Being the ultimate team player!

[purplereign]

24 minutes ago, biostem said:

I tend to play with more casually put together teams, so I can't speak on how frequently people are reaching the damage cap on their own, but fulcrum shift is not the only power in the set, and many folks I've teamed with are thankful to have SB and ID kept on them.  Either way, you can always leverage the -res in sonic blast, and don't underestimate the utility of siren's call, (especially with the team accidentally aggros another group)...

That's perfectly fair, and just being honest, I'm kinda tired of /Sonic on Defender. It is, without a doubt, the best Secondary bar none. So much so that every Defender I rolled for several weeks straight was /Sonic. The -res is too, too good. I have a Kin/Sonic Defender in the low 40s. Super powerful, but lacks some flair and fun for me personally.

[biostem]

1 minute ago, purplereign said:

That's perfectly fair, and just being honest, I'm kinda tired of /Sonic on Defender. It is, without a doubt, the best Secondary bar none. So much so that every Defender I rolled for several weeks straight was /Sonic. The -res is too, too good. I have a Kin/Sonic Defender in the low 40s. Super powerful, but lacks some flair and fun for me personally.

I can understand that.  If you want something a little different, poison/dark is a very different animal.  Nature/ice also has its own flair...

[purplereign]

1 minute ago, biostem said:

I can understand that.  If you want something a little different, poison/dark is a very different animal.  Nature/ice also has its own flair...

I actually have two Poison toons I'm tinkering with right now, Poison/Elec and Poison/Fire. Your suggestion of Poison/Dark is probably better simply because Dark offers -ToHit on top of Poison's debuffs.

Nature was an obsession with mine for a hot minute, because I genuinely felt it was a top 3 Defender primary (I still think it is). I just couldn't get over how obnoxious it felt to try and hit people with all three buffs. I know it's not the end of the world, but I went to some extreme longs to make those perma and whiffing on people felt horrible, especially because it feels like the primary reason to play Nature. Sure their healing is good, decent debuffing, but those buffs are nuttttssssss

[iBot]

I have an earth/rad controller that I love to take on +4 kill most ITFs.  MoG cyclops you say?  Naw those just melt once hit with rad debuffs.  Much fun to be had and it holds up nicely to stack holds and disorientate on things.  And all that -DEF negates the mobs +DEF from their special.  Highly recommend the combo.

[biostem]

5 minutes ago, iBot said:

I have an earth/rad controller that I love to take on +4 kill most ITFs.  MoG cyclops you say?  Naw those just melt once hit with rad debuffs.  Much fun to be had and it holds up nicely to stack holds and disorientate on things.  And all that -DEF negates the mobs +DEF from their special.  Highly recommend the combo.

I think the OP said they weren't a fan of "anchor" powers, though.  Rad is a great set, but in this instance, I don't think it meets their criteria.

[Andreah]

I have no practical on-topic advice, but I'd just like to plug my concept for the Kinetics/Time Manipulation "Defruptor" archetype.  That is all. 

[cranebump]

13 minutes ago, biostem said:

I think the OP said they weren't a fan of "anchor" powers, though.  Rad is a great set, but in this instance, I don't think it meets their criteria.

Yep. I was going to suggest that one too, but for the anchor powers. I haven’t run a lot of support toons since coming back, but I remember being a big fan of Rad/Rad Defenders. Hmmm….may have to log in with my Assistance and Support Bot (or…Assbot).

Edited June 1, 2022 by cranebump

[TygerDarkstorm]

28 minutes ago, purplereign said:

That's a HILARIOUS story (sorry!) about the blast hahahaha. I definitely got a good chuckle.

Cold Dom is a beast, and a well appreciated recommendation. It really is, in my opinion, an S-tier defender set. The buffs are easy to maintain, and Benumb/Sleet/Heat Loss has to be one of the best trifectas of debuffing powers any set can boast. I just... I don't know if I find it super fun? Is that weird? Like it checks off so many boxes, but I'm dumb I guess. Maybe I just need to really, really give it the time it needs to shine.

