How to fill the Psi Hole in almost all armor sets???

[FullEclipse]

So I am fighting end game and I'm getting ripped apart by arachnos. I think it has to be the Psi hole in my energy armor. Looking at all the brute armor sets it seems that they all lack psi defense/resistance, except for dark armor. How do you all fill the gapping psi hole in most of the sets???

[Shocktacular]

IO set bonuses and Impervious Skin and Aegis special +psi resist IOs.

Also, WP has psi resistance also.  I always enjoy getting on my elec/WP brute on a team that's fighting Carnies, hearing everyone moan and groan, and then smashing through the mobs like they're hardly even there.

Edited April 9, 2021 by Shocktacular

[Omega Force]

Dark, Elec, WP have psi resistance; Shield and SR have positional defenses.  Aegis and 5xImpervium Armor IOs can get your psi resist to 35.  Additionally, everyone gets ripped up by Arachnos, that's their thing.  If you post your build, we can give more specific advice.

[Parabola]

Arachnos are a difficult group. They do hefty psi, energy and even some chunks of toxic damage alongside the more normal types. This makes it hard for any one set to cover it all. They also do plenty of debuffs that one way or another can make like difficult.

 

Radiation armour is an option. You can plug psi with impervium armour and the aegis unique and the other hole (cold) can be ignored. Take focused accuracy to help out with debuffs and you should be in a decent spot to go arachnos hunting. They are never exactly fun to fight though!

[Sovera]

Play a tanker.

 

<_<

>_>

 

Okay, on a more serious answer, I play as a Fire Tanker and they don't bother me, and FA has no particular resistances to psi. That said it's big on the motto that dead things don't hurt back.

 

We might need to look at your build instead.

[Icono04]

The simplest way to mitigate psi/toxic damage is to make a habit of scouting the enemy group before attacking, and then selecting the psi- and toxic damage dealers as the first ones you kill. Similar to how you prioritize sappers when fighting Malta, or surgeons in Cimerora, etc. 

Yes, you can plug a psi or a toxic gap in your damage mitigation, and for a truly high-end build you will want to. But for most of us mere mortals, that kind of optimizing requires some tough choices in terms of what you have to sacrifices in your build to make room for the anti-psi/toxic IO's. Which means your character will be a bit less powerful all the times you fight non-Arachnos enemy groups. 

[FullEclipse]

This Villain build was built using Mids Reborn 3.0.4.7
https://github.com/Reborn-Team/MidsReborn

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Psi Brute: Level 50 Magic Brute
Primary Power Set: Psionic Melee
Secondary Power Set: Energy Aura
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Psi Blade

• (A) Superior Blistering Cold - Recharge/Chance for Hold
• (9) Superior Blistering Cold - Damage/Endurance/Accuracy/RechargeTime
• (15) Superior Blistering Cold - Accuracy/Damage
• (15) Superior Blistering Cold - Damage/Endurance
• (27) Superior Blistering Cold - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
  

Level 1: Kinetic Shield

• (A) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All)
• (3) Shield Wall - Defense
• (3) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance
• (5) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 2: Dampening Field

• (A) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All)
• (5) Gladiator's Armor - Resistance
• (7) Gladiator's Armor - End/Resist
• (7) Gladiator's Armor - Resistance/Rech/End
  

Level 4: Telekinetic Blow

• (A) Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal)
• (29) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (29) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage
• (36) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance
• (37) Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge
  

Level 6: Teleport

• (A) Endurance Reduction IO
  

Level 8: Combat Jumping

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• (9) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
• (48) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
• (48) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 10: Power Shield

• (A) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage
• (11) Reactive Defenses - Defense
• (11) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance
• (13) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance/RechargeTime
  

Level 12: Entropic Aura

• (A) Endurance Reduction IO
• (13) Empty
  

Level 14: Concentration

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
  

Level 16: Psi Blade Sweep

• (A) Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage
• (17) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance
• (17) Armageddon - Damage
• (19) Armageddon - Damage/Recharge
• (19) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (21) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge
  

Level 18: Boggle

• (A) Coercive Persuasion  - Contagious Confusion
• (50) Coercive Persuasion  - Confused/Endurance
• (50) Coercive Persuasion  - Confused
• (50) Coercive Persuasion  - Accuracy/Confused/Recharge
  

Level 20: Energy Protection

• (A) Impervium Armor - Psionic Resistance
• (21) Aegis - Psionic/Status Resistance
• (23) Aegis - Resistance
• (23) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance
  

Level 22: Energy Cloak

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• (25) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
• (25) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
• (37) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 24: Boxing

• (A) Empty
  

Level 26: Tough

• (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
• (27) Endurance Reduction IO
  

Level 28: Energy Drain

• (A) Endurance Modification IO
• (37) Endurance Modification IO
• (40) Endurance Modification IO
  

Level 30: Greater Psi Blade

• (A) Hecatomb - Chance of Damage(Negative)
• (31) Hecatomb - Damage/Endurance
• (31) Hecatomb - Damage
• (31) Hecatomb - Damage/Recharge
• (34) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (34) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Recharge
  

