Defender Mez Protection

[Spot]

I'm new to Defenders and can't see how you get mez protection.  I'm use to playing controllers and getting Indomittle Will from the epic set.  Actual Mez protection, not resistance.  

[Astralock]

You get mez protection by playing Electrical Affinity, Force Field, Sonic Resonance, or Traps.

[Spot]

51 minutes ago, Astralock said:

You get mez protection by playing Electrical Affinity, Force Field, Sonic Resonance, or Traps.

I was afraid of that being the answer.  I'm working on a cold/elec right now and really getting bounced around.  I do want to stick with cold though. . .

[Psyonico]

There is also Rune of Protection.

[Spot]

Just now, Psyonico said:

There is also Rune of Protection.

Problem is it isn't perma.

[Doomguide2005]

1 hour ago, Spot said:

I was afraid of that being the answer.  I'm working on a cold/elec right now and really getting bounced around.  I do want to stick with cold though. . .

     Getting 'bounced around' sounds like kb problem vs mez (hold, stun, sleep).  And that can be solved with an appropriate IO.  Otherwise unless I'm using one of the mentioned I'm usually going to 1) mez them first, 2) knock them (kd or ku) 3) use a breakfree or RoP, 4) use defense (can't mez what you can't hit).  There's also the Defense Amplifier purchased from the p2w vendor. 

     My Emp/Rad solo'd Cimeroran repeatables on Invincible (?) the then highest setting by using Cosmic Burst on one boss while keeping the second on its ass by juggling them with Air Superiority, for example.  

[Ringo]

There's a difference between soloing and on teams.  Solo - yeah, you're going to need to get creative.  You have no mez toggle like the armor sets.  Generally no hard controls.  And you cannot shoot through mez like Blasters can with their t1 and t2 powers.  Things get a little more exciting!  Plus you're using Cold Domination whose shields don't actually protect you.  So yeah - get creative out there!

 

Teams in my experience, have controllers that tend to pull aggro (and thus get mezzed) because they're attempting to lock down mobs that have, by definition, not been locked down.  On live my Main was an Illusion/Forcefield controller and my dumbest impulse was always to try and save the team from over-aggro by using Flash to lockdown a spawn.   All it did was make me faceplant.  Controllers, everybody!

 

Defenders mostly shouldn't be doing this.  You're on a team.  Someone besides you (Melee, Blasters, Trollers, Doms) should be doing enough damage to draw aggro or keeping mobs locked with Mez and Taunt.  Keeping those teammates alive means you should be relatively untargeted.  If the defender is the one regularly getting pancaked then someone (whether you, teammates, or both) needs to make an adjustment in how they're playing.  But yeah - you're not any of those other ATs.  Kill it before it kills you?  Not likely!  Lock it down with soft controls?  Only if you work at it!  Why not buff the Tank and let him smash for you?  That's the ticket!  That's the Defender Way!  (the opinions expressed here have no connection or endorsement from The Defender Way)

[Spot]

I have KB protection.  I meant by getting knocked around is all the holds, stuns, sleeps that keep me from doing anything.  I guess I'll have to be more passive with my playstyle if I want to play a defender is the only solution.

[Ringo]

Less passive - more selective!  Who you target and why is not only very important to staying alive as a Defender, but also important with your Buffs and Debuffs

[biostem]

6 hours ago, Spot said:

I was afraid of that being the answer.  I'm working on a cold/elec right now and really getting bounced around.  I do want to stick with cold though. . .

Taking combat jumping and acrobatics can mitigate *some* status effects, and the Clarion Destiny Incarnate ability can be made perma if you get one of the 120 second duration ones.

[Uun]

In addition to Clarion Destiny, Melee Hybrid also has mezz protection.

[Six-Six]

Lords of Mez Magnets (blasters) chiming in.