I actually rolled a Dark/Storm recently, but it's only mid-20s, so far from being able to tell if it's something I'd like. What do you think of Dark/Elec? 

And yes, Elec/Elec defender is dope and I got mine to high 20s yesterday and the impact is tangible. I can feel my value to my team, but it is certainly offset by feeling pretty busy.

I rolled the Dark/Elec off the advice of someone here... @oedipus_tex I think because once you get the dark wolf, it's a more reliable way of bouncing off your abilities back to yourself rather than the elec pet, though this is more of a solo strat, and I know you're aiming to team. The combo synergizes well and feels a bit like playing a thunder cloud, lol. I haven't played the character in a long time, so I unfortunately don't have a lot of other commentary on it, sorry. I know elec is more of a buffing set, so at least with dark control you're bringing some debuffing to the table that greatly helps through the low levels.

[Voltak]

54 minutes ago, purplereign said:

I'm actually wondering if you can help me with a common topic that I've discussed at length and has been a subject of debate for as long as I can remember.

In short, I've always been under the impression that end drain is a subpar way to focus a build because mobs require the smallest pixel of blue to be able to use abilities again. So, while you can drain them to zero, any tick of end regen means the end drain is somewhat wasted.

Is that... true? false? Poorly explained?

I think the matter is not being discussed from precise angles. 

What elec affinity combined with elec blast does is a dual debuff , it does a drain and a debuff. 

It severely damages recovery which produces endurance, and it also drains endurance.  

Draining endurance is only half the battle. 

A kinetics can drain endurance from one target with transference, all of it even.  But that by itself will not stop endurance from recovering. 

Attacking the recovery is important.  That prevents endurance from regenerating or recovering. 

The combo of elec affinity and electric does both things. 

I have many videos with this.  

I have more videos than time to edit them all. 

But from first hand experience, this combo handles both things and will attack endurance recovery and also empty endurance bars. 

[biostem]

3 minutes ago, Voltak said:

I think the matter is not being discussed from precise angles. 

What elec affinity combined with elec blast does is a dual debuff , it does a drain and a debuff. 

It severely damages recovery which produces endurance, and it also drains endurance.  

Draining endurance is only half the battle. 

A kinetics can drain endurance from one target with transference, all of it even.  But that by itself will not stop endurance from recovering. 

Attacking the recovery is important.  That prevents endurance from regenerating or recovering. 

The combo of elec affinity and electric does both things. 

I have many videos with this.  

I have more videos than time to edit them all. 

But from first hand experience, this combo handles both things and will attack endurance recovery and also empty endurance bars. 

Your points are valid, but there's one thing I think you're missing - it's whether putting in the effort to try and both drain the endurance from enemies and debuff or halt their recovery is worthwhile for normal enemies and encounters;  Sure, it's great against AVs, but bosses and under are basically defeated in short order.  Even against AVs, allowing just a sliver of end to be recovered pretty much means they can use all their attack, since NPC powers cost much less end for them...

[Voltak]

10 minutes ago, biostem said:

Your points are valid, but there's one thing I think you're missing - it's whether putting in the effort to try and both drain the endurance from enemies and debuff or halt their recovery is worthwhile for normal enemies and encounters;  Sure, it's great against AVs, but bosses and under are basically defeated in short order.  Even against AVs, allowing just a sliver of end to be recovered pretty much means they can use all their attack, since NPC powers cost much less end for them...

That all depends on the content of the game.  If we are talking about easy content, yeah, they will die quickly. 

Harder more difficult content may not be so quickly decimated to kill.  

Depends on enemy types and such, depends on team composition, depends on player skills.  

There is no general rule that covers every single scenario in the game. 

I have had plenty of fights with AVs that for a loooooong time they did nothing but take selfies because they had no endurance.   


LGTF we did a few times with only 3 players , 54 x8,  One Elec/ Dominator, one Elec Affinity Defender,  One Brute... 

hoards  of mobs, one brute was not killing everything fast enough, and neither were the Dom and I.  

We were fighting completely safe, the enemies around us had no endurance.  

