Defender with MM

[xhaledk]

Hi guys

Haven't run a defender before, but they look kinda fun. So I want to make one to run with my friend who is running a Robo/Force MM. 

What could be a good idea to run with that? I am kinda hooked on the dual pistols, but it's not necessary.

[ParaBruce]

First thought: your friend is bringing enough defense for everyone. ("Did you bring enough for everyone?" "Well, yes, actually.") So for your primary, look at resistance boosting and debuffing. Sonic/Dual Pistols might be fun.

 

[Dark Current]

Analyze what bots / FF brings:

 

A lot of DEF to cover you and them.

Ranged attacks primarily.

Knockback from bot blasts.

 

So I think if you have some group stealth that would be nice and allow your bot pack to get into range without being seen: dark, storm, cold have such auras.

You'll need to be able to heal yourself and the MM/bots at range. You'll want an aura heal over a ST to catch everyone at once. There are several options here: rad, dark, emp, time, nature, thermal, etc... you won't get it from storm, traps, kin, poison, cold, sonic, etc.

Some resistance to add to the mix would be nice. So the stealth auras mentioned above would work, along with sonic.

The kb will knock things out of patches and anchor auras, so you'll need to be selective on where you place those if you take a set with them... I can't think of a defender primary that roots targets to prevent it.

 

For me, putting that all together, I'd think something dark/ would be really good. It also has -RES / slow patch, fear, hold, rez, -To Hit... would be a great collection of debuffs and controls to go along with your partner's damage and ranged blasting potential. Also, shadowfall will plug FF's psi hole somewhat.

 

I also like rad/ and time/... no stealth aura, but checks a lot of the other boxes and brings some strong debuffs / buffs to the party.

Edited September 12, 2019 by Dark Current

[xhaledk]

1 hour ago, Dark Current said:

Analyze what bots / FF brings:

 

A lot of DEF to cover you and them.

Ranged attacks primarily.

Knockback from bot blasts.

 

So I think if you have some group stealth that would be nice and allow your bot pack to get into range without being seen: dark, storm, cold have such auras.

You'll need to be able to heal yourself and the MM/bots at range. You'll want an aura heal over a ST to catch everyone at once. There are several options here: rad, dark, emp, time, nature, thermal, etc... you won't get it from storm, traps, kin, poison, cold, sonic, etc.

Some resistance to add to the mix would be nice. So the stealth auras mentioned above would work, along with sonic.

The kb will knock things out of patches and anchor auras, so you'll need to be selective on where you place those if you take a set with them... I can't think of a defender primary that roots targets to prevent it.

 

For me, putting that all together, I'd think something dark/ would be really good. It also has -RES / slow patch, fear, hold, rez, -To Hit... would be a great collection of debuffs and controls to go along with your partner's damage and ranged blasting potential. Also, shadowfall will plug FF's psi hole somewhat.

 

I also like rad/ and time/... no stealth aura, but checks a lot of the other boxes and brings some strong debuffs / buffs to the party.

Sounds very decent. The only minus I can see with dark is the heal have to "hit check" the enemy, but definitely got to check the options you mentioned out when I get home from work

[Without_Pause]

2 hours ago, xhaledk said:

Sounds very decent. The only minus I can see with dark is the heal have to "hit check" the enemy, but definitely got to check the options you mentioned out when I get home from work

You can and should both run Tactics which would make the issue minor. I would be less fond of Dark in this situation since /ff covers enough defense. What you want is buffs/debuffs and heals. I see less need for team stealth so Rad and Time work fine for me. I would lean Time although that is honestly just trying to avoid Rad's toggles. Time/dp does seem easier to thematically explain as well. It has been years, but IIRC, defenders do get access to AoE Immobilization powers in Epics/Patrons. /dark has one, but it doesn't prevent KB.

 

There is also the issue of Dark being better on a controller, but Dark is still really good, and I feel like I could make a case for defenders over controllers in today's Incarnate/IO world. Maybe not a good one. 😀 Let's just say my Dark/dark controller has at times felt like a crappy defender.

[SmalltalkJava]

I’m a Nature fan.  It in theory would work well

 

• its heal is a cone so it hits a lot of things in front of you. 
• It brings health absorb. To alleviate the hits that bypass the defense.  Effectively doubling the T1 bots health at the start of a fight 
• It brings a resist buff. To again alleviate damage that gets through 

so it brings 2 additional levels of damage mitigation

 

Regardless. Pick a primary that can AOE heal the bots.  It’s a quality of life thing 

[Dark Current]

3 hours ago, SmalltalkJava said:

I’m a Nature fan.  It in theory would work well

 

• its heal is a cone so it hits a lot of things in front of you. 
• It brings health absorb. To alleviate the hits that bypass the defense.  Effectively doubling the T1 bots health at the start of a fight 
• It brings a resist buff. To again alleviate damage that gets through 

so it brings 2 additional levels of damage mitigation

 

Regardless. Pick a primary that can AOE heal the bots.  It’s a quality of life thing 

Only issue i have with the nature heal is you'll need to be standing behind the bots, or turn around, to spray them.

 

Forgot to mention thermal... provides solid resistances on par with sonic, and also brings heals to the table. So if you're looking for a buff and blast type of defender that checks a lot of boxes above, thermal could work.