With a toon that has no inherent mez protection clicky/toggle here's a few tips:

1) low levels, carry a bunch of blue skittles and don't be shy popping them like peanuts. You don't have to wait to get mezzed to chew on them, you can take one before a tangle as a preventive.
2) build for ranged defence. mez won't affect you if it doesn't connect. The best way to do that is to stack up your ranged def to a decent level. 20-30 should be good for most parts, no need to soft cap.
3) as you're chasing ranged def, it would be nice to get some set bonuses that lower the duration you're mezzed. I think the cap is 45% or 50%, I'm not sure. but if you do get stunned, put to sleep, held, confused, it won't last as long... even if you folks don't have Defiance. (still got them blue skittles???).
4) Acrobatics from Leaping will help you not get held. Tactics will prevent you from being confused and if you have a high enough perception, from Widow's and Mistresses' blinding (popping yellows also does the job). Flight's Evasive Maneuvres will help with immob, even when you're not flying. I haven't come across any that prevent Stun or Sleep.
5) Res IOs have some helpful globals: Aegis Psi+Status Res, Impervious Skin's Status+Regen, Impervium Armour's 6%Psi Res (not a unique, so you can slot up to 5 separate ones, if you've got the powers to slot them in)

With these, I rarely have had to take Rune of Protection nor Clarion, even to the point that a handful of my Blasters have reached 50 without dying.

[Doomguide2005]

11 hours ago, Ringo said:

Less passive - more selective!  Who you target and why is not only very important to staying alive as a Defender, but also important with your Buffs and Debuffs

     Yep, know which opponents are your trouble-makers.  In my Cimeroran example, to be fair, none are really mez problematic but the bosses crit and well it's painful even if you do survive and then there's the debuff on top of that.  And you have to keep them from using the 'breakfree' Shout of Command or the one I've stunned isn't anymore.

     Combat Jumping carries Immobilization protection, Acrobatics as mentioned has some protection from Holds. Sleep well fortunately the foes have the same issue we do.  The next bit of damage wakes you up.  Though my Kin/Psy went about nuts dealing with DE tossing spore clouds and chain sleeping him.  Stun is the nasty one, far as I know outside of Rune of Protection there's no pool power that gives you any coverage.  So foes that stun get high on my list of folks to watch out and get proactively eliminated.  Sappers, Mu, Super Stunners and other end drainers are very annoying but usually it's more that they set you up than are outright lethal.  No end makes everything rougher for just about anyone including those with mez protection, especially toggle based.

     Being Cold/Electric means your best bet is higher defense or breakfree skittles are your best bets to survive long enough to sap their endurance and ideally you have to get close as Short Circuit is a PBAoE attack.   On the otherhand you posses one of the few ranged nukes.  Stealth/Concealment can help there letting you scope out your foes and decide which foes and where to start things off.  I've never tried the CJ+Hurdle leap around the corner or otherwise behind cover with Thunderous Blast but it would be high on my list to find out ASAP.   And some powers, Sleet among them as I recall, you can use around a corner without ever getting exposed.  Hit (and debuff) them with Sleet,*pause* foes start slowly to scatter (Avoid), step out from cover and give them hell as they 'Avoid' the patch sloooowly would be one strategy I'd be using.

[Gobbledigook]

21 hours ago, Astralock said:

You get mez protection by playing Electrical Affinity, Force Field, Sonic Resonance, or Traps.

Doesn't Trick arrow's Emp Arrow have status protection also?

 

[Doomguide2005]

Yes, I believe so per CoD

[Astralock]

42 minutes ago, Gobbledegook said:

Doesn't Trick arrow's Emp Arrow have status protection also?

 

It does, but it’s not up enough to be permanent.  You will spend more time out of it than in, unlike the others.

[Gobbledigook]

6 minutes ago, Astralock said:

It does, but it’s not up enough to be permanent.  You will spend more time out of it than in, unlike the others.

Doesn't it last 4minutes with like a 5 minute cooldown without +recharge. Will need to check though. I have never actually made a TA.

Edited September 12, 2022 by Gobbledegook

[Astralock]

29 minutes ago, Gobbledegook said:

Doesn't it last 4minutes with like a 5 minute cooldown without +recharge. Will need to check though. I have never actually made a TA.