That's just one example, I have a throng of others.  

Even grinding, some teams just don't have the composition to be steamrolling things in a blink of an eye all the time. 


 

Edited June 1, 2022 by Voltak

[purplereign]

17 minutes ago, Voltak said:

I think the matter is not being discussed from precise angles. 

What elec affinity combined with elec blast does is a dual debuff , it does a drain and a debuff. 

It severely damages recovery which produces endurance, and it also drains endurance.  

Draining endurance is only half the battle. 

A kinetics can drain endurance from one target with transference, all of it even.  But that by itself will not stop endurance from recovering. 

Attacking the recovery is important.  That prevents endurance from regenerating or recovering. 

The combo of elec affinity and electric does both things. 

I have many videos with this.  

I have more videos than time to edit them all. 

But from first hand experience, this combo handles both things and will attack endurance recovery and also empty endurance bars. 

Thank you! This clears up a lot!

[purplereign]

44 minutes ago, Andreah said:

I have no practical on-topic advice, but I'd just like to plug my concept for the Kinetics/Time Manipulation "Defruptor" archetype.  That is all. 

DEFRUPTING!

That's amazing. I want to roll a Defruptor. 

[purplereign]

53 minutes ago, iBot said:

I have an earth/rad controller that I love to take on +4 kill most ITFs.  MoG cyclops you say?  Naw those just melt once hit with rad debuffs.  Much fun to be had and it holds up nicely to stack holds and disorientate on things.  And all that -DEF negates the mobs +DEF from their special.  Highly recommend the combo.

Yea if it weren't for all those gosh darn anchors. I mean, I know they made it better with anchor debuffs persisting through death, but It annoys me to no end when the anchor target just decides to run in a completely different direction for no reason and I lose my debuffs hahaha.

[LiquidBandage]

37 minutes ago, purplereign said:

Yea if it weren't for all those gosh darn anchors. I mean, I know they made it better with anchor debuffs persisting through death, but It annoys me to no end when the anchor target just decides to run in a completely different direction for no reason and I lose my debuffs hahaha.

I run a Radiation/Beam Defender and mobs die so quickly (buckets of -regen) I only ever use the anchor powers on AVs.

If I spend time to actually apply an anchor (for example, to a Cyclops) it is dead before I can fire off an attack, so I don't bother unless the team scatters and it is just a few players going up against the baddie. It really helps to have the anchor powers and at the same time you have to make judgement calls on when to use them effectively.

[biostem]

6 minutes ago, LiquidBandage said:

I run a Radiation/Beam Defender and mobs die so quickly (buckets of -regen) I only ever use the anchor powers on AVs.

If I spend time to actually apply an anchor (for example, to a Cyclops) it is dead before I can fire off an attack, so I don't bother unless the team scatters and it is just a few players going up against the baddie. It really helps to have the anchor powers and at the same time you have to make judgement calls on when to use them effectively.

So do you treat your radiation powers as more of a contingency for AVs and the like?  What powers do you fall back on for such content where enemies die to quickly?

[Voltak]

3 hours ago, purplereign said:

I'm definitely looking forward to you posting the build so I can wrap my head around what your prioritize for powers and slots. I appreciate your breakdown and perspective on Elec Affinity and certainly understand the importance of comfort and knowledge. It does, currently, feel very very busy, but I'm also probably using abilities I don't need to use on CD just for the sake of using them. 

One last point, which I don't even think matters here, is that I never ever plan to solo hahahaha

Here you go !!
 

 

[Agorazium]

3 hours ago, purplereign said:

This is a phenomenal response, and one I greatly appreciate. 

 

My first 50 on HC was actually a Time/DP defender, and I've since moved away from Time for no real reason. I think my gripes at the time were that it was quite setup heavy (which could largely be negated by Dark openers) and that I believed (which appears to be wrong) that it was a far more effective set as a Defender primary, numerically speaking. 

This is a sick combination though.  I've heard a lot of people say that Darkness Control is a premier control set, not just for having one of the best AoE holds, but because it has the innate -ToHit, and no other control set boasts a debuff that valuable. 

