What makes a good Defender build?

[Scarlet Shocker]

Here I am not asking for specific builds, but rather principles of a good build.

 

I've been playing with a range of Defenders (several are poison based as the more alert of you may have already spotted) but when I come to build one in Mids it seems to be... lacking: Mid-range Def that's neither here nor there, and difficult to get much Res either.

 

So when designing a Defender, what should my optimals be to get the best out of it? I am presuming that this might vary depending on power sets chosen. Clearly play-style is also very important. Personally I like to team but have the ability to solo when required - so I might call myself a "Jack of all trades" - the Handyman build if you will.

 

 

[Erratic1]

 Each of the Defender primaries comes with ways to support yourself and your team and each Defender secondary comes with ranged damage capability. There is a lot of variety in what the primary sets do so I am not sure there is a specific, "Take X, Y, and Z" approach to making a good Defender. A lot comes down to what you want to get done with your Defender. 

 

I played in Beta and came into Live with my first character being a Defender (Radiation Emission/Electrical Blast). I was one of the early advocates of Defenders using their Blast sets and not just staring relentlessly at health displays ala, "You are not fully playing the class if you do not use all of its tools".  But that is me.

 

In the last two weeks I have been on TFs with two different Defenders and at a certain point I realized with each of them, "They are not buffing anyone in the party despite having buff powers."  I knew that because I pulled up the team display and checked. I had to wonder why they had powers they were not using at all, did not think their withholding use of those powers helped the teams they were on, but also did not say anything as I also do not believe a person's play has to fit mine or anyone else's notions. Had I not been on TFs, I probably wouldn't have even wondered or noticed in the first place, just on a TF I really kind of expect everyone to be on page about supporting each other and it would be rude of me to drop, like I might in other situations.

 

So take this a personal view: Fully use your primary and secondary sets, adjusting as the moment calls for it.

[Scarlet Shocker]

I'm with you all the way on this.

 

I get that you have a multitude of powers and should use (al)most all of them - sure, take a couple of powers for proc mules ( do that myself from time to time) that get very little use but I do believe in working within a team rather than being one 1/8th of a solo

 

On Defiant live there were many "All Defender" TFs, especially ITF and LG. They always seemed to go down well and it would seem that Defs are the mean to which every other AT regresses.

[Nemu]

11 hours ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

Here I am not asking for specific builds, but rather principles of a good build.

 

I've been playing with a range of Defenders (several are poison based as the more alert of you may have already spotted) but when I come to build one in Mids it seems to be... lacking: Mid-range Def that's neither here nor there, and difficult to get much Res either.

 

So when designing a Defender, what should my optimals be to get the best out of it? I am presuming that this might vary depending on power sets chosen. Clearly play-style is also very important. Personally I like to team but have the ability to solo when required - so I might call myself a "Jack of all trades" - the Handyman build if you will.

 

 

 

I've seen your water/poison build and here's my take on your question, and this doesn't apply to just defenders but all builds.

 

This is not about min/maxing, not at first, but it will involve min/maxing, all within the proper context.

 

A good build starts with understanding and defining your game plan. Your game plan is heavily influenced by the powersets you choose, your understanding of the game, and your personal preferences and playstyle.

 

Take poison for example, if you avoid melee and don't take full advantage of ven gas and to a lesser extent, a fully procced out poison trap, would that be a good build? That depends on your definition of "good." It can be a viable build, but that's a really low bar, a lot of builds are viable. Are you getting the most out of poison and playing to its strengths? Most assuredly not.

 

A good build knows its game plan, and exploits synergies with powers to help execute that game plan. It also knows its weaknesses and finds ways to remediate the weaknesses that have the biggest impact.

 

Take your poison/water. Poison does heavy lifting in melee range late game with VG, a heavily procced poison trap has synergy with that game plan (-res debuffs is the only way to increase proc damage and VG does just that), survival is supplemented by the knockdowns in water blast, and the lack of a heal is remediated by dehydrate. If you consider mez effects super important to address then Rune of protection offers some relief. This is the puzzle you have to put together, and we haven't even gotten to slotting.

 

On slotting there's one thing that separates truly good builds apart from merely viable builds - Focus. A smattering of regen bonuses here and some recharge bonuses over there sprinkled with some S/L resist bonuses with a dash of movement speed bonuses, etc... makes a viable build. If you want a good build, learn to ignore the distractions and FOCUS. Your focus comes from understanding the game plan, what you need to do to make that happen, and what holes to patch. You can't do everything, so narrow down your goals to those most important to letting your build do the thing you want it to do.

