Defense or Resistance, which should I be chasing?

[Drop Zone]

I'm working on a respec for my Dual Pistols / Martial Combat blaster. I tend to use Burst of Speed into Dragon's Tail and / or Hail of Bullets pretty frequently, if that's relevant.

 

I'm fairly tied to the Teleport pool on this one as it's part of the core concept, same with Super Speed. I'd like to do mainly TF's with him, though solo stuff is a nice way to relax as well so I won't be pushing any +4/x8's there.

 

I'm curious what people think - should I be chasing Defense, Resistance, or trying to find a balance point in between. And if so, what does that balance point look like?

 

Right now with my Defense spec I can hit:

 

or with a Resistance focus I can get to:

 

 

 

At this point I just really can't tell which is going to be a stronger performer.

[Adelore]

Hello Drop,

 

Survivability colored by what you want to do with the character. Generally in order to not just explode you want 45% s/l and respectable other defenses resistance is good but it doesn't start hitting a really good feedback loop until you start adding more past 50% (as long as you have the hp to survive the occasional hit that makes it through your def). You can arguably get that with the most any build with enough team support in task forces but from my gameplay I like to plan for no support and treat any i get as a bonus.

 

I have 3 scenarios to recommend you look at for planning your respec to improve survivability:

 

1) Invest 1 point into Mace Mastery for scorp shield and do what you can to cap s/l def at 45% and grab whatever e/n/r def you can.  

2) Invest 3 Points into Cold Mastery for Frozen Armor and Hoarfrost. this will also get you to cap s/l def and a fair bit of e/n/r def but now you are at blaster hp cap and have a strong emergency heal. 

3) Invest 3 Points into Flame Mastery for Bonfire / Fire Shield / Rise of the Phoenix. Fire Shield will get you nice resistances as you see above but you are going to take 3x-5x more hits if you let the npcs try to hit you. With knockback to knockdown slotted bonfire is a fantastic cc and rise of the phoenix gets you a once every 1.5 - 2 min "Nope i definitely did not mess up and die nothing to see here"

 

For all of these rng can still say you die now but thats the lot of most characters without specifically designing for the highest level of immortality

 

Otherwise, if you can live without ageless incarnate (in my opinion everyone can) using barrier on cd gets you 6% def and resist all at all times and a big spike of survivability to take a big alpha when solo

[Arbegla]

10 hours ago, Drop Zone said:

At this point I just really can't tell which is going to be a stronger performer.

 

Looking over those stats, I see a bit more then just a straght defense vs resistance argument. Your Defense 'build' has more Regeneration, and more Recharge. With your /MC secondary, you already have some +absorb, and additional regen helps a lot when you have an absorb shield to soak your damage. You will also have your heal recharge faster with your defense build.

 

My personal preference is layered mitigation, which it looks like your defense build has more of then your resistance build. For more blasters, especially ones that like to live in Melee, S/L defense is your best bet, so I would stick with that, and then focus on other mitigation tools, heals, regen, absorb, etc. That way when the hits do land, and they will, you can bounce back quickly. As long as you're not 1 or 2 shot, you should be fine.

[Chelsea Rorec]

A lot of sets have ranged def and S/L resists.

But none have S/L Def and S/L resists.

So on a lot of my builds i focus on ranged def with a resist epic and tough/weave and stack the set bonuses for ranged def and S/L resist.

[DrInfernus]

Personally, I go with ranged defence primarily on my blasters. There are two real reasons for that: 

 

1) My playstyle is to stay at range as much as possible 

2) The vast majority of mez powers are ranged and need to hit you, so ranged defence cap means only 5% of them will. It’s a good way to plug the mez hole. 
 

However, it’s pretty much impossible to be a DP/Martial ranged blaster, so on that build I’d go Mace Mastery and try to get S/L/E/R defence cap. Don’t think I’d worry about resistance too much. 

[Hyperstrike]

Generally, higher Defense is preferable in an either/or scenario.
Blasters simply don't have the HP pool to make the mediocre Resist numbers they can build a viable mitigation strategy.
IDEALLY, you want to get your Defenses as close to SoftCap as possible.
And then, if you can, see about buffing your Resist numbers to "catch" anything that makes it through your Defense.
And while you're juggling all that, give yourself Phenomenal Damage Output.
All while standing on your head, walking, breathing, and chewing bubblegum while counting to Infinity by prime numbers only and passing gas to the tune of "Flight of the Bumblebee".