Level 32: Mass Levitate

• (A) Superior Unrelenting Fury - RechargeTime/+Regen/+End
• (33) Superior Unrelenting Fury - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime
• (33) Superior Unrelenting Fury - Accuracy/Damage
• (33) Superior Unrelenting Fury - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime
• (34) Superior Unrelenting Fury - Damage/RechargeTime
• (46) Superior Unrelenting Fury - Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime
  

Level 35: Energize

• (A) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
• (36) Numina's Convalesence - Heal
• (36) Numina's Convalesence - Heal/Endurance
• (45) Numina's Convalesence - Endurance/Recharge
• (45) Numina's Convalesence - Heal/Recharge
• (46) Numina's Convalesence - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 38: Electrifying Fences

• (A) Superior Frozen Blast - Recharge/Chance for Immobilize
• (39) Superior Frozen Blast - Damage/Endurance/Accuracy/RechargeTime
• (39) Superior Frozen Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (39) Superior Frozen Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (40) Superior Frozen Blast - Damage/Endurance
• (40) Superior Frozen Blast - Accuracy/Damage
  

Level 41: Ball Lightning

• (A) Annihilation - Chance for Res Debuff
• (42) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime
• (42) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (42) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime
• (43) Annihilation - Damage/RechargeTime
• (43) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage
  

Level 44: Weave

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• (45) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
  

Level 47: Maneuvers

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• (48) Endurance Reduction IO
  

Level 49: Assault

• (A) Endurance Reduction IO
  

Level 1: Fury 

Level 1: Brawl

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Edited April 10, 2021 by FullEclipse

[Omega Force]

Can't open it.  Please post the data chunk.

[MTeague]

First, I decide HOW to live through incoming Psi attacks.

 

Option #1:  rely on positional defenses  (ranged,melee,AoE).  

     - some attacks have no position at all, but MOST things that lack positional tags are CC effects, not damage.

     - there are a FEW damaging Psi attacks that have no position at all but those are Extremely Rare. 

 

 Option #2:  If character is a Typed Defense character, you can *try* to build up Psi Defense    

    - This is a lot harder than it sounds.. Very few set bonuses include dedicated Psi Defense at all. 

    - https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Set_Bonus_Comparison_Tables

    - This probably isn't practical outside of Willpower or something that starts with a big chunk of Psi Defense.

Psionic Defense

Bonus	Slots	Set Name	Levels	CollapseSet Type
1.875%	3	Impervium Armor	15-40	Resist Damage
1.875%	6	Miracle	20-40	Healing
1.875%	6	Rope A Dope	20-50	Stuns
3.125%	6	Scirocco's Dervish	20-50	PBAoE Damage
3.75%	6	Devastation	30-50	Ranged Damage
5%	6	Apocalypse	50	Ranged Damage
5%	6	Soulbound Allegiance	50	Pet Damage

 

Option #3:   Stack lots of Psi Resistance

   - vastly more options to stack it

   - but typically does require an "all in" approach

   - five copies of Imperivium Armor +Psi Resist, the Aegis unique, 4 piece Gladiator's Armor, etc. 

   - you may decide building up too much of it from set bonuses is simply not worth the hassle / opportunity cost of what you could have slotted instead.

 

That said, for things like Leagues / iTrials / etc, you're generally not on your own.  And if a few Support characters have your back, you may be getting healed up as fast as teh damage is coming in, or get some good buffs to save your hide / strong debuffs  to make the Psi Attackers weaker/miss more, or your Friendly Neighborhood Controllers can lock them down while you paste them. 

[Omega Force]

We've been discussing build-level solutions, but there's also inspirations.  They drop like candy, so don't be shy about using them.

[Gulbasaur]

11 hours ago, MTeague said:

     - there are a FEW damaging Psi attacks that have no position at all but those are Extremely Rare. 

For reference, it's the ones from mind control (thin white rings effect) or illusion control (sparkly flash effect). Purple psi blasts follow positional defence rules.

 

I'd echo Omega Force's advice, though: purple and orange inspirations cover a multitude of sins. You can also get your psi resistance up pretty high with a few special IOs if you want to be proactive rather than reactive, though.

[Crysis]

I find with Arachnos the trick is engagement play style.  Ironically, while I’m not in favor of herding tactics, it works -exceedingly- well for Arachnos since the majority of their nasty stuff is delivered from range.  Jump in, grab aggro, duck behind something and let them come to you, having team lie in wait until they are bunched up.  This seems to work far better than chasing Psi resist/def bonuses.  And, as stated, inspirations or temp powers when needed.  But once I started herding Arachnos, they ceased to be an issue for me.

[Omega Force]

My Energize is 7 seconds slower, FC defense is 4% lower, confusion is half as long, and regeneration is 24% lower. In exchange SLEP defense is a little higher, and SLTP resistance is 10-20% higher.  Lower end drain and higher recovery.

 

While it is a marginal improvement, I'd feel better if you gave it a whirl on the test server first.  You might not find the sacrifices worthwhile.