 

Conventional wisdom is just that - conventional. Its general knowledge people pass around to make themselves look smart and knowledgeable. Those that don't question these from time to time and look at the actual numbers can forever stick to making viable builds.  For example, the majority of people I encounter stick numinas/miracles and all the other recovery procs in health in every build. Some builds don't need that extra recovery and those slots are wasted. A lot of people believe softcap defense is the end all be all to survival and will swear by 45% defense and at least 75% S/L resist in every build. If you understood your game plan and the powers in your toolkit you might think out of the box every once in a while.

 

I can get into the nitty gritty about slot economy and optimization but lets just stop here first. Here are some examples of designing a build with a game plan and building it with focus.

 

 

[Yomo Kimyata]

I have learned a LOT about building from @Nemu.  They are my "Most Valuable Teacher".

 

That said, I suggest you learn by playing.  If you are trying to keep people alive on a Hard ITF with a power set you don't know much about, maybe play that set a lot for lower stakes.  This is a pretty easy game, after all.

[Sir Myshkin]

4 hours ago, Nemu said:

A good build knows its game plan, and exploits synergies with powers to help execute that game plan. It also knows its weaknesses and finds ways to remediate the weaknesses that have the biggest impact.

 

QFT

 

As Nemu said having a purpose for each build is incredibly important, and sometimes it takes testing a set or combination of powers out to get the right feel for them before feeling comfortable with what that is. I spent hundreds of hours testing procs at the dawn of Homecoming and each major update that followed during that time before I started putting together the Mad King builds, let alone already being a comfortable build designer before that.

 

The best thing I could add that often gets glossed over by experienced theory craft builders is this @Scarlet Shocker: Know your options and what you have on the table when it comes to IO's. Look at how the sets break down, what their bonus structures look like, get a feel for where you can resource numbers from. You don't have to memorize it all (although some of us end up doing it), but it helps to know if I said "Where can I get Energy Resists out of TAoE?" Where would you go? These things kind of go tandem once you get to a point of saying "I want to build X with Y and Z sets that does Support Role 2" You can best make that happen and know where to get the right slotting maximization to make that happen as Nemu talked about.

[Meknomancer]

On 1/30/2023 at 11:24 PM, Scarlet Shocker said:

I'm with you all the way on this.

 

I get that you have a multitude of powers and should use (al)most all of them - sure, take a couple of powers for proc mules ( do that myself from time to time) that get very little use but I do believe in working within a team rather than being one 1/8th of a solo

 

On Defiant live there were many "All Defender" TFs, especially ITF and LG. They always seemed to go down well and it would seem that Defs are the mean to which every other AT regresses.

 

 

Defiant was my home server for years til server merge and i remember the regular all AT tf's with fondness but live servers were totally different from HC when it comes to building toons. I didn't have multiple accounts on live with billions saved up so i could buy a single pvp io for 4 bill. I never had the inf/merits or whatever was needed for winter sets. My monthly store points were all spent on AT pieces.

 

As to the principles of a good build thats a tough question. Most importantly its got to be fun for you but not one that ignores the primary which fenders have that benefit the team more than any other AT or one that ignores the secondary and doesnt bring any damage to the team. HC is seriously proc friendly and you can get ridiculous amounts of damage in fender builds now. 

 

Been teaming on pugs lately with way too many that don't realise simple things like applying buffs such as bubs/cold/thermal etc can be reapplied on exiting missions and stack up when you enter the next mish and apply again, or buffers that don't watch for buffs running out because they are too busy blasting then watching team mates die who were previously unkillable. Keep the buff bar open on the team. 

[biostem]

On 1/30/2023 at 8:57 AM, Scarlet Shocker said:

So when designing a Defender, what should my optimals be to get the best out of it? I am presuming that this might vary depending on power sets chosen. Clearly play-style is also very important. Personally I like to team but have the ability to solo when required - so I might call myself a "Jack of all trades" - the Handyman build if you will.

I find that most support sets hinge on 1-3 powers.  To that end, I try to maximize their effectiveness in those areas.  Yes, I also want to be able to deal damage myself, and if you want to hop between soloing and team play, you'll need that.  For instance, I have an earth/pain controller that I was playing a lot, and I found that nullify pain, soothe, and world of pain were what I was using most often.  For the first 2, 3 heals was really the most important, and a recharge in nullify pain since it had a slightly longer recharge time.  World of pain was a bit tougher, as it offers many great effects.  I wanted it up as often as possible, so 3 recharge went in there, and the tohit buff was a secondary concern, so a few slots went to that.  Of course I wanted my control powers slotted, but as long as I always had something available, I wasn't too concerned with maxing their recharge.  It's really a matter of balancing things and playing to your primary & secondary's strengths and/or compensating for their weaknesses...

