tjknight

I think it's because I really ❤️ my Fortunata and VEAT's in general, but to me they are exactly the AT to compare Sentinels against. As both Sentinels and VEATS have medium level damage paired with with defense. I have four sentinels, but none are 50 yet due to alitis, or because my Fortunata pretty much scratches that itch for ranged dps that isn't made of paper tissue. Sentinels have a lot going for them, but I think the biggest issue is they lack an aspect that really stands out. And no I don't mean "more damage"... they need something else. I'm just not quite sure what that is.

I dont think Crysis is imagining the "flee" behavior of endurance drained NPCs. I notice it frequently on my EA defender. Bosses and higher run like hell when they have no endurance. I have two EA MMs (Thugs & Ninja) and I think the experience with them has been ok. But heres the point, it's rare for me to solo my MMs higher than around +2. So the pets are wiping out mobs before they can run. If I were running at higher diffs, I have no doubt there'd be issues with bosses running away.

Pain doesn't get a lot of attention on the forums but it's a solid MM secondary. Had a thugs/pain on live and I really enjoyed it. OTOH I could see empathy working out really well with Thugs, especially on the Bruiser. Poor Mercs take such a beating on the boards but I'm wondering if Empathy might shore up a lot of their issues, including not having to bother with the lackluster serum.

I played Red Side almost exclusively, once COV launched. My toons backstories had a more Magneto or Catwoman vibe than "OMIGERD I'm EBILLLLL". Which I think is actually fits the majority of villain side story-lines. My take is that hero side content is just way too easy, especially with Incarnates and IO's. If you want a challenge after 50, it's always been my suggestion to go over to the Rogue Isles and do some of 50+ plus arcs there. But people rarely do.... with the exception of the Patron arc. And the Patron arc is done because it gives a desirable reward. So I guess what I'm saying is it's not the villain content or the story lines that are the issue. It's the fact that hero content is probably too easy. So easy in fact, that the only reason to do villain content is get something valuable for the extra effort. And that one reason for most people is the Villain Patron Epic pools. In short, red side being sparsely occupied comes down to the fact, there are very few compelling reasons to play as villain.

Just for the heck of it, I logged into my lvl 35 Demon/Kin after and respeced it. I had the pet IO's I needed already sitting around , but basically you can get 30% damage resistance just from slotting the Sovereign Right, Expedient Reinforcement, and Mark of Supremacy uniques. Putting three damage resistance IO's in Increased Density netted me an additional aprox. 28% Smashing/Energy resistance. Jumped in and played a few tips missions in the Rogue Isles, and I have to say I was very pleased. I can't imagine why I didn't think of this before. I'm already using pet resistance uniques in my Necro/Thermal.

Hmmm...interesting. Those posts you shared actually have me wondering if Necro/Kin might actually be comparable to Beast/Kin. I have a Demon/Kin I lost interest in sitting in limbo, and I used Increase Density on them quite a bit.

I see posts like this and I just get really confused. I've played a variety of MM's since the old live days, and my pets just don't die when travelling. I don't use fancy keybinds, or complicated commands. My pets typically are in Defensive Follow mode and arrive at my destination with me. The only time I lose all my pets in battle is if I pull too much aggro, or get hit with a massive AOE. It's not that I don't believe people when they say their pets die frequently and they have to constantly re-summon. It's that I can't figure out how it's happening, especially when travelling.

If you exemplar down a lot (especially for task forces under 50) or frequently play on mixed-level teams (Peregrine Island pick-up teams) Empathy is wonderful to have. So I wouldn't completely dismiss empathy as being viable, it totally depends on how you play. If you really want to play something rare a defender Traps/ or TA/ could be interesting for you. Poison/ is actually pretty good, but it's a completely different type of playstyle from other Defender sets. I like teaming with Poison users though, they are super helpful against really hard enemies.

Not sure if it's a coincidence.. but I've ran into more than a few (like maybe 5) Poison Corruptors and Defenders hanging out on Peregrine Island this week. I hardly ever saw them at all before... the y all seem to be Dark Blast or Radiation Blast. It's so tempting to roll one now. I had to stop myself from pm'ng them and asking if they read this guide.

Thank you so much this really helps!

Does anyone have an Electric Control + Electric Affinity build they wouldn't mind sharing? Working on making one, and I'm having trouble downloading the updated builder to my PC. Thanks.

Superior Mark of Supremacy

Top Tier: Thugs, Demons, or Bots with Dark or Time. Any combination of these should be smooth sailing from the first level onward. Also of note in my opinion because they are rarer combos but very effective: Nature, Thermal, and Sonic work great with resist based pets (Demons or Necromancy). Cold syncs well with defense based pets (Bots or Thugs).