[Grindingsucks]

It's easiest to just chase defense softcap for ranged.  Personally, I think you've got a good set of stats going in either example, but I don't feel the difficulty of the game requires the same level of overtuning that most players feell is necessary for "strong performance".

 

Would you like your character to almost never get hurt and to steamroll all content with very little effort or concern?  Then, no- those two builds will not get the job done.  But if you're looking for any kind of play experience more challenging/less boring that that, you'll probably do fine.*

 

*Unless you primarily PVP.  That is an entirely different kettle of fish and I know exactly nothing about it.

[arcane]

Note that soft caps are good, even very very good, but anyone implying they are anywhere close to necessary is just engaging in hyperbole. Characters are plenty playable in the endgame with very little defense if you simply know what you’re doing. Don’t be afraid to experiment outside of the forum powergamer meta.

[Hyperstrike]

15 hours ago, arcane said:

Note that soft caps are good, even very very good, but anyone implying they are anywhere close to necessary is just engaging in hyperbole. Characters are plenty playable in the endgame with very little defense if you simply know what you’re doing. Don’t be afraid to experiment outside of the forum powergamer meta.

BLATHPHEMER!

[DrInfernus]

On 4/26/2021 at 7:26 PM, arcane said:

Note that soft caps are good, even very very good, but anyone implying they are anywhere close to necessary is just engaging in hyperbole. Characters are plenty playable in the endgame with very little defense if you simply know what you’re doing. Don’t be afraid to experiment outside of the forum powergamer meta.

Agree with this entirely. Spend too much time on the forums and they’ll have you believing a character who can’t solo +4/x8 content and solo all the TFs is weak and unplayable. 
 

We used to play this game without IOs at all and it was just as brilliant then, if not more so as teams and teamwork meant more, achievements were shared, and friendships were borne of appreciation of quality play - not quality builds. 
 

Rely on yourself rather than your build and you’ll always be ok. Blasting without a tank/brute? Cut down on your AoE use. Fighting mobs who use a lot of AoE attacks? Keep your distance from the tank. Ranged player but teaming with a kin? Get in the mob instead for FS. Got one-on-one boss aggro? Stay on the move as much as you can - and so on. 
 

Great builds will always be an aide to great players. They never make great players. 

Edited April 27, 2021 by DrInfernus

[DrInfernus]

1 minute ago, DrInfernus said:

(Duplicate post) 

Edited April 27, 2021 by DrInfernus

[Shred Monkey]

On 4/26/2021 at 1:26 PM, arcane said:

Note that soft caps are good, even very very good, but anyone implying they are anywhere close to necessary is just engaging in hyperbole. Characters are plenty playable in the endgame with very little defense if you simply know what you’re doing. Don’t be afraid to experiment outside of the forum powergamer meta.

 

I don't disagree with posts like this.  However, the OP posted the question because they wanted an answer to the question.  They've already gone through the philosophical discourse in their head about the value of this question, and they determined that the question, at least to them, does have value.  And therefore posted it here.

 

My answer to the OP is Defense to 45% and then resists.   More specifically, I usually run 45% smash/lethal and ranged.  If I have room, I slot out tough with resist and endurance... if not, then it remains just a set mule for the +3 def mods.

 

 

 

 

[arcane]

16 minutes ago, Shred Monkey said:

 

I don't disagree with posts like this.  However, the OP posted the question because they wanted an answer to the question.  They've already gone through the philosophical discourse in their head about the value of this question, and they determined that the question, at least to them, does have value.  And therefore posted it here.

 

My answer to the OP is Defense to 45% and then resists.   More specifically, I usually run 45% smash/lethal and ranged.  If I have room, I slot out tough with resist and endurance... if not, then it remains just a set mule for the +3 def mods.

 

 

 

 

My post was specifically a reaction to the line “...in order to not just explode you want 45% s/l...”.
 

Recommend it, sure, but don’t get people thinking they can’t handle the game without it - because frankly that thinking will make them bad players.

[Nemu]

Depends on how aggressive you are and the difficulty and mobs you go up against.

 

If you are the type to sit back, wait for tank to get aggro and hover blast then no, you don't need defenses at all.

 

If you are fighting even con lol council then no, you don't need softcap.

 

But if you are fighting +4/8 pre incarnate malta/arachnos and you the melee blaster is taking point and carrying the team? Yeah softcap helps a lot.

