Force Redux

Thanks O_Tex! I've currently got a 30 second gap, it's something I can adjust to and work on over time I guess 😛

So I picked up the Psi Power Pool for my Dark/Grav, and I'm happy with the armor, and very happy with Psi Tornado for a fast-recharging AOE. However, I was excited to get Indomitable Will to help break mezz, but it seems that it does NOT break mezz, it only use of use when used proactively. Which is disappointing. If I'm HELD, STUNNED or SLEPT, it won't work. Is there something I'm missing here? I thought in the past during Live it broke mez. Thanks for any input.

I too had an Illusion/TA/Fire on Live and it's awesome in teams or solo. And very safe. Plenty of debuffs and control. Surprisingly decent damage, too. I imagine with procs it could be even better.

Looks like I can't get on Test to try this out. My own Demon/Dark is only level 20 on Everlasting, so not up to Fluffy yet there. Sorry Plainguy.

Knights are best anyway with Touch of Lady Grey proc, and a -Res proc, IMO

I can try this tomorrow and let you know.

Its rated # 136 on the power set combos in the Flavor of the Month report, but I really like my Shield Defense/Martial Arts tanker. Tough, decent AOE, looks great comboing MA attacks, and holds aggro like a champ. I never thought I'd like Shield, but I'm a convert. And Tanker MA just goes so well with it to boost Defenses/Damage.

I think its been echoed quite a few times, but a Duplicate pet set, where the MM creates duplicates of himself. Combine it with a /Time secondary for extra flavor for creating alternate timestream versions of oneself.

My FF/Sonic/Mace salutes you!

I'm now SOOOO rolling up an Earth/Storm!! 😀

I'm going to add in Plant Control. The sound of the vines gripping and strangling things is awesome. It just screams "Hi! Welcome to Plant! You're on Lockdown!"

Earth Defense Defenders... Gosh that sounds yummy...!

This gets my vote as well. Dehydrate is handy for survivability. Solid AoE and ST damage, and very thematic. Both sets take procs like a beast.

So Spirit, you're advocating for Bots/Traps/Mu. Ok sounds good. Nice write-up.

Necro is more single Target focused since the grave Knights are your damage dealers. The zombies have small cones, but it's not enough to be considered a feature. Necro solo is just great, but they don't necessarily make good farmers. Seriously just play what you Love. You don't have to farm. I make plenty of money with my defenders controllers and masterminds.

I'd second Oldskool's recommendations for either Sonic or Water. Sonic offers the best secondary for moar damage, and offers a really good sleep for solo work. It has cones though, so AoEs benefit from good lining up and some +range. Decent damage types too (smash/energy). Water has both good ST and AoEs, and the AoEs are IMO easier to use, being 1 wide cone, 1 targeted sphere, and 1 large ground placed. Nice mix of damage types (smash, cold, fire) and debuffs. Can't go wrong with either.

My Thugs/Time is a fairly good farmer on solo radios. Probably better in AE on easy mobs in missions. The key is Arsonist's burn. I think the best AE MM farmer would be IMO Robots/Time/Heat. Assault Bot has strong AoE. Make sure to slot Sudden Acceleration KD proc in him. Little Bots with Overwhelming Force KD proc help with control. Heat Mastery for Burn as AoE dam and also control with KD proc. It's no Fire/Spines Brute, but should work well.

@Hyperstrike My use for PFF on MM has always been strategic. It has a higher recharge than the Defender version, so it's important to use it economically. Yes, it's often overkill for Defense (but the resistance is never "wasted"). But it also means it's immune to cascading defense failure and many mobs with +ACC. It's also steady state. The buff is there as long as you want it to last. The usual caveat about only affecting self, of course, during it's duration. It's an extra tool to consider when deciding in PFF as a secondary for MM: 1. Turtling up when you take unwanted fire. 2. Aid Self with no interruptions. 3. Prevent team wipes. Works very well with Assemble the Team. 4. Ghosting through missions. Also works great with Assemble the Team. 5. QoL stuff. Safe badging. Safe AFKs. Etc. There's a lot more versatile sets than FF. But what FF does, it does well. I was highlighting why I tend to enjoy it, and it's selling points vs other sets. It's like Super Reflexes: it's not that versatile, but it's good at what it sets out to do. So the three major selling point to me as a MM are: - Easy way to defense cap pets. - Offers status protection for self, pets and team long before Clarion. Frees up a Destiny choice if you make it to Incarnate. Works even when you exemplar down. - Situational imperviousness - Low maintenance I personally would pair FF only with Robots, Thugs, Ninjas or Beasts due to their interest Defense stacking. Because it has its repelling powers, I think it's a perfect match for the ranged Robots though. Just my two Inf.

Where's Personal Force Field? That's your I Win button when you come under fire. Agree you are overslotting your toggles and shields. FF does more buffs for your pets than you, however. Like many support sets, some IO set slotting goes a long way to making you tougher. If you're not interested in sticking with FF I'd recommend Time. However my Bots/FF was one of my tankiest characters. I can post a build is you like. IMO you go FF because you like status protection, PFF and easy bubbles/soft cap pets, and a low maintenance secondary.

Something to note. Bots/FF exemplars down very well. I'd you do any lower level content on a regular basis where you don't have access to your 40+ level powers/Incarnates, this is a good thing.

I'd go Mercs/Time/Mace as suggested by Redlynn. PB'd Farsighted is 21% defense. Add in maneuvers and pet IOs and you're at 35 Defense Melee/Ranged, 50 AoE. Then the -ToHit from Juncture, plus slows, and Mercs will feel pretty safe. Exactly how many of the +Res IOs you can squeeze in depends on how much you want to sacrifice your pet slotting further. I had a Mercs/Traps as my main villain back in the day. It was serviceable. I eventually went to Bots/FF. But this was before IOs. And Incarnate. And Time. Live the dream. Your Mercs can be solid.

I haven't forgotten this post. I loaded up your build, and overall, it looks solid. A few slot changes I might make (i.e., PPF should never have more than 1 slot IMO), but I realize this is personal pref. I also would tend to go Leadership over Fighting, but again, that's a preference style. The biggest change I might reccommend is for Mace Mastery to cap your S/L/E defense and thus freeing you up to take something else for your Destiny pool other than Barrier. Again, you have a solid build and this is liekly just a preference from my end. If you wanted to accomplish a tough blaster with plenty of knockdown, you accomplished it. I'll post some slot / IO suggestions later. Overall, however, looks great.

As an avid lover of Force Field, I'd love to review and offer some feedback. I have my own FF/Sonic Incarnated +3 Defender that I love. I feel you. I'll get a post up tomorrow if that's ok.

Welcome to Everlasting! You can find me on my chars. Global in my sig 🙂

Unfortunately, robots only cast forcefield and heals on each other, not other players. They will bubble (but not heal) the MM though.