This Villain build was built using Mids Reborn 3.0.4.7
https://github.com/Reborn-Team/MidsReborn

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Psi Brute: Level 50 Magic Brute
Primary Power Set: Psionic Melee
Secondary Power Set: Energy Aura
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Psi Blade -- SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(3), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(3), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(5), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5)
Level 1: Kinetic Shield -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg(7), LucoftheG-EndRdx/Rchg(7), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(9), LucoftheG-Def(9), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(11)
Level 2: Dampening Field -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), GldArm-ResDam(11), GldArm-End/Res(13), GldArm-RechRes(13), ImpArm-ResPsi(15)
Level 4: Telekinetic Blow -- Mk'Bit-Dam%(A), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg(19), Mk'Bit-Dmg/EndRdx(19), Mk'Bit-Dmg/Rchg(21), Mk'Bit-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(21)
Level 6: Teleport -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 8: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 10: Power Shield -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg(23), LucoftheG-EndRdx/Rchg(23), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(25), LucoftheG-Def(25), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(27)
Level 12: Entropic Aura -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 14: Concentration -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 16: Psi Blade Sweep -- Arm-Dam%(A), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(27), Arm-Dmg(29), Arm-Dmg/Rchg(29), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), Arm-Acc/Rchg(31)
Level 18: Boggle -- CrcPrs-Conf%(A), CrcPrs-Acc/Conf/Rchg(31)
Level 20: Energy Protection -- ImpArm-ResPsi(A), Ags-Psi/Status(33), Ags-ResDam(33), Ags-ResDam/EndRdx(33), Ags-ResDam/Rchg(34)
Level 22: Energy Cloak -- ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(A), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(34), ShlWal-Def(34), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(36)
Level 24: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 26: Tough -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(36), ImpArm-ResDam(36), ImpArm-ResPsi(37)
Level 28: Energy Drain -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(37)
Level 30: Greater Psi Blade -- Hct-Dam%(A), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(37), Hct-Dmg(39), Hct-Dmg/Rchg(39), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Hct-Acc/Rchg(40)
Level 32: Mass Levitate -- SprUnrFur-Rchg/+Regen/+End(A), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg(40), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), SprUnrFur-Dmg/Rchg(42), SprUnrFur-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42)
Level 35: Energize -- Prv-Heal/Rchg(A), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(43)
Level 38: Electrifying Fences -- SprFrzBls-Rchg/ImmobProc(A), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(43), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx(45), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg(45)
Level 41: Ball Lightning -- Ann-ResDeb%(A), Ann-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(45), Ann-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46), Ann-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), Ann-Dmg/Rchg(46), Ann-Acc/Dmg(48)
Level 44: Weave -- Rct-Def(A), Rct-Def/EndRdx(48), Rct-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(48), Rct-ResDam%(50)
Level 47: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), RedFrt-Def(50), RedFrt-EndRdx(50)
Level 49: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Fury 
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrc-Rcvry+(15)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), EndMod-I(17)
------------

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[DreadShinobi]

This is one reason i feel energy aura is better as a scrapper/stalker set, as its particular defense numbers and easy softcap allow it to be built very offensively. Brutes tend to do better with resistance based armor sets. Outside of using rune of protection, i dont find plugging EA's psi hole to be worth slot investment. Shield wall and reactive defense global resistance uniques help, as do preemptive popping of orange and purple insps that are on hand. Healing and regeneration from energize help alot with psi damage mitigation. With energy aura I really recommend just playing to the set strengths rather than trying to build as a generalist tank that can handle the more exotic damage types. Mitigating alpha strikes with knockdowns is also helpful.

 

As others mentioned, elec and dark armor are superb at handling enemy factions that other armor sets can struggle with like malta, carnies, arachnos, and rularuu.

[SaintD]

Arachnos is a target prioritization issue, exactly the same as Malta.

The problem mobs die first. Malta? Target the Sapper, kill it first. Arachnos? Target the Fortunata or whatever, kill it first.

I find Arachnos the hardest when I've finished an AE powerlevel to 22 and go to Faultline, because it can sometimes take too long to slaughter the single problem unit. Especially Night Widows. They're just OP. Utterly, laughably bad game design. But Arachnos get easier as my levels go up because my capacity to jump into a group and just instantly scrub out any one or two targets immediately with my alpha spam is way higher, leaving me with only a bunch of smash/lethal/energy goons who can't hurt me.

I find the absolute biggest problem I have with Arachnos apart from Night Widows, who are utter bullshit and made by an idiot, is the big disruptor boss robots. End drain is just so annoying.

Incidentally, there's one, singular solution to Arachnos if you really hate Arachnos. /Elec. End of. It's tailor made to no-sell Arachnos. It hits the energy cap like a horny rhino. It resists Psionic at the same level it resists literally everything else. Trying to drain its endurance is futile. On a Brute and Scrapper it'll let you bowl through Arachnos like they're any other faction. On a Tanker you can pick Arachnos preferentially for your missions because they're nothing.