[Hew]

Defense stops you from getting mez'd, cause if they cant hit you they cant mez you. A layered defense (as a whole, not specific) is generally stronger, but a mez'd blaster is pretty toasty, and defense proper is what stops that.

[Psede]

It's possible to get high defense and some resists, which is what I shoot for on my fire/temp. Stats for a fully IO setted out bells n whistles blaster with clarion and musculature + accolades (regen is low but has an absorb shield):

Edited April 29, 2021 by Psede

[Krazie Ivan]

On 4/27/2021 at 4:01 PM, DrInfernus said:

We used to play this game without IOs at all and it was just as brilliant then, if not more so as teams and teamwork meant more, achievements were shared, and friendships were borne of appreciation of quality play - not quality builds.  ...  Great builds will always be an aide to great players. They never make great players. 

there are also groups of "great players" who fall into the "great builder" category, & have made long lasting friendships through the same teamwork & comradery... they just tend to use build & game mechanics knowledge to play together differently than the avg player. even in the days of SOs, there were builds & game knowledge & playstyles that drew these people together (for example: use Wayback to find the "Nerf these people nao" thread ...most of them are still close friends). it's not "more so" or any less, it's just a different type of the same sentiment you mentioned.

completely agree that you can't just hand a player the best build & expect they'll be a great player due to it. i've preached about learning the "why's" in the build forums forever. 🙂
 

[Chelsea Rorec]

This is my Elec/Elec Blapper with only tough/weave and epic shield.

All that def is from sets (Weave/combat jumping also) and the resists are from tough and the epic shield charged armour.

It is an easy thing to do as the sets with range mostly have S/L resists also.

Mako's bite and Executioner's contract for example.

So no incarnate powers are used and this def/res is all the time and you don't nerf your build trying to chase it and you don't have any down time.

She tanks better than some tanks 😛

 

Edited May 1, 2021 by Chelsea Rorec

[DrInfernus]

3 hours ago, Krazie Ivan said:

there are also groups of "great players" who fall into the "great builder" category, & have made long lasting friendships through the same teamwork & comradery... they just tend to use build & game mechanics knowledge to play together differently than the avg player. even in the days of SOs, there were builds & game knowledge & playstyles that drew these people together (for example: use Wayback to find the "Nerf these people nao" thread ...most of them are still close friends). it's not "more so" or any less, it's just a different type of the same sentiment you mentioned.

completely agree that you can't just hand a player the best build & expect they'll be a great player due to it. i've preached about learning the "why's" in the build forums forever. 🙂
 

Oh absolutely. A great player is a great player with or without a great build. It’s just another arrow in their quiver. 
 

And someone who isn’t a great player before a great build won’t be one after either. They’re just borrowing someone else’s quiver. 
 

Ultimately, absolutely no substitute for playing a specific character extensively, builds included. 

[oedipus_tex]

IMO you want to build based on context and not just based on what numbers in Mids say. The context of a City of Heroes Blaster is you are likely able to produce good inspiration churn in most situations. That is the goal of most mow-down builds, to become inspiration processing machines.

 

Since Purple inspirations provide a lot of +Defense (12.5%), and we can assume a lot of inspirations are passing through your tray, you can estimate that even a character who isn't softcapped from IOs is soft capped some percent of the time. If you build for around 32.5% Defense, one small purple will cap you. I estimate this makes that character soft capped about 40% of the time although obviously this varies depending on what you decide to fight. If you also have sources of -ToHit somewhere or rotational defense you can stretch this further.

 

On the other hand if your goal is difficult enemies like Archvillains in prolonged fights, you'll want to think about the context of that. If you are the sort of person who arrives at the AV fight with a prepared tray you're probably thinking differently than the person who wants to be soft capped should they accidentally stumble on an AV. Neither of these approaches is technically wrong.

 

When it comes to Resistance, my usual philosophy is to get as much S/L resist is as feasible. If Energy resist is available that is also often useful. Resistance for squishy characters is difficult to cover all the bases. 

 

Personally the final mix I go for on most squishy characters is 32.5%-ish Ranged Defense, some amount of S/L Defense, then as much S/L Resist as possible. Energy Resist is useful if it is available, and Fire Resist may be useful if you specifically want to Fire Farm, but neither is something I'd chase with bonuses unless the context of a farm called for it.

Edited May 1, 2021 by oedipus_tex