I decided to try leveling an Electric Affinity/Electrical Blast Defender up this weekend. Currently I'm at level 35, which I achieved with a combination of task forces, radios, mission content and an MSR. Mostly , because I wanted to gain a feel for how the set performed as it worked it's way up the level ladder. Also, per the original post I'm only using non-set IO's at this point (see below): Team Performance: Electric Affinity (EA) performed very well on teams as far as I'm concerned. The set is like Kinetics + Sonic had a beautiful sturdy buffing baby. Energizing Circuit + Rejuvenating Circuit works very well with team mates. The heal chained frequently and building stacks of static was never a problem. The bigger the team and more bodies (including pets) the better. Amp Up is fun to spam on Controllers and Faraday cage at this level gives about 23% resistance to all but toxic. Solo Performance: Things are little rough for the solo EA Defender in my opinion. The damage is low and the heal requires a teammate or pet to use well. Galvanic Sentinel isn't a permanent pet and can de-spawn in the middle of a fight. Additionally, the pet has low hit-points and easily killed by even low level mobs. However, it's pretty easy to resummon GAL, as the pet is necessary in order to keep yourself buffed. For these reasons, I found using a pet targeting key bind helpful while solo. The simple key binds below should target the nearest friendly entity (player or pet) and then trigger the named power. Faraday Cage is Awesome Despite some of the drawbacks, Electric Affinity has the makings of a very sturdy defender. Faraday cage not only offers excellent damage resistance, mez protection, and knock back resist. It also offers protection from endurance drains, recharge debuffs, and recovery debuffs. Faraday Cage also functions as break free on the rare occasions you may happen to get mezzed. Additionally, it stacks with Tough.... which on a Defender is a fantastic amount of Smashing & Lethal resist under level 50. This is great solo or teamed. I'm strongly considering stacking Faraday Cage + Tough + Dark Embrace to grant my Defender a decent amount of resistance to just about every type of damage. Other Notes Energizing Circuit is worth slotting in my opinion at low levels. Super maxed out incarnate teams may not need it, but if you're on a team with sub 50+ players they will thank you for it. Galvanic Sentinel, Short Circuit, and Defibrillate were enough to end drain mobs. This is nice at lower levels or while solo when kill speed isn't as fast. Speaking of Defibrillate, it's a very handy power I honestly wouldn't skip it. Not only does end drain mobs, it also sleeps them with the added benefit of rezzing nearby teammates at full health and endurance. It's like Howling Twilight's spunky little brother. This is a fun set to play, it might work a little more smoothly on AT's with sturdier pets (i.e masterminds & certain controllers), but it's solid on a defender.

This really makes me want to role a Poison/Beam Rifle.... great guide.

Old TK was so good.. I still don't understand the changes made after all these years. But in general, if you want dps on a controller, it's Plant/ or Fire/ paired with Rad or Kin... I do wish there were more options. OTOH.. controllers are absolute beasts when teamed especially with other controllers or doms. Which is something I think we sometimes forget, some AT's that seem weak solo, were really designed to shine on teams.

There's a pretty extensive discussion regarding EA in the MM forums... since EA works so well with MM pets. But the basic info about the powers and how they work could prove useful to those playing other AT's:

Leveling a Ninja/EA right now.. just about to ding 26. I did it pretty much the old fashioned way.. some DFB to get started, mixed in with soloing arcs, and joining an occasional task force. Rejuvenating Circuit and Faraday Cage are working far better than I expected. I don't have any numbers to back it up, but the combo feels about as sturdy as my old Ninja/Dark . The heal is slotted with lvl 25 IO's (2 rech, 2 heal, 2 end discount). For now this working great for generic leveling purposes. Faraday Cage has three lvl 25 damage IO's slotted, and it's easily spammable. The resist and status protection from Farday cage is really good for MM's. Pet's don't get bounced around by knockback, and seem to adequately resist damage. I would imagine tankier pets (Demons, Bots, Thugs, and Necro) would really thrive with Faraday cage cast on them. The only thing that's really been a pain are fire patches (Council, Longbow, and Scrapyarders). Spam healing can keep the pets on their feet, but it's easier for the squishy Ninjas to become overwhelmed. All-in-all, my subjective opinon is that EA works reasonably well with Ninjas and I'm guessing it would also pair well with Mercs. However, the better combinations are still going to be with the top performing pet classes. My guess is that Robots/EA , Demons/EA, and Thugs/EA are probably going to quickly be recognized as top-shelf MM builds. But then again, those primaries are excellent with just about every secondary.

Hmmm... cant decide what type of MM to roll up with EA. That Ninja build does look interesting. But Thugs sounds good too.

I think Electrical Resonance would sound way cooler. But Electrical Affinity isn't bad.

Also, it seems Thunderspy's pet customization breaks power animations on non-human pets.

Empathy defenders are super useful on mixed level teams. I'm always happy to have one if doing PUGs in PI or GV. Also, they are great to have when exemped on TFs. Also, I'm one of just 58 lvl 50 Ill/Traps! Feeling special. : D

Comparing Sentinels to Blasters or Scrappers will always be a little off. They are much closer in design to the Epic AT's (SoA & Kheldians). In that they are survivable AT that does mid-range damage. An AT that has access to shields and self-heals will never, ever be allowed to do blaster level damage. And balance wise that's probably a good idea.

I leveled up a Necro/Thermal up to 30's and nope you aren't crazy. Same concept really, the pets get great resistance out of the box. And it only get's better. Zombies self-heal and the Lich is a great controller. So that can help make up in some areas sonic lacks. Plus Disruption Field should work well with the Grave Knights. I could see coloring the sonic powers a sickly green and going with undead Banshee theme.

I agree Plant/Emp offers many of the same benefits of Illu/Emp. Plus many people forget bout the gloriousness that is Carrion Creepers, which is an invisible pet that spawns creeper vines and immobilizes. Oh and the vines can be buffed as well. So, Carrion Creepers and Fly Trap can provide plenty of control on a fast moving team. Leaving you free to buff and heal as you like.