Shield Defense power - "Grant Cover"

[Bojutsu]

Hello.

Would I be making a mistake by not taking Grant Cover?

It seems like a selfish decision to make, especially if I'm on a team.

I know it grants the user some defense & recharge de-buff resistance...

Right now I feel like I would rather take a pool power. 

 

Thanks for any responses.

 

Global handle Bojutsu

 

 

Edited May 27, 2022 by Bojutsu

[Frozen Burn]

While you can skip and some do, the Defense Debuff Resistance you get from Grant Cover is huge for the Shield Powerset and should be considered heavily - even when solo and fighting things that can / may debuff you.

Edited May 27, 2022 by Frozen Burn

[arcane]

Yeah no don’t skip it defense debuff resistance is potent stuff

[EnjoyTheJourney]

Grant cover is pretty much a "must take" power for shield defense. 

 

There are a lot of enemy groups in the game that have members of their group that debuff defense. The phrase "cascading defense failure" describes the result of stacked defense debuffs that, for example, take normally robust positional defenses for a shield powerset using character all the way down to close to zero or less than zero. Rapid death is a very likely outcome when that happens, especially for stalkers who don't have a huge hit point pool.

 

Preventing cascading defense failure is by far the most effective choice, rather than struggling to somehow survive after it's happened. To prevent cascading defense failure you take all the powers that provide defense debuff resistance in the shield powerset; grant cover provides a lot of defense debuff resistance, so you really want it even if you never play on teams.

 

On a connected point, for shield defense characters it's a good idea to get high recharge on active defense and to put it on autofire because the defense debuff resistance that active defense provides stacks across multiple castings. Also, it's worth considering getting to a T4 ageless radial for the incarnate destiny pick because it stacks even more defense debuff resistance. 

 

The high potential defense debuff resistance shield characters can acquire has the potential to make them highly survivable in most situations. 

 

Edited May 27, 2022 by EnjoyTheJourney

[Mezmera]

I'd skip Phalanx Fighting before I'd skip Grant Cover although I haven't played a Shield Stalker and I think Phalanx might be what you lose for Hide.  Like others are pointing out you get yourself a good source of DDR and also the -recharge resist is pretty nice too.  Netting the rest of your team 11-15% defense I'm sure will be highly appreciated.  Great power.

Edited May 27, 2022 by Mezmera

[Bojutsu]

Looks like I'll be taking it. Thank you for the responses. I appreciate it.

[Bill Z Bubba]

12 minutes ago, Bojutsu said:

Looks like I'll be taking it. Thank you for the responses. I appreciate it.

 

If you're still trying to find a power to skip, One with the Shield, like almost all of the T9 armor picks, is completely skippable, regardless of it being one of the less painful T9s.

[Erratic1]

1 hour ago, EnjoyTheJourney said:

On a connected point, for shield defense characters it's a good idea to get high recharge on active defense and to put it on autofire because the defense debuff resistance that active defense provides stacks across multiple castings. Also, it's worth considering getting to a T4 ageless radial for the incarnate destiny pick because it stacks even more defense debuff resistance. 

 

The problem with Active Defense and high recharge is each activation locks you out of attacks for the animation--something which will not usually get you killed but does impact dps.

[Erratic1]

1 hour ago, Mezmera said:

I'd skip Phalanx Fighting before I'd skip Grant Cover although I haven't played a Shield Stalker and I think Phalanx might be what you lose for Hide.  Like others are pointing out you get yourself a good source of DDR and also the -recharge resist is pretty nice too.  Netting the rest of your team 11-15% defense I'm sure will be highly appreciated.  Great power.

 

It is. My Energy Melee/Shield Stalker gets Hide, which is useful despite supression.

[Doomguide2005]

On 5/27/2022 at 2:32 PM, Erratic1 said:

 

The problem with Active Defense and high recharge is each activation locks you out of attacks for the animation--something which will not usually get you killed but does impact dps.

Same general issue as Practiced Brawler

1. It doesn't root so click while on the move between spawns.
2. Death is the ultimate debuff to dps.  So know your foe.  If they're heavy defdebuff types like Cimerorans you are probably better off losing the dps to keep it double stacked than not.

Edited June 1, 2022 by Doomguide2005
Typos

[Erratic1]

5 hours ago, Doomguide2005 said:

Same general issue as Practiced Brawler

1. It doesn't root so click while on the move between spawns.
2. Death is the ultimate debuff to dps.  So know your foe.  If they're heavy defdebuff types like Cimerorans you are probably better off losing the dps to keep it double stacked than not.

 

Who clicks the power? You set it auto and let it renew when it recycles.

 

Having to click it is a really good way to die.

[Doomguide2005]

39 minutes ago, Erratic1 said:

 

Who clicks the power? You set it auto and let it renew when it recycles.

 

Having to click it is a really good way to die.

     I guess we do it differently then but I don't generally die if I forget PB.  Used to be i get "reminded" by getting bounced on my arse, but IOs mostly prevent knock now (incidently acquired).  I also in general don't forget it's habit at this point.  Guess one thing comes to mind ... if you're mezzed can you hit AD like you can PB?  Appears on CoD you can.

 

Edit:  And while not my reason for a lot of folks it's a choice auto Hasten or auto Active Defense

Edit2:  And full disclosure never done Shield on a Stalker, though it's been a long time since I did SR on a Stalker so maybe it's different

Edited June 1, 2022 by Doomguide2005