Yes, but about the only time you will stay in one place like that is a mothership raid.  For teams constantly on the go, it’s hit or miss.

[Riverdusk]

On 9/12/2022 at 8:41 AM, Six-Six said:

3) as you're chasing ranged def, it would be nice to get some set bonuses that lower the duration you're mezzed. I think the cap is 45% or 50%, I'm not sure. but if you do get stunned, put to sleep, held, confused, it won't last as long... even if you folks don't have Defiance. (still got them blue skittles???).
 

 

Just to clarify, the mez resistance cap is actually 10,001%, not 45% or 50%.  Also note that it has the same type of formula as recharge does in reducing times, as in 100% mez resistance reduces mez to 50% duration, 200% would reduce it to 1/3rd duration, etc.

 

From the wiki: https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Limits

Players have a hard status resistance cap of 10,001.01%, which translates to 0.99% mez duration in the Combat Attributes Window. Because player status resistance buffs do not generally exceed 216.25% (for example, Accelerate Metabolism), it is unlikely that the cap will ever be reached in normal gameplay.

This was changed in Issue 13; previously, the cap was 100% resistance, resulting in 50% duration. The change was in part due to the change to status protection in PvP, necessitating a higher resistance cap.

[Without_Pause]

On 9/11/2022 at 9:23 PM, Spot said:

I was afraid of that being the answer.  I'm working on a cold/elec right now and really getting bounced around.  I do want to stick with cold though. . .

Artic Fog, Maneuvers, and Weave can get you a decent baseline of Def. Add in some IOs, see in Tough or elsewhere, and a Cold character should be rather easy to start capping Def on things. They can't mezz you if they can't hit you.

Edited September 22, 2022 by Without_Pause

[Doomguide2005]

7 hours ago, Without_Pause said:

Artic Fog, Maneuvers, and Weave can get you a decent baseline of Def. Add in some IOs, see in Tough or elsewhere, and a Cold character should be rather easy to start capping Def on things. They can't mezz you if they can't hit you.

Especially as most Cold's are going to be causing a lot of Avoid, Slows and recharge debuff.  Foes just aren't going to attack as often meaning less chances to get lucky and land a hit.

[Ankhammon]

To me the biggest pain has always been for the Sonic Resonance player while going solo. 

In the mid 40s almost every minion throws out some sort of sleep with their powers which isn't covered by Sonic Dispersion. This makes like half of their damage come through without a resistance applied (was way worse on live when it dropped that toggle completely). 

You only feel like it's no big deal when Liquefy is up which is on a looong recharge. 

 

Every other defender (expect Thermal) has some way of dealing with that particular aspect in some way. Whether it's by debuff, regen, dot heals, shields or actual mez protection, they have someway of dealing with it in their sets. 

 

 

Yes yes, can take vitamins, pool powers and the like to get rid of that possibility. I still see it as, at least, an annoyance . 

 

[Voltak]

On 9/11/2022 at 10:34 PM, Spot said:

Problem is it isn't perma.

Another way to go about it is Hybrid Melee 

You can cycle the two

When CoP is down, use Hybrid Melee 

It helps. 

Other than that, Clarion 

[Linea]

Leveling is much harder than after you've leveled.

 

Amps - These are expensive, unless you have a 50 and/or farmer funding you.  But this also is likely the easiest answer.

Defense - Don't get hit.

Dampeners - To add to defense, but doesn't do anyting directly for status protection. These are cheap, at least to me.

Rune/Hybrid/Rune - is almost perma, close enough in practice for me.  This is my primary variant.

Clarion Core T4 - is perma.  I almost never go this direction.

Rune/Hybrid/Rune/Clarion - this is definitely perma.  I almost never do this variant either.

+HP Procs break sleep, or at least they did, haven't tested lately.

Lore - Some lore have Clear Mind, Stimulant, or Similar powers.

KB Protection IO.

 

I tend to mix and match and combine all of the above.

 

 

[Ringo]

On Live my ill/ff controller took the mind epic just to close the Sleep hole, so I certainly feel that.

 

Also let me ruin an enemy controller's day in PVP so that was always fun