Thank you so, so much for taking the time to articulate the points as it relates to my priority, too. This is so helpful. 

Not to ask more of you, but any chance you have a build or something I could wrap my head around as far as power selection goes? Time is a hefty one, so you are probably pretty limited in choices for other pool sets. 

Lastly, how tanky do you feel? I know you mentioned being able to fearsome stare and jump in (which I like the sound of), but do I have to fear getting melted? I like being a tanky support

No problem! This post has the build I was using last year (I can't get it to open in Mids for some reason). I have since made changes but I believe this one had capped ranged defense and capped Smashing/Lethal resistance. It was incredibly tanky and able to take alphas in +4x8 Dark Astoria missions and ITFs. 

 

Power Boost is ridiculous when paired with Time since Power Boosted Farsight gets you to the defense softcap extremely easily. This frees up a lot of power choices and slots elsewhere if you go that route. Without it I'm not sure you can cap both ranged def and S/L resist (at least not without taking the Fighting pool). That said, after slotting Fearsome Stare for -tohit you can get away with being 5-10% below the defense softcap without really running into any issues. Any APP will work but I wouldn't recommend Soul Mastery just because Soul Drain's buffs aren't that great on a controller especially if you slot proc-heavy like I do. 

 

For powers, these are your must-haves IMO:

Dark Grasp - ST hold, I have it 5-slotted with procs right now

Fearsome Stare - excellent when stacked with your other AOE controls, up every fight, takes 2 damage procs, ~20% -tohit when slotted for it

Heart of Darkness - whether you slot it for stun duration or as a proc bomb this is a very strong AOE control, especially when stacked with Distortion Field so stunned mobs can't wander too far

Shadow Field - this is skippable on some builds but again, with Distortion Field to stack on top of it, it becomes a lot better

Umbra Beast - I used to skip it but controller damage is just so bad without the pet I think it is a must-have. Slotting it with a knockdown proc makes it much better

 

Temporal Mending - self-explanatory

Temporal Selection - this gets skipped a lot but in my opinion, nothing else you do with that one button press will compare to 2 minutes of +25% damage to a DPS

Farsight/Chrono Shift - the biggest reasons to pick Time in the first place

Slowed Response - AOE -res, self-explanatory

 

Hasten - you can get perma-Farsight without it I think, but I like having perma-Chrono Shift and faster AOE controls

 

Good but not necessary:

Living Shadows - it's your only source of AOE containment but you have no AOE attacks to take advantage of that; I still take it to stop stunned mobs from wandering and to immobilize AVs

Shadowy Binds - good to take early game until you can pick up an epic blast, drop later

Possess - you have so many tools in your belt by endgame that when I do have this on my bar I literally never use it, but it does take useful IO sets if you're chasing bonuses

 

Time's Juncture - like with Possess, Dark/Time does so many other things well I have never found this necessary other than at early levels. I also prefer to play from range after I've used Heart of Darkness. If you prefer being in melee then definitely take it.

Distortion Field - this is a "meh" power on its own but it works very well with Dark Control. Lockdown chance for hold proc makes it a lot more useful than it is at baseline

Time Stop - I take it as a proc bomb and to instant-stack with Dark Grasp to hold bosses. If you don't have slots to spare I wouldn't bother with it

 

Meh:

Haunt - I am told this is a great power that does significant damage over time and can serve as aggro control. I've given it so many chances and drop it every time. I have never been in a situation where I thought "Haunt is the best power to use right now" vs. anything else in my kit.

Time Crawl - You have to take this. It's your only source of -regen, but at -100% it's not super useful. I only ever use it vs. AVs when I am trying to stack holds on them (it enhances the magnitude of Time Stop's hold).

 

Hope that helps!

 

 

Edited June 2, 2022 by Sovereigne

[purplereign]

28 minutes ago, Voltak said:

Here you go !!
 

 

Yay! Thank you! This is a really interesting build! 

