Force Field iTrial Build

[oedipus_tex]

We've been talking a lot about Force Field and its drawbacks in the modern game. I mostly agree with those critiques, while at the same time I think Force Field has one space in the game where it can shine brightly: iTrials.  While I don't think this makes up entirely for how it plays in normal missions, I also think there's a real space for a player who wants to be the "game changer" on iTrials to have a role. With that in mind I set out to create a baseline build for discussion. 

 

 

Force Field's shields specifically have a couple of parameters that make them desirable in the unusual circumstances presented by iTrials:

• They recharge nearly instantly, which makes them available for an immediate recast on players who have died or on pets who are newly summoned. In normal play neither of these are huge considerations, but they are huge on iTrials.
• They have enormous range, making it realistic to hit the entire league or cast them safely outside the reach of death patches.
• They last a long time (4 minutes) so they continue to provide benefit for players who have broken from the group or when the team is forced to split up, as in Lambda.
• They benefit from Power Boost, roughly doubling their strength.

 

 

 

Choosing an Archetype and Secondary Set

While there's a whole lot that could be said about this and plusses and minuses to consider, I personally think for a true support character there's nothing that rivals the Defender version of Sonic Blast. Shriek + Scream + Howl = -60% damage resistance. That's better than many actual Buff/Debuff sets. The fact that we can slot these debuff actions with Defender heal and absorb procs is a big bonus.

 

Sonic Attack has bad AoE but I've never seen an iTrial fail because of AoE.

 

Allternatives I could maybe see:

• Electric Control Controller (mainly because Synaptic Overload on iTrials is undeniably useful for making enemies kill each other without drawing any aggro on a very fast recharge, this isn't likely make or break for most teams since people ace Lambda these days, but could make a difference on a very disorganized run). 
• Beam Rifle Defender: you'd lose some -Resist and gain some -Regen. Not sure it's worth the trade to be honest. 

 

 

Next up we have our personal defenses in and out of Power Boost. Power Boost is available 50% of the time, and we should press that button every time it is up. As long as we do that, we are capped to most things during those seconds. That's also the time when we want to be hitting the team with Deflection and Insulation Shield.

 

 

Downtime numbers (not accounting for bonuses from Clarion):

 

Uptime numbers (not accounting for bonuses from Clarion):

 

 

 

Other Considerations:

• Why the Healing Pool?
  • In the core game this isn't a major consideration, but in iTrials the ability to heal is extremely valuable. There's a lot of splash damage thrown around, including some instances where the ability to heal is explicitly valuable. Field Medic removes interrupt from Aid Other making it a (slow) heal. The only real drawback is the Range.  
  • More importantly to me personally though is the ability to heal yourself. Power Boosted Aid Self heals roughly half your HP in one shot.
  • You could swap the slots between Aid Other and Aid Self with few worries.
  • You could drop Field Medic entirely. Personally, since we already have 2 power choices in the Healing pool tho Field Medic is worth taking just for removing the interupt in Aid Other, which makes that power actually quite good. We just need to target our ally while super speed is running, hit F to follow, and queue up the power; it will fire as soon as you get into range. This won't work without Field Medic because running would normally interrupt the power.
• Why Super Speed?
  • For running around invisibly, mainly useful in Lambda, but also generally useful for avoiding aggro. 
• No Force Bubble?
  • Even in iTrials I've never found this useful. If you want it though you could swap Repulsion Field for this power.
  • Note the knockback/repel in either of these powers will lock enemy aggro onto you and cause them to chase you, so I don't recommend leaving either one permanently on. Repulsion Field is an autohit knockback you can use during the few moments that is helpful, in particular knocking enemies away from power consoles during Keyes.
• RE: Poor damage slotting in Scream/Dreadful Wail.
  • For a general build I'd agree. There may also be a way to move slots around and make improvements here. Mainly I'm using these powers as debuffs and proc cannons though. The damage dealing is meant to come from other league members.
• Why Vengeance?
  • Because people are still going to die. Might as well use that moment to buffbot the hell out of the team. This buff is more "transient" than your shields but still extremely powerful and useful.

 

 

Incarnate Choices:

• Personally, I'd go with the version of Clarion that provides mezz protection and +Special boost. What this will do is pad out the times when Power Boost is down, cover the mezzes you're not protected against (Sleep, Confuse, Terrify). Plus Clarion is incredibly useful during the hardest iTrial of all (IMO).
  • You can of course get more than one Destiny and change them out for the task at hand.
• For the Alpha slot, this is the incredibly rare case where Agility Core Paragon seems like the clear winner to me, though I could be persuaded to go with something else:

 

 

 

 

 

Notes on playstyle:

