Incarnate Alpha choice

[Hyardgune]

My rad/rad just hit 50, and I'm looking at the Incarnate stuff. My defense is underwhelming. It is basically just Weave and Combat Jumping. Resistance is obviously much better and improving as I switch from generic IOs to invention sets. Should I just double down on resistance and use the Incarnate abilities to boost that as high as I can, or should I go for additional defense?

[Rylas]

I'm gonna color outside the lines a little and so do... neither.

 

Since you're playing Rad/Rad you could try boosting your survival by boosting your damage potential. Bear with me.

 

With IOs, layer your damage mitigation with some defense. Sure, you could try to max out Resistance, but doing so with IOs can get complicated. There's way more defense bonuses to be found, and layered mitigation > than just specialized mitigation. So if you can do that, you already buy yourself more time in survival. Then slot the Musculature Core Paragon Alpha, which not only will give you an extra ~30% in damage enhancement (assuming your attacks are approaching diminishing returns at this point), but will also boost the defense debuff in your attacks and armor. You'll start melting away foes even faster than you were before.

 

I've been using that in my Rad/ Brute, and the difference is pretty noticeable. I also use the Reactive Interface for -Res in my attacks as well. But you could use the Diamagnetic Interface ability for -To Hit debuffs to take your newly added defense bonuses further, and also get some -Regen debuffs which could help in AV fights.

 

Or do both Interface abilities and swap out as needed.

[Gigajoule]

Defense works better the more of it you have. With just Weave and CJ, you have such a low base that a couple of extra percentage points won't make a lot of difference, and a couple of percentage points is probably all you'd get even from the top-tier Agility Alpha. Not really worth it, IMO.

 

Now, if your planned set IOs bonuses would put you at, like, 35% Defense to everything, then even just a couple extra percentage points on top of that would be huge. (So far as I know, the Alpha doesn't affect set bonuses per se, but set bonuses are still part of the overall picture because the value of a percentage point of Defense goes up the closer you get to the Defense soft-cap.)

 

Regarding Resistance, that will probably work better for you than Defense, but if you are at or near the cap for S/L Resistance, or plan to be, strongly consider going with Damage instead (i.e. the Musculature line).

[Hyardgune]

Thanks, that's very helpful!

[wheresmycow]

In the build I've designed for my WP/Titan Tanker, his lowest defense is a 34 in Psionic.  I was thinking of taking Vigor as my alpha since Titan is an End hog and the healing bonus plays well into WP's regen and health powers.  The accuracy is a nice bonus.

 

Is that a good idea?  I've heard recommendations for Spiritual or Resilient but neither have End reduction.  Should I just not worry about it?

[Rylas]

In the build I've designed for my WP/Titan Tanker, his lowest defense is a 34 in Psionic.  I was thinking of taking Vigor as my alpha since Titan is an End hog and the healing bonus plays well into WP's regen and health powers.  The accuracy is a nice bonus.

 

Is that a good idea?  I've heard recommendations for Spiritual or Resilient but neither have End reduction.  Should I just not worry about it?

 

If endurance has been your biggest issue, then I think you're making the right call with Vigor. Resilient would only benefit your resistance powers and nothing else. Spiritual's recharge would just make end worse. Vigor ends up providing three benefits, 2 of which (acc and end) will both help endurance issues (you don't have to keep swinging more endurance away if you don't miss as often).

[wheresmycow]

If endurance has been your biggest issue, then I think you're making the right call with Vigor. Resilient would only benefit your resistance powers and nothing else. Spiritual's recharge would just make end worse. Vigor ends up providing three benefits, 2 of which (acc and end) will both help endurance issues (you don't have to keep swinging more endurance away if you don't miss as often).

Cool, I'm glad I'm on the right track.  Thanks for the answer!

 

Further down the line, I'm looking to go for Melee in the Hybrid slot, but I'm debating between Core or Radial.  Core loads things up front and gives resistance, but Radial gives defense and a taunt aura.  Is it a matter of preference in the end?

[Rylas]

Cool, I'm glad I'm on the right track.  Thanks for the answer!

 

Further down the line, I'm looking to go for Melee in the Hybrid slot, but I'm debating between Core or Radial.  Core loads things up front and gives resistance, but Radial gives defense and a taunt aura.  Is it a matter of preference in the end?

 

If it was me, I'd wait and see how things feel after you slot in your Alpha and even your Interface. Melee looks pretty generous if I'm reading the Paragon WIki page right. But if you're not hurting on survival at this point, you might consider Assault's Radial branch. Top tier would give a high chance of adding some serious Energy damage to your attacks.

 

Something to consider.

[jack_nomind]

I'm too indecisive, so I often go with Support Radial.  The endurance discount is handy and that 8% def/all is usually enough to get my build where I want it -- and shoring up your allies' builds is never bad.

 

Assault Radial can be a real good time when you're teamed.  Putting Melee Hybrid on a tanker feels a bit like something went wrong at the build stage, but I can see how it would make sense for your Rad/ (or FA/).  If you do get it, you want the Core version.  Radial would be in all ways better except that it relies on having ten dudes in melee range to achieve its best numbers, and the time you're most going to need 120s of super-tanking is during AV fights.  Your allies are unlikely to be considerate enough to leave mooks alive and not knocked back (many of them probably won't be able to maintain DPS with a purely ST attack chain on the AV even if they wanted to). 

[wheresmycow]

Well, given that I plan on going for Barrier in my destiny slot, it does look like overkill to go for Melee at the same time.  Assault and Support look pretty good, my build could use more damage or endurance discounts.

[Heraclea]

For Heraclea I went Musculature for the Alpha - more damage is always welcome, especially since most of her attacks are single target - and Melee Hybrid, because it looked like it would stack neatly with Invincibility, and add to my core functionality. 

[marcussmythe]

Well, given that I plan on going for Barrier in my destiny slot, it does look like overkill to go for Melee at the same time.  Assault and Support look pretty good, my build could use more damage or endurance discounts.

 

One fun aspect of having both Support and Barrier is that it gives you two, alternating, 'Im harder to kill and so is my team' buttons.  When Barrier wears off, hit Support...