Out of curiosity, how come no Short Circuit? In a way I would have expected dropping Lightning Bolt since your recharge allows for the ability to pretty much rotate between charged bolts and zapp, or pretty darn close.  And Short Circuit gives you another AoE.

Also, is Shock worth taking? Do you primarily use it for AV-type foes to ensure high -recovery?

[purplereign]

30 minutes ago, Sovereigne said:

No problem! This post has the build I was using last year (I can't get it to open in Mids for some reason). I have since made changes but I believe this one had capped ranged defense and capped Smashing/Lethal resistance. It was incredibly tanky and able to take alphas in +4x8 Dark Astoria missions and ITFs. 

 

Power Boost is ridiculous when paired with Time since Power Boosted Farsight gets you to the defense softcap extremely easily. This frees up a lot of power choices and slots elsewhere if you go that route. Without it I'm not sure you can cap both ranged def and S/L resist (at least not without taking the Fighting pool). That said, after slotting Fearsome Stare for -tohit you can get away with being 5-10% below the defense softcap without really running into any issues. Any APP will work but I wouldn't recommend Soul Mastery just because Soul Drain's buffs aren't that great on a controller especially if you slot proc-heavy like I do. 

 

For powers, these are your must-haves IMO:

Dark Grasp - ST hold, I have it 5-slotted with procs right now

Fearsome Stare - excellent when stacked with your other AOE controls, up every fight, takes 2 damage procs, ~20% -tohit when slotted for it

Heart of Darkness - whether you slot it for stun duration or as a proc bomb this is a very strong AOE control, especially when stacked with Distortion Field so stunned mobs can't wander too far

Shadow Field - this is skippable on some builds but again, with Distortion Field to stack on top of it, it becomes a lot better

Umbra Beast - I used to skip it but controller damage is just so bad without the pet I think it is a must-have. Slotting it with a knockdown proc makes it much better

 

Temporal Mending - self-explanatory

Temporal Selection - this gets skipped a lot but in my opinion, nothing else you do with that one button press will compare to 2 minutes of +25% damage to a DPS

Farsight/Chrono Shift - the biggest reasons to pick Time in the first place

Slowed Response - AOE -res, self-explanatory

 

Hasten - you can get perma-Farsight without it I think, but I like having perma-Chrono Shift and faster AOE controls

 

Good but not necessary:

Living Shadows - it's your only source of AOE containment but you have no AOE attacks to take advantage of that; I still take it to stop stunned mobs from wandering and to immobilize AVs

Shadowy Binds - good to take early game until you can pick up an epic blast, drop later

Possess - you have so many tools in your belt by endgame that when I do have this on my bar I literally never use it, but it does take useful IO sets if you're chasing bonuses

 

Time's Juncture - like with Possess, Dark/Time does so many other things well I have never found this necessary other than at early levels. I also prefer to play from range after I've used Heart of Darkness. If you prefer being in melee then definitely take it.

Distortion Field - this is a "meh" power on its own but it works very well with Dark Control. Lockdown chance for hold proc makes it a lot more useful than it is at baseline

Time Stop - I take it as a proc bomb and to instant-stack with Dark Grasp to hold bosses. If you don't have slots to spare I wouldn't bother with it

 

Meh:

Haunt - I am told this is a great power that does significant damage over time and can serve as aggro control. I've given it so many chances and drop it every time. I have never been in a situation where I thought "Haunt is the best power to use right now" vs. anything else in my kit.

Time Crawl - You have to take this. It's your only source of -regen, but at -100% it's not super useful. I only ever use it vs. AVs when I am trying to stack holds on them (it enhances the magnitude of Time Stop's hold).

 

Hope that helps!

 

 

This is suuuuper interesting! Thank you so much for your breakdown and build!

Quick question regarding -regen. You said that Time Crawl is your only -regen, but doesn't Time Stop provide -regen, too? I suppose it's pretty low, too. Not sure if the hold is required to go off for the -regen to hit. 

Also, I know you aren't a fan, but I think I'd struggle to not take Haunt. They're SO CUTE. Plus you can make them perma I believe. So you just throw 'em out and let them do their work.
 

