dimensional) set with the single target power of Sonic Blast. Combined, you have the capacity to aid your team and make them tanker-tough, while still contributing damage, and also helping speed up everyone else's time to kill via your -Resistance debuffs attached to your Sonic blasts. The build is not only good on groups, by the time you get to Siren's Song, you are a strong soloer. The build is best at single-target solo, so its not fast (but its not controller-slow either), and it is very safe. I'd like to thanks several folks for helping me groom the build to be its best. This includes, but is not limited to: Philotic Knight, Guffnat, Hyperstrike, Bionic Flea, Hedgefund, Ankhammon, Obitus, Rumors, Bopper, Without_Pause, Hjarki, and Chance Jackson. Thank you. Goal: to have a fun Sentinel-style character that has traditional Defender team value, while still having the ability to be a good soloer (not farmer, this is not and will never be a farming character, but it can manage its missions easily on +2/x1 on basic IOs once you have Tactics to land those hits. I was able to solo the Mender Ramiel incarnate arc with both Honoree and whateverhisnamewas plus the mobs of summoned rikti on +1, which can be difficult for some builds. Once you have your Web Envelope/two Cones/Dreadful Wail and some decent recharge, you can easily bump this to +2/x2-3. Why Force Field? I love it, but besides that bias, it is STILL very useful, even in a world of Cold Domination. Now, I've learned to (grudginly) love Cold, but I still love FF. And FF, while less versatile, still brings several thigns to the table: Status Protection. Vs. Stuns, Holds and Immobs. Your squishy friends will love you. You will love you. You don't have to take Clarion if you get to Incarnate, either. You can be free to choose anything else. This has large value to me, because I hate, hate, HATE being removed from the action more than I hate taking damage. Large Self-Defense Buffs. You get a beefy 15.75% DEFENSE vs. ALL. That's huge. Add to that Hover + Defender Maneuvers and you are sitting at a base 24% DEFENSE or so on Single Origin or Invention Origin enhancements, no fancy stuff. END DRAIN Resistance. Your shields offer allies a nice 40% resist to Toxic Damage. Even better, you have a base 37.5% resistance to END Drain. This IS enhanceable. Mine is currently 86.5% resistance on my Insulation Shield. This is fantastic. Carnies and Freaks getting you down? Losing that blue bar to Malta Sappers? NOT ANY MORE! Penelope Yin TF fans, rejoice! Personal Force Field. Do not underestimate the ability to toggle this on in the thick of combat to shed unwanted aggro, toggles, cascading defense debuffs, etc. You get +40% resistance to all damage, and +75 DEFENSE vs ALL. If you have good situational awareness, and are not one-shotted, there's little reason to die. Need a time-out mid-battle to heal? Go for it. Need to ghost a mission without stealth? You can (if you don't get hurt, you can also avoid aggro - when you avoid aggro, mobs don't follow you around). Need to AFK in a weird spot? You won't be face-planted when you return. Want to go badging in dangerous (or pvp areas)? Sure. When fully bubbled up, I'm at 170 Ranged Defense, 150 Smashing/Lethal Defense, with Resistances on top. Go where thou wilt, young offender. Why Sonic? That Debuff. Every attack has -20% Resistance Debuff. And it stacks. You can easily get 3 stacks going at a time, and with low recharge times and good attack chains, that can get even higher. This makes single-target take downs very easy once you start building up the debuffs, and makes solo defender damage very very good. On teams, you also provide faster kill times for your buddies, acting as a force multiplier. I have had many comments about how easy it was to take out Susan Rexford in Summer Block Buster, who has notorious regen rates. (You poison trap guys also probably get similar comments). Siren Song. This makes soloing easier. Got a couple Malta Sappers in the spawn? Sleep the crowd,. My Siren Song lasts for 77 seconds. That's crazy. Just take them out, and when the problem children are removed, immobilize the rest and cone them to death with Howl and Shockwave. Your Cones. They are cones. I guess you either love it or note. I'm okay with them. They are even better with a bit of range increase if you can get it. Howl does decent damage. More importantly, you can start stacking -Res. Shockwave with the Sudden Acceleration Knockback to Knockdown proc works as great mitigation to prevent return fire. Keep them flopping, debuffed, and you can take out good size groups. Dreadful Wail. For when the cones just don't cut it, bring out Dreadful Wail. It comes with more -Resistance (for 20 seconds!), a Mag 3 stun (for 15 seconds) and some decent damage, as well as an animation that DOESN'T"T make you look like you are having bowel issues (i'm looking at you Blackstar). You can either lead with this, or clean up with it. Your choice. The SOUNDS. You either love it or not. It sounds like a science fiction choo choo train while on drugs. I like it, myself. I know some hate it. The Build. I'll put it in a separate post below. Some notes: Empty slots (there are two) are for Sudden Acceleration Knockdown procs. Repulsion Field is always on. It has a 9' radius and keeps anything near you knocked down frequently. I don't fear melee mobs, but I will use it to prevent them from attacking squishy allies. It can also keep mobs from running away, too. Many a time they have turned to flee my wrath, and get knocked down in time for me to finish them off. Field Medic makes life easier with Medicine Pool Heals. If you do go Medicine, take Field Medic fairly early on when you can, as it is a great Quality of Life improvement. My final (rounded) Defense values with Scorpion Shield are: 48% Ranged 25% Melee 29% AOE 50% Smashing/Lethal 27% Fire/Cold 59% Energy 42% Negative 25% Psionic What does this mean? It means I never get hit except for rare occasions. I could push some of the exotic values up, but that would cost me on other bonuses. Most things attack me from range. If they attack at melee, almost all of that has a S/L component covered by my S/L defense. Anything AoE that isn't S/L is often energy. Pure Fire/Cold attacks are RARE, and I don't live in Fire Farms, so I can't honestly tell you that other than burn patches, I really have trouble with elemental damage, no matter where I've roamed, having down many of the Task Forces/Strike Forces/Dark Astoria, Rikti Mother Ship Raids, etc. No build is perfect, of course, there is always a hole 'somewhere' but this is the safest build I've played yet, to date. Those numbers above are very solid in play. My final Resistance values with Scorpion Shield and both IO +Resistance Procs are: ~ 12-14% for most things, with 30% for Toxic. This will scale up another 1-10% based on health. Also, as health gets lower, the +Absorb proc will kick in, helping to bolster health until you can recover. With Aid Self and (later) Rebirth, recovering from breakthrough damage is very easy. And you can always bubble up for a few seconds to let regen kick in or halt incoming damage as needed, though I find I do that almost never these days.

