Any advice on doing a support no damage challenge defender build?

[FrogTheToad]

I've been looking around for what would be the best defender power set to use for this challenge, but I'm having trouble deciding what would be the most optimal powerset. I understand that Empathy seems be really good for healing, but buffs/debuffs are just more desired over pure healing. So I'm looking for powerset that still heals quite a bit but it's main focus is buffs/debuffs that don't do damage.

[BZRKR]

Have a look at Nature

[paco6381]

A Defender's entire secondary is devoted to damage...  If you're just looking for a (no damage) support toon, a better option might be controllers.

 

For example, a primary of Elec, Ice, or Earth with a secondary of Nature, Empathy, Pain, TA, Elec, Thermal or Time.

[FrogTheToad]

1 minute ago, paco6381 said:

A Defender's entire secondary is devoted to damage...  If you're just looking for a (no damage) support toon, a better option might be controllers.

 

For example, a primary of Elec, Ice, or Earth with a secondary of Nature, Empathy, Pain, TA, Elec, Thermal or Time.

But I've heard that defenders have the best "scalers" for support powersets. Which I don't really know what that even means, but I assume makes them the best support archetype.

[paco6381]

This is true.  Defenders get higher modifiers on all their debuffs.  However, with the constraint being "no damage", you're essentially throwing your entire secondary out the window.  Whereas, Elec/Earth/Ice controllers already do a very small (with a fair number of them doing zero) amount of damage through their primary set.  Just personally, I would find a defender that doesn't do any damage incredibly boring.

 

Defenders get about 15% extra strength on their buffs/debuffs/heals. IMO, it's not enough to throw away your entire secondary.  You do you, though.  🙂

[Psyonico]

I cry whenever I see a pure support character.

 

That being said, go controller not defender.  You'll still do damage, but you will be supporting your team with both your primary and your secondary, as opposed to defenders who just support with their primary.  Go something like Earth or Ice if you want to do less damage.

 

As for Scalers, that refers to the modifier that is placed on various effects (damage, (de)buffs, heals, controls, etc.)  We'll take a simple example of Empathy's heals.

 

Power	Defender	Controller
Healing Aura	133.9	117.8
Heal Other	262.4	230.9
Absorb Pain	669.3	589

 

These are unslotted values for the first 3 powers in Empathy.  As you can see, Defenders are higher, but controllers are still useful.

[Dahkness]

I’m working on one right now. I’m going with EA and I might go with beam and just pick up the -regen power. EA seems to be the most clicky. Feel free to check out my recent post!  
 

I have a few idea for this play style! I’d definitely go with a set that offers you Resistance and pick up scorpions shield at lvl 35 and maybe pick up tough early to stack with those extra resistances. 

[Psyonico]

I should mention I have a (somewhat stalled) character that the idea was "I can pull a pug of 8 through most things" (so somewhat similar concept) that is Earth/Thermal.  

 

I went thermal because it has

-Resist Shields

-Heals

-A Rez

-Decent Debuffs

[Dahkness]

22 minutes ago, Psyonico said:

I cry whenever I see a pure support character.

 

That being said, go controller not defender.  You'll still do damage, but you will be supporting your team with both your primary and your secondary, as opposed to defenders who just support with their primary.  Go something like Earth or Ice if you want to do less damage.

 

As for Scalers, that refers to the modifier that is placed on various effects (damage, (de)buffs, heals, controls, etc.)  We'll take a simple example of Empathy's heals.

 

Power	Defender	Controller
Healing Aura	133.9	117.8
Heal Other	262.4	230.9
Absorb Pain	669.3	589

 

These are unslotted values for the first 3 powers in Empathy.  As you can see, Defenders are higher, but controllers are still useful.

I personally think the RES and DEF numbers are what should be focused on when wanting to choose a defender for the higher % buffs.

[SmalltalkJava]

Nature would do well.    It has a cone heal, and tons of utility -to hit, -regen, + damage,. Ground target minor heal patch that you can put panacea proc in.     It also acts as a pocket controller with entangling aura.

[kikyoku]

If you want pure Support, controller is better (skip the pets).

 

That said:

• Thermal has a good balance of passive and active abilities, and can contribute in basically every situation.
• People complain about emp because they want you to spend more time attacking. Since you aren't attacking anyway, it's actually one of the best sets if you are focused on it 100%. You can keep the whole team on CM, and ~2 people on fortitude, which everyone loves. If you react fast enough, healing is more productive that def and res boosts since there are no holes in it.
• Kin is super active, and your whole team will be too tweaked out to complain about you not attacking. Plus, the damage boosts will more than make up for your lack of contribution to dps. It offers some res, but is pretty lacking defensively. You'll definitely want the medicine tree, especially the rez.
• Dark give you a wide variety of buffs/debuffs/healing, and even a pet that helps do support stuff. You'll want to focus recharge And accuracy in sets though.
• Elec is also a fun one, does almost everything, and requires constant input to buff itself up.
• Skip Sonic and FF, you will basically be afk. They are both soft control, so go controller if you want that.

Edited June 5, 2021 by kikyoku

[oedipus_tex]

I'm going to echo that Controller is probably a better fit for this challenge than Defender, unless Defender specifically is part of the challenge. 

 

Based on your criteria, I'm going to suggest an Elec/Elec/Elec Controller build, built to maximize endurance sapping. The enemies will do a little damage to each other because of your confuse, but you'll drain them and stop that pretty quick. Most powers otherwise don't do damage, including your endurance sapping aura.

 

I'd personally break the rules just a little and allow yourself to use the AoE Immobilize. It does some damage, but not a lot. It's mainly a tool to use for sapping endurance. 

 

You can take or skip the Gremlin pets depending on how literal you want to be about your challenge.

 

 

A close relative would be something like Elec/Nature/Primal, which isn't quite as strong a sapper but still has a lot of synergy, few attacks, and almost all the power benefit from Power Boost in some way. Getting detoggled can be frustrating though, which is why Elec/Elec stood out to me initially.

Edited June 11, 2021 by oedipus_tex

[Dahkness]

Time/?/Soul

 

PowerBoost + Farsight (you can stack clarion for double power boos farsight) 

 

Sorcery to boost your resistance. 

those things can really make a team walk through any kind of fire 

 

 

[Marshal_General]

On 6/4/2021 at 1:07 PM, Dahkness said:

I’m working on one right now. I’m going with EA and I might go with beam and just pick up the -regen power. EA seems to be the most clicky. Feel free to check out my recent post!  
 

I have a few idea for this play style! I’d definitely go with a set that offers you Resistance and pick up scorpions shield at lvl 35 and maybe pick up tough early to stack with those extra resistances. 

If you are going with EA, then I would suggest electricity as yor secondary since it would help EA in draining a mobs blue bar. With my defender, I have beat EBs since they didn't have enough juice to fight back.

[Gentoo]

The ultimate lazy but totally useful team support character is my Ice/Nature controller, with the Oppressive Gloom stun power from the patrol pool. All I have todo is stand there and everything around me is crippled and debuffed. Its great for playing while browsing the forums or sipping your tea. If you really really wanna be lazy, just set yourself to follow the tank.