[Voltak]

1 minute ago, purplereign said:

Yay! Thank you! This is a really interesting build! 

Out of curiosity, how come no Short Circuit? In a way I would have expected dropping Lightning Bolt since your recharge allows for the ability to pretty much rotate between charged bolts and zapp, or pretty darn close.  And Short Circuit gives you another AoE.

Also, is Shock worth taking? Do you primarily use it for AV-type foes to ensure high -recovery?

I have another video where I go over the use of Shock.  I recommend it.  I think it was posted in this thread. 

The build is very tight, out the choices, ball of lightning wins, faster animation and a very good recharge speed. 
Doing very difficult content means you have to be careful with animation times.  
Exposure can get you killed or your team mates killed when you could have been doing something else to keep someone alive , buffed, and so on. 
Also, some enemies hit hard enough that long animations could mean some big nasty hits coming your way. 

Shock is also used for the recovery debuff, yes. 

[LiquidBandage]

2 hours ago, biostem said:

So do you treat your radiation powers as more of a contingency for AVs and the like?  What powers do you fall back on for such content where enemies die to quickly?

Pretty much, yeah (radiation as a contingency). The character was originally conceptualized as a massive -Regen machine for encounters like Hamidon or AVs. 

 

When in a group that is chewing through mobs I typically fire off a Accelerate Metabolism & Radiant Aura for whomever happens to be nearby (for procs and whatnot). Then if we are engaging a fresh group, I fire off a Lingering Radiation to impact as many as possible. Then I cycle through Disintegrate/Lancer Shot/Penetrating Ray/Charged Shot. I usually try to cycle through targets instead of burning down since the group usually AoEs their hearts out. Typically I try to target bosses/elites first so power activations are less likely to be wasted on almost dead targets. 

 

When dealing with clusters of mobs that won't instantly evaporate to the group's AoE I prep with Disintegrate then cycle through Lancer->Penetrating Ray->Charged Shot to spread Disintegration DoTs and follow up with an Overcharge. I dumped Cutting Beam from my build because I don't enjoy the sfx. And maneuvering to land the narrow cone of Piercing Beam can be a hassle, so I reserve that for long fights or if I see Disintegrate spread really early in an engagement. In essence, I am focusing on single target and relying on Disintegrate DoT procs to do my "AoE".

[Agorazium]

2 hours ago, purplereign said:

This is suuuuper interesting! Thank you so much for your breakdown and build!

Quick question regarding -regen. You said that Time Crawl is your only -regen, but doesn't Time Stop provide -regen, too? I suppose it's pretty low, too. Not sure if the hold is required to go off for the -regen to hit. 

Also, I know you aren't a fan, but I think I'd struggle to not take Haunt. They're SO CUTE. Plus you can make them perma I believe. So you just throw 'em out and let them do their work.
 

I guess it does! You really do learn something new every day. Sadly, considering AV's debuff resistance, 50% is so low it might as well not exist lol!

[Guffnat]

12 hours ago, purplereign said:

Funny enough, Ice/Time was certainly something I was considering for a hot minute. In fact, I think I still have an old build from the forums dubbed, "the wall" because nothing gets past ice/time hahahaha.

I also really like the idea of ice/elec. Elec Affin feels very busy and Ice... well, Ice isn't. Would love to hear your thoughts on this stuff. Generally, I don't feel like Ice/Elec has any natural synergy. Just two good sets.

Also, for what it's worth, is Elec Affin good as a secondary? Everyone I see who champions Elec Affin talk about it specifically as a Def primary.

 

That's funny. Your "the wall" post made me create that toon. I also play an Earth/Storm Controller that is kinda too much control and not enough support that's why I started this Ice/Elec Controller.

 

I will give you an update once I've reached higher levels and tougher content.

[Metatheory]

How about something like a sonic/ice def? You get debuffs, potentially the most useful one, plenty of CC in your blast set, one anchor but it's an ally power and easy to use and potentially useful throughout the game buffs. Worth a thought? I quite like playing mine. Very team oriented IMO.