• Outside of AV fights:
  • For this build I'd do as little attacking as possible. Stay in Super Speed, hit Power Boost each time it is up. Hit the team with Power Boosted shields. Duck into Personal Field if you get caught under assault. Don't do too much to affect enemies, they will mostly leave you alone and won't chase far.
  • If things are going well and its just clear times you're worried about, you can also use your nuke as an AoE Resistance debuff. 
• Inside AV fights:
  • Here the aggro is generally controlled, so it's safer to blast. Make sure to recast shields continually to catch players who are resurrected. A super important moment to nail the shields is when Lore pets are pulled out for difficult battles (here you directly contribute to DPS). If you notice any players dead, hit Vengeance to take advantage of it. 
    • In Keyes specifically, it may make more sense to be on the healing team. If someone is disentigrating, Super Speed to them (while watching for green patches) and hit your heal. Field Medicine prevents the interrupt in Aid Other which makes this move possible, and no one should be flying in Keyes. 
• Power Boost vs Clarion +Special
  • There's some strategy and overlap between these two effects that deserves some thought. I've actually lost track of how STR effects from Power Boost and Clarion work on Homecoming these days, because I know some changes were proposed and then rolled back. The main thing is that shields replace each other, so if you cast a new round of shields with these effects down, you lose the enhanced effect.
    • My gut tells me that in general it's more important to hit the team with Power Boosted shields regularly versus charging up for one or two super-powerful mega shields, but this makes the assumption people are dying or new pets are being summoned. If none of that is happening, it's fine to put the shields on full strength and just let them sit.
    • Of course, in situations where the team will scatter, hitting everyone with one huge shield is a good idea. For example, this makes sense in the moments before the team splits up to run the halls in Lambda.  

 

 

Some FAQs:

• Q: Can people still die even with these shields in place?
  • A: Absolutely. The shields provide no protection from death patches at all. The shields are there to prevent enemy damage. 
• Q: Could you roll this same build as Cold Domination character?
  • Cold Domination doesn't benefit from Power Boost in the same way. This build is explicitly built to exploit Force Field's unique edge with this power and with Clarion.
• Q: How about Time Manipulation?
  • Time Manipulation performs very well in iTrials using similar techniques and can actually get more perma-personal Defense. It mainly lacks the ability to hit as wide an area with shields as reliably, and its shields don't last as long for allies who straggle away. That's the edge that Force Fielders should press.

 

 

The build in Mids:

Spoiler

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

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Defender
Primary Power Set: Force Field
Secondary Power Set: Sonic Attack
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Medicine
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Deflection Shield -- RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(3), RedFrt-EndRdx/Rchg(3), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(5), RedFrt-Def(5), RedFrt-EndRdx(7)
Level 1: Shriek -- Apc-Dam%(A), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Apc-Acc/Rchg(9), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), Apc-Dmg/Rchg(11), Apc-Dmg(11)
Level 2: Scream -- SprVglAss-Rchg/+Absorb(A), SprVglAss-Acc/Dmg(13), SprVglAss-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13)
Level 4: Howl -- SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg(A), SprDfnBst-Dmg/Rchg(17), SprDfnBst-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(19), SprDfnBst-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(19), SprDfnBst-Rchg/Heal%(21)
Level 6: Insulation Shield -- RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(21), RedFrt-EndRdx/Rchg(23), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(23), RedFrt-Def(25), RedFrt-EndRdx(25)
Level 8: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(27)
Level 10: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(29)
Level 12: Dispersion Bubble -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), RedFrt-EndRdx(29), RedFrt-Def(31), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(31), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(31), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(33)
Level 14: Tactics -- RctRtc-Pcptn(A), RctRtc-ToHit/Rchg(33), RctRtc-ToHit(33)
Level 16: Aid Other -- NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx(A), NmnCnv-EndRdx/Rchg(34), NmnCnv-Heal/Rchg(34), NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(34), NmnCnv-Heal(36), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(36)
Level 18: Repulsion Field -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 20: Amplify -- GssSynFr--Build%(A), GssSynFr--ToHit/EndRdx(36), GssSynFr--Rchg/EndRdx(37), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(37), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg(37), GssSynFr--ToHit(39)
Level 22: Aid Self -- DctWnd-Heal/Rchg(A)
Level 24: Boxing -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(39), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(39), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 26: Tough -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(50)
Level 28: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), RedFrt-EndRdx(40), RedFrt-Def(40), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(42), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(42), RedFrt-EndRdx/Rchg(42)
Level 30: Super Speed -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A), Clr-Stlth(43)
Level 32: Field Medic -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 35: Soul Drain -- SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(A), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(45), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(45)
Level 38: Dreadful Wail -- SprVglAss-Dmg/Rchg(A), SprVglAss-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46), SprVglAss-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46)
Level 41: Dark Embrace -- UnbGrd-Max HP%(A), UnbGrd-ResDam(46), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(48), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(48)
Level 44: Power Boost -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 47: Personal Force Field -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(50), Rct-ResDam%(50)
Level 49: Vengeance -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 1: Vigilance 
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 -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), Mrc-Rcvry+(15)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(15), EndMod-I(27)
Level 50: Agility Core Paragon 
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Questions, comments, complaints? I'm willing to hear feedback. Thanks for your time. 🙂

 

 

Edited June 26, 2021 by oedipus_tex

[Doomguide2005]

     You chose Soul vs Power because --> Dark Embrace adds Negative and Toxic resistance in shields and Soul Drain which adds more damage when well saturated than Power Build Up will.  Duration on Soul Drains buff is longer as well and nearly perma comparatively (thinking I just answered my own question/thoughts).

[Doomguide2005]

Why no Screech?  In addition to the mez potential it's the longest duration resistance debuff in Sonic Attack outside of Dreadful Wail.