Anyone running with Smash Lethal Defense cap only ? How the play ?

[plainguy]

Pretty much as the title says..

 

I am a big positional defense cap player. 

 

I am aware though of Smash and Lethal being a big component in many attacks. 

 

I was wondering if anyone who is only running Smash Lethal defense cap can express the game play on such a build. Maybe share the build so I can see what they are playing ETC.. 

 

Currently working on a Smash Lethal Range defense cap build.

But if I went Smash Lethal with Smash Lethal resistance cap I can open up a few more doors in the build.  

 

Just trying to get the most out of this build.

Its a real eccentric build. I play a lot of petless masterminds. 

 

I have a farmer toon,  I have regular 50 IOed toons for all end game play. 

Now I am playing out of the box of standard builds to see what can be done.

 

 

 

 

[Hopeling]

On what kind of character?

 

My Dominator is S/L softcapped (thanks to Ice Armor). He survives well enough in most content, but feels "brittle" to play - he'll die suddenly and ingloriously if he comes under heavy fire from defense debuffs or enemies that use other damage types.

 

My /Elec sentinel focused on S/L defense and is not even softcapped to that, but is incredibly durable, because 35% defense plus 700% regen plus 60-75% resist to all types plus hovering out of melee range means that enemies have to get through a lot of layers of protection to actually hurt him.

[SmalltalkJava]

For me SL versus positional is just a matter of economy of choice.  I find it easier to get high S/L defense.   I’ve found that if I can get high S/L resists then that adds a second layer of survivability.  The resists make a big difference.  50% resist means %50 less damage.   It really come into play when fighting multiple mobs.  More mobs means more attacks will slip through defenses.  It’s just a math thing.   But yeah. Adding in S/L resists makes a giant difference.  A giant difference.    

 

The added side benefit is that it leaves your hero with their own kryptonite. Maybe it’s negative damage or cold or..   ... but they are Street tough and can take a beating from smashing and lethal attacks.   

[plainguy]

1 hour ago, Hopeling said:

On what kind of character?

 

My Dominator is S/L softcapped (thanks to Ice Armor). He survives well enough in most content, but feels "brittle" to play - he'll die suddenly and ingloriously if he comes under heavy fire from defense debuffs or enemies that use other damage types.

 

My /Elec sentinel focused on S/L defense and is not even softcapped to that, but is incredibly durable, because 35% defense plus 700% regen plus 60-75% resist to all types plus hovering out of melee range means that enemies have to get through a lot of layers of protection to actually hurt him.

Technically it would be a Petless Whip Kin Mastermind

 

30 minutes ago, SmalltalkJava said:

For me SL versus positional is just a matter of economy of choice.  I find it easier to get high S/L defense.   I’ve found that if I can get high S/L resists then that adds a second layer of survivability.  The resists make a big difference.  50% resist means %50 less damage.   It really come into play when fighting multiple mobs.  More mobs means more attacks will slip through defenses.  It’s just a math thing.   But yeah. Adding in S/L resists makes a giant difference.  A giant difference.    

 

The added side benefit is that it leaves your hero with their own kryptonite. Maybe it’s negative damage or cold or..   ... but they are Street tough and can take a beating from smashing and lethal attacks.   

 

 

You both make good points that I overlooked. 

 

 

[Shred Monkey]

IMHO, S/L is not enough if you want to be tanky on a traditionally squishy AT.  There's still a lot of enemies who will give you trouble.  However, S/L + Ranged Def is very solid and leaves very few gaps in your defenses... especially if you are a ranged fighter and you either fly or move around to avoid melee. 

 

 

[Hopeling]

1 hour ago, plainguy said:

Technically it would be a Petless Whip Kin Mastermind

Yeah, that's going to be pretty squishy even with softcapped defense to one type.