Defense build goals for squishies in Page 4

[Bastille Boy]

I have a stable of level 50 defenders and corruptors. All of them are built to softcap ranged defense. In addition, most of them are built to softcap either S/L/E or melee defense. I ignored AoE defense, believing that most AoE attacks also had either a melee tag or a ranged tag. Maybe that was a misunderstanding. It doesn't matter now.

 

Now it's clear that attacks get at most one positional tag, and there's a bunch of attacks in the game that are tagged AoE. For powersets that don't include a defense buff, I don't think it's possible to softcap melee, ranged, and AoE. You have to pick at most two.

 

What are the best defenses to softcap in Issue 27 Page 4? Does it still make sense to go for ranged and melee? Is it better to go for ranged and AoE (and learn to kite well)? Is ranged + S/L/E actually the best choice?

[fitzsimmons]

S/L/E and ranged will work fine and it's my choice still.  You'll also get a lot of N along the way.  Yes you'll take some more damage but it's survivable.  I wouldn't change anything and I'm not changing any of my toons.

 

Getting a ranged toon to M is tough unless you have something to boost it like Arctic Fog, Shadowfall or Steamy Mist.  On those toons I go for R and M softcaps.

 

Regards,
Dave

Edited August 31, 2022 by fitzsimmons

[Bastille Boy]

57 minutes ago, fitzsimmons said:

Getting a ranged toon to M is tough unless you have something to boost it like Arctic Fog, Shadowfall or Steamy Mist.  On those toons I go for R and M softcaps.

 

Yes, it is tough! Building for M/R on something like Pain or Nature leaves little room for other goals. I do have a few toons I built this way despite the challenges. I'm wondering if it still makes sense in Issue 4 (if it ever made sense). I'm wondering if it's worth a respec to an S/L/E/R build or to AoE/R.

[Luminara]

1 hour ago, Bastille Boy said:

What are the best defenses to softcap in Issue 27 Page 4?

 

I've always prioritized Fire/Cold and Energy/Negative over anything else, because those are what the killer debuffs, -Recharge and -ToHit, are attached to.  Damage is survivable, debilitation is what leads to defeat.  Page 4 didn't require, or warrant, a single respec for any of my characters.

[Generator]

On a lot of my squishies, at the risk of sounding weird, I don't even try to softcap, unless I start speccing out and realize I'm close anyway.

[MoonSheep]

24 minutes ago, Generator said:

On a lot of my squishies, at the risk of sounding weird, I don't even try to softcap, unless I start speccing out and realize I'm close anyway.

 

nothing wrong with that, player skill and positioning is the most effective survival strategy 

[blue4333]

I would suggest dropping Scorpion Shield and going for a +res toggle instead. That way you can slot in a 4 slot Unbreakable Guard for the Melee Def. Also try to reconfigure your build and move away from Elemental Typed Defenses, with Defender values for Manuevers, Weave, Combat Jumping/Hover and Agility Alpha, it can be achievable to obtain at least 2 positional softcap.

Edited August 31, 2022 by blue4333

[Bastille Boy]

15 minutes ago, blue4333 said:

I would suggest dropping Scorpion Shield and going for a +res toggle instead. That way you can slot in a 4 slot Unbreakable Guard for the Melee Def. Also try to reconfigure your build and move away from Elemental Typed Defenses, with Defender values for Manuevers, Weave, Combat Jumping/Hover and Agility Alpha, it can be achievable to obtain at least 2 positional softcap.

 

I see ways of getting two positional softcaps. The question is, which two? Is AoE defense currently more useful than melee, or is melee + ranged the way to go?

 

I don't think there's any way of softcapping all three positional defenses without some help from the primary (e.g., Farsight on Time).

[blue4333]

Hmm I would think Melee + Ranged softcaps are more important in my opinion as most of the annoying attacks belong to those categories. Melee for the heavy hitting attacks and Ranged for the holds etc. 

[golstat2003]

2 hours ago, Generator said:

On a lot of my squishies, at the risk of sounding weird, I don't even try to softcap, unless I start speccing out and realize I'm close anyway.

 

Pretty much me. There are a few (like my beast mode Fire/Kin corrupter who can farm) but other than that I don't worry about it at all on  most of my squishy characters. I often have other goals for them like damage, recharge, etc.

[Doomguide2005]

     Really depends on what you're intending to do.  Right now most of my support characters don't really worry about defense, they are usually focused on recharge and most defense they do carry tends to be incidental and often +def (all) from maybe the 3% def specials and or Maneuvers.   That said they rarely solo, particularly at higher difficulties, and are almost exclusively teamed.  Any meant to solo usually has second build with more defense and resistance usually ranged defense.  Owing to life/computer issues i haven't dealt with P4 changes but I'd likely add AoE defense first (after Ranged) because anything in melee range is mezzed/knocked or otherwise 'handled' OR the build uses Hover or movement to eliminate or generally prevent melee attacks from occurring.  After that for HM then higher defenses will be aimed for to make it easier to buff all defenses above the needed amounts for the setting (especially 3 and 4-star Hard Mode).