Not any more, PK, I traded it out for Repulsion Field, which I DO keep on at all times! Much more helpful, overall, than FB. Appreciate the nudge.

Cool! I'll post today in a new thread, to avoid having the old builds mixed in with the final build.

Well, I've gotten my defender to Incarnate, with T3s in all but Hybrid, which should unlock soon. I've enjoyed this enough it's my first Incarnate to win out over altitis! Thanks to all those who have provided feedback, the build is much stronger as a result. 🙂 Thoughts: Definitely feels like a Sonic/SR Sentinel but with team buffs added: Strong defense, mezz protection, ranged attacks. Turn on toggles, go blast away, apply Shields to buddies if teamed. I'm happy with my current ST attack chain of: Shriek, Scream, Shriek, Shout. Pretty seamless. Damage is solid. My two AoE cones, Howl and Shockwave do well on teams. Even better when they are immobilized, usually with my Web Cocoon. Damage is 'meh' but the KD and debuffs are useful. ((AoEs became more acceptable once I added Dreadful Wail and Ion Judgement)) Got rid of Summon Disruptor. Found it less than useful, and I prefer pets I can control. Plus I often didn't want it to linger and grab aggro when solo if I was speeding through mission points, so I often didn't summon it as often as I'd have liked. Replaced it with Dreadful Wail. It's up every 30+ seconds with Hasten, globals and Agility Alpha, and is VERY useful for when cones no longer capture those mobs who get too close or are diffused in a team environment. Cone, cone, cone...too close...Wail. Dead. Also a great opener to stun and debuff for teams. The build is very tough, I often lead in if we're moving along at a good place. Absorb proc, resist IO, scaling resist IO add to survivability nicely. No END issues. Sappers usually miss as well. Replaced Force Bubble with Repulsion Field (with the recommended KD proc) and it's much more useful. Reduces incoming melee attacks frequently, and I can use it to protect Squishies by parking myself next to them. I will post a Pine's build later if anyone is interested. Again, ty for the help. FF is my favorite set!

Has anyone noticed if the missing katana bug in Ninja Tool Mastery has been fixed?

Big Bot's attacks can stack to -1000 Regen. They have a long duration as well, so it's easy to do.

I went Primal for power boost.

Sounds like Washington D.C

I've been leveling a Plant/Dark myself, lots of tools at hand, great team support, capable soloer, lots of fun! Where would be the best place for the Preventative Medicine Chance for +Absorb proc? Twilight Grasp? Spirit Tree? Soul Absorption?

It's a damage debuff too. Don't leave home without it.

Gonna post my 02 Inf for a Water/Bio. Great AoE, nice damage types that avoid being heavily resisted, layered protection, damage boost, and fun visuals.