What Is The Most Resource Efficient Way To Get KB Protection?

[EonRecoil]

There are multiple ways I can spend resources to get KB protect on my defender.  Which is the most resource efficient option?  All the ways of getting KB protect require some combination of choices -- spending power choices (otherwise wanted elsewhere), spending slot choices (otherwise wanted elsewhere), spending influence, spending merits, spending enhancement converters (risky). 

 

Thanks.

[siolfir]

Depending on your powersets you can use other options, but the easiest way to go is a single Karma or Blessing of the Zephyr KB protection IO thrown in Combat Jumping or Hover. That option only costs you 1 slot and is usually in a power you're likely to take anyway.

 

Hover, by itself, has you do a quick loop which reduces the time you're unable to act.

 

Sure, it would be nice to have more than 4 points, but that will cover most of the sources you'll run into.

[biostem]

Aren't there -kb IOs that can be slotted into sprint?  It's only -4 mag protection, but that's still pretty good...

[Redlynne]

Kinetics PC casts Increase Density on you periodically.

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

14 hours ago, biostem said:

Aren't there -kb IOs that can be slotted into sprint?  It's only -4 mag protection, but that's still pretty good...

lol hell no then all those prestige sprints would lead to breaking the game, someone a few months back was wanting that very thing to basically negate KB in pvp by being able to slot one in every prestige sprint variant.

 

I mean that is basic game balance 101 right there.

[quixoteprog]

4 minutes ago, Bentley Berkeley said:

lol hell no then all those prestige sprints would lead to breaking the game, someone a few months back was wanting that very thing to basically negate KB in pvp by being able to slot one in every prestige sprint variant.

 

I mean that is basic game balance 101 right there.

This would be a non-issue. You just need to make such an enhancement unique, so that it could only be slotted in one power once on any character.

[Snarky]

Roll an Invulnerability Armor TankerBrute or Scrapper

 

Seriously though what do you mean by resource?  It will vary by character greatly. Are you talking inf costs?  Enhancer cost slots? Power choices?  There are a lot of ways to solve this problem. Which manner are you trying to maximize?

 

For myself i just started a new Blaster.   I am not rolling in Infamy but if i spend a week i can grab a billion. Not as much fun as rolling alts lol. I slapped a set of overwhelming force on the character for the set bonuses and as Energy he needs KB to KD which OF has. And 6 slotting the set?  4pts KB prot. To me this is almost free.  Since i chose the set for three other reasons. It has the KB—->KD proc. It has ranged defense. It is a solid set to enhance a power.  -KB prot too?  I hadnt even noticed when picking it (i normally run melee that dont need it so unfamiliar). So. Free. Free is good

Edited February 12, 2020 by Snarky

[siolfir]

16 hours ago, biostem said:

Aren't there -kb IOs that can be slotted into sprint?  It's only -4 mag protection, but that's still pretty good...

Sprint takes Run and Jump, but not Universal Travel (which is where the -KB is).

I might not be remembering this correctly but I think that it originally did when the Universal Travel sets were added but it was removed when Blessing of the Zephyr was added to beta because it was brought up that the vet reward sprints allowed people to slot a lot more KB protection than people who did not have them without any power selection cost. That it also prevented PvP builds from using the same trick was a side effect, but it was supposed to prevent the vet reward from being a large gameplay effect.

[Uun]

6 slotting Overwhelming Force Universal Damage set gets you -4 mag KB protection. Assuming you have an attack you want to 6 slot, you're not wasting a slot or power pick.

[Snarky]

Keep in mind (from what i understand you want 4 or 11 pts KB prot. 7 or 8 is basically 4. So is 10. 4 and 11 are the sweet spots.  GL

[macskull]

9 hours ago, Bentley Berkeley said:

lol hell no then all those prestige sprints would lead to breaking the game, someone a few months back was wanting that very thing to basically negate KB in pvp by being able to slot one in every prestige sprint variant.

 

I mean that is basic game balance 101 right there.

It wouldn't break the game at all, though, but that's not really the point.

 

More on-topic, short of teaming with a Kinetics character to give you Increase Density every 90 seconds (?) you could always use an empowerment station in your SG base for the knockback protection base buff but the drawback there is you have to renew it every hour or so. In reality the simplest solution is just to slot a knockback protection IO in any power that'll take it (I take Combat Jumping on every single one of my builds so it's pretty much a free slot for one). They're not expensive.

[Lazarus]

Just go to the Pay2Win vendor and get the DEFENSIVE AMPLIFYER,..it cost nothing but influence and give u mag4 protection to ALL cc in game.

no powers use or slots spent.,..it also has +5%DEF, +7.5% RES.,...so a pretty good deal.

[Mr. Vee]

I'd ditto the defensive amplifier and BotZ in your travel power but as far as resource efficient you can't really beat the mag 10 base buff for 2 common salvage. drawback is you have to go grab it again every hour.

[Riverdusk]

My new "most efficient" way typically is 3 slotting a gladiator's armor IO set into a resistance power (assuming you have one, but almost all my characters do).  It gives you the resistance enhancement you'd want anyway, and the 3 mag kb set bonus you get from it is basically "free".  Using a karma or steadfast or BoTZ to me usually ends up using an extra slot I'd rather use for something else in my builds.  Basically same idea as using overwhelming force, but you aren't forced to 6 slot a power to get it.