[MoonSheep]

10 hours ago, Meknomancer said:

Been teaming on pugs lately with way too many that don't realise simple things like applying buffs such as bubs/cold/thermal etc can be reapplied on exiting missions and stack up when you enter the next mish and apply again, or buffers that don't watch for buffs running out because they are too busy blasting then watching team mates die who were previously unkillable. Keep the buff bar open on the team. 

 

absolutely.

 

in my opinion a lot of defenders are worrying too much about playing scrappers, making silly tough/weave builds but neglecting the art of playing a defender and getting the best use out of their primary powers

[Mythical Creature]

This is my poison/rad defender build. I like to start a build off by figuring out what I need to be survivable because I think a defender should be able to survive. Usually on a defender that means figuring out how to soft cap positional defenses. With Beta Decay or any other -to-hit buff you are going to have an easy time soft capping defenses. If you don't have a survival tool like this you can always aim for ranged/aoe defense and fly. 

 

After survival I like to focus on building up my attacks, in fact I tend to start with building my attacks because often you can fill in a lot of defense with set bonuses. If you can get 4-6 slots on each attack you are in good shape here.

 

Another thing to look for is recharge since you are supportive you want it to be available as quickly as possible, for that reason LOTG are good and also Hasten. 

 

Another thing to consider is a travel power. I like to pick one at level 10 because then I have it even when I exemplar down to level 5, and below that is few and far between. 

[Nayeh]

Well... uhm... I guess that's a build.

 

I personally wouldn't recommend that one. A few things I can already pick out:

• To much focus on chasing set bonuses and Defenses - Some powers are criminally over-slotted.
• Defender ATO Vigilant Assault can be split 3-by-3 across 2 powers to gather 10% Recharge Bonus (x2)
• Deceives you with Stealth toggled on for Defense
• Neurotoxic Breath over Poison Traps
• Consume with Stamina under-slotted
• Rise of the Pheonix and Phase Shift...
• Only '1' Ranged attack for Damage. At least get Proton Volley or Cosmic Burst.

[MoonSheep]

9 hours ago, Nayeh said:

Well... uhm... I guess that's a build.

 

I personally wouldn't recommend that one. A few things I can already pick out:

• To much focus on chasing set bonuses and Defenses - Some powers are criminally over-slotted.
• Defender ATO Vigilant Assault can be split 3-by-3 across 2 powers to gather 10% Recharge Bonus (x2)
• Deceives you with Stealth toggled on for Defense
• Neurotoxic Breath over Poison Traps
• Consume with Stamina under-slotted
• Rise of the Pheonix and Phase Shift...
• Only '1' Ranged attack for Damage. At least get Proton Volley or Cosmic Burst.

 

it’s a great example of a build that would be better on a scrapper or sentinel than a buff/debuff support set 

 

positioning and proper team play will always be a more effective survival strategy than relying on set bonuses to facetank every mob

 

#bringbackdefenders 

[Mythical Creature]

On 2/2/2023 at 3:36 PM, Nayeh said:

Well... uhm... I guess that's a build.

 

I personally wouldn't recommend that one. A few things I can already pick out:

• To much focus on chasing set bonuses and Defenses - Some powers are criminally over-slotted.
• Defender ATO Vigilant Assault can be split 3-by-3 across 2 powers to gather 10% Recharge Bonus (x2)
• Deceives you with Stealth toggled on for Defense
• Neurotoxic Breath over Poison Traps
• Consume with Stamina under-slotted
• Rise of the Pheonix and Phase Shift...
• Only '1' Ranged attack for Damage. At least get Proton Volley or Cosmic Burst.

 

It is hard to take your critique too seriously when you don't even know about basic settings in Mids. You can go into the configuration settings and change the calculations to show what it looks like when you get attacked or attack something.

Edited March 15, 2023 by Mythical Creature

[Mythical Creature]

On 2/3/2023 at 12:50 AM, MoonSheep said:

 

it’s a great example of a build that would be better on a scrapper or sentinel than a buff/debuff support set 

 

positioning and proper team play will always be a more effective survival strategy than relying on set bonuses to facetank every mob

 

#bringbackdefenders 

 

So don't make a build? Or be less survival and...? It is easier to say what not to do than it is to say what to do. 
 

I am of the opinion that defenders should defend and they can't do that if they are dead.

 

Positioning on a poison/rad defender means being in pbae range. I need to be in the thick of things to be at my most potential, where do you think a poison defender should be? 

 

Proper team play? Isn't that making it so as many things are debuffed as possible? That is what my build does.