 

I'd still rank it lower than my initial list because it only has one debuff, which I think this duo will need more of when fighting EBs / AVs.

[Hedgefund]

Thermal has 2 debuffs, both on a long-ish timer (Heat Exhaustion & Melt Armor) but with a decent recharge build are perma-able.

 

Is the MM set on FF?  If s/he goes /Cold and you go Thermal, well, the world will be your oyster.

Edited September 13, 2019 by Hedgefund

[xhaledk]

2 hours ago, Hedgefund said:

Thermal has 2 debuffs, both on a long-ish timer (Heat Exhaustion & Melt Armor) but with a decent recharge build are perma-able.

 

Is the MM set on FF?  If s/he goes /Cold and you go Thermal, well, the world will be your oyster.

Yea he seems to be pretty hooked on FF

[xhaledk]

6 hours ago, Dark Current said:

Only issue i have with the nature heal is you'll need to be standing behind the bots, or turn around, to spray them.

 

Forgot to mention thermal... provides solid resistances on par with sonic, and also brings heals to the table. So if you're looking for a buff and blast type of defender that checks a lot of boxes above, thermal could work.

 

I'd still rank it lower than my initial list because it only has one debuff, which I think this duo will need more of when fighting EBs / AVs.

I made the toon with dark, but pain was also an option, but it seems kinda "meh" to be honest

[Dark Current]

6 hours ago, xhaledk said:

I made the toon with dark, but pain was also an option, but it seems kinda "meh" to be honest

I think you'll like it. Just make sure you get some acc (tactics is a good idea) so that you can hit with your heals and controls.

 

Good strategy is to open with Fearsome Stare and / or pull with Darkest Night, then let the robots unload. Toss out your tar patch, petrify a tough lieu (need to 2x stack on a boss), maybe hit a heal if needed, then blast blast blast.

 

What secondary did you pick?

[xhaledk]

3 hours ago, Dark Current said:

I think you'll like it. Just make sure you get some acc (tactics is a good idea) so that you can hit with your heals and controls.

 

Good strategy is to open with Fearsome Stare and / or pull with Darkest Night, then let the robots unload. Toss out your tar patch, petrify a tough lieu (need to 2x stack on a boss), maybe hit a heal if needed, then blast blast blast.

 

What secondary did you pick?

Picked dual pistols. Needed to have a gun since I kinda wanted to make him like a gunslinger or something over the cosmic captain template. Also got some inspiration from the space pirate Captain Harlock

[Dark Current]

22 hours ago, xhaledk said:

Picked dual pistols. Needed to have a gun since I kinda wanted to make him like a gunslinger or something over the cosmic captain template. Also got some inspiration from the space pirate Captain Harlock

Swap Ammo will give you some nice options to stack with powers you have, plus being able to switch damage types as needed:

 

Cryo rounds will stack slow with tar patch.

Chem rounds' -DMG will give you another layer of protection with your +DEF and -To Hit, so even if they do hit, it'll be for reduced amount.

Incend rounds will give you some more damage to go with the -RES of tar patch.

 

Any plans for your APP/PPP? With dual pistols you have a couple AoEs (your nuke is PB AoE) that work great at point blank range, so you might want to look at a set that's good in melee and work up to that in your 30s and 40s.

 

Was glancing through your options and thought these would be a solid choice:

 

Dark has 3 PB AoEs to leverage... so you toss out Fear, drop a patch, run in, hit Soul Drain while OG is running and NUKE + Bullet Rain combo. Or pull around corner into tar patch with DN and then Soul Drain + Nukes.

 

Elec has Thunderstrike and Power Sink, which aren't as good as what dark would bring, but probably second best option for melee.

 

The Mu and Soul sets are similar to the above. The other sets all lend themselves to staying at range if that's your plan.

 

Dang... I think you're talking me into building one of these myself!

Edited September 14, 2019 by Dark Current

[xhaledk]

39 minutes ago, Dark Current said:

Swap Ammo will give you some nice options to stack with powers you have, plus being able to switch damage types as needed:

 

Cryo rounds will stack slow with tar patch.

Chem rounds' -DMG will give you another layer of protection with your +DEF and -To Hit, so even if they do hit, it'll be for reduced amount.

Incend rounds will give you some more damage to go with the -RES of tar patch.

 

Any plans for your APP/PPP? With dual pistols you have a couple AoEs (your nuke is PB AoE) that work great at point blank range, so you might want to look at a set that's good in melee and work up to that in your 30s and 40s.

 

Was glancing through your options and thought these would be a solid choice:

 

Dark has 3 PB AoEs to leverage... so you toss out Fear, drop a patch, run in, hit Soul Drain while OG is running and NUKE + Bullet Rain combo. Or pull around corner into tar patch with DN and then Soul Drain + Nukes.

 

Elec has Thunderstrike and Power Sink, which aren't as good as what dark would bring, but probably second best option for melee.

 

The Mu and Soul sets are similar to the above. The other sets all lend themselves to staying at range if that's your plan.

 

Dang... I think you're talking me into building one of these myself!

Hah Sorry about that. But havent givent it much thought, since my friend havent been online for a couple of days, we are only level 7 😄