 

Gladiator armor IO's tend to be pretty pricey though, only drawback.

[Snarky]

Again mag 3 kb prot is not great. Mag 4. Good. Mag 5-10 is basically mag 4 mag 11 is better than 4

[Erydanus]

I disagree that there's any problem with 3. To me the most important thing is ONE point of knockback protection, because that is all that is necessary to cancel out knockdown. Knockdown is just knockback at less than 1 magnitude, most casual knockdown like punches and ice slicks and rifle shots are just 0.67 kb. Now, due to the purple patch and the possibility you get hit with a few things at once, I would prefer to have at least a few points. The 4 you get from Steadfast Protection, or Karma, or Blessing of the Zephyr is great. If I were to get just 3 points through a set bonus that I was using already, I would think that was quite good too. There are some powers that do incidental knockback in the range of 1.6-2.x but not a lot. Then the next typical value jumps very high to the 6-8 range. So, overall 1, 3, 4, it's all decent for a defender because the thing you are really most worried about is being interrupted by knockDown.  

[Snarky]

Interesting 

[Gorgar]

I just stick a Zephyr kb protection in my travel power and call it good.  I'm generally not doing anything else with the slot anyway.  Melee characters with kb protect in their armor sets usually get a stealth proc in the travel power instead.

[Pixie_Knight]

In the past, I'd found Super Jump>Acrobatics on it's own to be more then sufficient knockback/down protection. If something has a high enough mag to get through it, it has high enough mag that scrappers and tankers are probably gonna get knocked around too.

 

If you're a blaster with the Tactical Arrow secondary, your capstone is a toggle which helps against knockback too.

 

And if my character is going to be flying anyway, well, Hover might not completely prevent it but you'll recover fast enough that knockback/down isn't as big of an issue.

[Riverdusk]

3 hours ago, Gorgar said:

I just stick a Zephyr kb protection in my travel power and call it good.  I'm generally not doing anything else with the slot anyway.  Melee characters with kb protect in their armor sets usually get a stealth proc in the travel power instead.

For me, winter's gift slow resistance is my default in a travel power slot.  Especially if you stack that with a few other winter sets, you can get quite good slow/recharge resistance.  Slows can be absolute killers.

[Pixie_Knight]

6 minutes ago, Riverdusk said:

For me, winter's gift slow resistance is my default in a travel power slot.  Especially if you stack that with a few other winter sets, you can get quite good slow/recharge resistance.  Slows can be absolute killers.

 

True, I find -recharge to be a far more dangerous thing then knockback. If knocked backwards, I can get up and get back to attacking. If all my powers are on cooldown due to -recharge and will be for another 30 seconds at minimum? Yeah, that's bad.

[QuiJon]

On 2/11/2020 at 12:58 PM, EonRecoil said:

There are multiple ways I can spend resources to get KB protect on my defender.  Which is the most resource efficient option?  All the ways of getting KB protect require some combination of choices -- spending power choices (otherwise wanted elsewhere), spending slot choices (otherwise wanted elsewhere), spending influence, spending merits, spending enhancement converters (risky). 

 

Thanks.

The most efficient way is likely with the universal travel set Blessing of the Zypher (spelling>?). You can get 4 mag protection with 1 slot and put that slot on any travel power which you are likely taking anyway. So essentially it cost you one slot and no power choices. IMO mag 4 is enough for a support toon. However if you wanted more, and take any kind of resistance armor add one more extra slot and use steadfast protection unique. That gives you 8 mag between the two for the total investment of 2 slots. 

 

You can not get something for nothing. You are wanting to add in protection for something the AT doesn't allow protection for. It means taking either powers that provide the protection or allowing slots and the influence/merits to fill them with the needed IOs. It is like the way you are asking is that you are expecting a inherent power only for your own account that gives you exactly what you want. Its a game, you develop a character over time, it isn't all given to you, you might have to put in some time to earn it. And frankly 4-6 million perhaps on an expensive day on the AH for a knockback resistance IO is like maybe an hour or two worth of play time at level 50. Its 15 minutes worth of farm time. It is hardly a overtly difficult investment of time or resources. 

[siolfir]

4 hours ago, QuiJon said:

use steadfast protection unique

The Steadfast Protection unique is the +3% defense one; none of the KB protection IOs are unique. I usually just use an extra slot in Combat Jumping because I'm going to take it anyway (not just for the air control while jumping, it also provides immobilize protection allowing your squishies to get away from things chasing you!) and drop a Karma in there. If you're taking a travel power that's maxed on speed already, it makes more sense to use a Blessing of the Zephyr, but for me the 1 slot is worth it.

[QuiJon]

Ok so it is not unique I misspoke on that. But most toons, even squishie toons have some type of damage resistance power they will take in their epic pools at minimum if they don't take tough to begin with. Hell a kinetic controller can even use increase density and use the resistance steadfast protection IO. Point is that no matter if you do steadfast or blessing of Z. it is really one slot that in most builds can easily fit onto a power choice you are likely to be taking anyway. 

[SwitchFade]

Gah, you dudes are slipping. Here, since no one already did...

 

Stay in atlas, under the globe.

 

There, no knockback and zero cost!

 

*Bows*

 

Also, nerf Regen.

Edited February 18, 2020 by SwitchFade