 

Funny how the post above says that I don't have enough attacks (which you seemed to like) and yet you say the build is like a scrapper or sentinel. How can that be when it is setup to debuff as much as possible and has fewer attacks than most builds? What about making it so every purple is debuffed fast is like a scrapper/sentinel? Or am I supposed to eat dirt more to be a true defender? 

Edited February 5, 2023 by Mythical Creature

[Nayeh]

46 minutes ago, Mythical Creature said:

 

Honestly, you are just straight up wrong about some things. I have Mids set to show defense in combat, it is 45%+ defense always, it is not deceiving you. There are two ranged attacks and two pbae but with vemomous gas I am in pbae range always, I am not a hover blaster and usually survive better than most. 

 

How could this possibly not be a support build when all my support abilities are maxed out?  Keep in mind, I literally play this build a lot and it works even exemplar down to low levels. 

 

The over reliance on set bonuses? You mean the bulk of which are available at level 10? I picked low level sets and front loaded them, you get most things at low level because I exemplar with it. By level 21, you have all your defenses and survival tools and the rest is gravy. 

 

Recharge is more than plenty, seriously that it is 133% instead of 144% is the height of frivolous nitpick in my opinion.  

 

Honestly the rest of your critiques seem like stylistic choices? My build seems to work out fine for me. If you are dead you aren't defending. If you aren't in melee range your venomous gas isn't working. If you are too focused on blasting you aren't using Envenom and Weaken which are pretty much up all the time. 

 

Honey, sit down. I know a thing or two because I've done a thing or two.

 

 

[Mythical Creature]

On 2/4/2023 at 6:48 PM, Nayeh said:

 

Honey, sit down. I know a thing or two because I've done a thing or two.

 

 

 

You claim to "know a thing or two" but you had to google how to take a screenshot in order to post this, need I say more?

 

If you are as wise and knowledgeable as you claim, how is it that you don't know that you can configure Mids to display stats when you attack or are attacked? 

Edited March 15, 2023 by Mythical Creature

[Mythical Creature]

@Nayeh

To clarify, I am not saying that you are without your potential insight, only that you aren't giving it because you are making criticisms of things that just simply aren't true or are more stylistic choices and not based on the actual build. The video below is the build in play at settings 8x/+2 exemplar to level 39 and as you can see it survives just fine, the recharge is plenty, the attack chain is fine, and the ranged and aoe defense are soft capped in combat, the melee defense is soft capped with venomous gas. Keep in mind this isn't my solo character, I intend to be on a group, so on a team, survival at +4 is just fine.

 

That being said, there was still a nugget of wisdom in your advise that I felt otherwise mostly missed the mark on my build and that was stamina, you are right, endurance recovery is my weakness, especially when exemplar and without incarnates and you gave me the motivation to fix that. So I revised my build to get a tad bit more endurance recovery while still keeping most of the rest of it the same, the results are below. If you are willing, feel free to provide critiques on how I can improve the build based on what it actually is and not flawed assumption. 

 

https://www.midsreborn.com/builds/download.php?uc=1617&c=711&a=1422&f=HEX&dc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
 

 

Edited February 5, 2023 by Mythical Creature
Spelling & Grammar

[MoonSheep]

5 hours ago, Nayeh said:

I've done a thing or two.

 

not as high level as yours but still great fun, submitting my club membership haha

 

i found it didn't really need much defense from all the enemy debuffs if solo, and when on a team i let the tank take the alpha then hop in, venging any corpses that arise. great for speed run TFs, the debuffs make damage procs nice and spicy too

 

[Mythical Creature]

With that slight modification to the build to improve recovery (and picking up clarion) I can solo 8x/+4 at level 50. I stand by my opinion that most of the problems mentioned about my build are style and not substance.

 

I don't care for the proc way of life and it doesn't really help improve support on a team which is my main goal. I wouldn't play my defender to solo but I could if I wanted to with this build. I may not be the best at range, but the build is suited to being up close to the action. I can kill just fine solo, which would probably be run +2/3x and a lot faster than this, but I wanted to test the limits.

 

On a team I am not sure what more you could need on Poison? I can survive getting hit by all sorts of things to use my debuffs that can be stacked several times as needed to support my team. As long as I stay close to the team my debuffs seem to keep most of us alive with only the occasional need to use alkaloid. I don't think people are bringing a defender along because they can load up on procs and I see no obligation to be more vulnerable to eating dirt just because I am not a scrapper.

 

 

 

Edited February 5, 2023 by Mythical Creature

[Nemu]

The other aspect of what makes a good build to me is balance. Offensively that means a good mix of single target and area attacks. It also means that when I design my goals I'm not purely focused on my one goal at the abandonment of everything else. Sure I can design a one attack Empath with the medicine pool with softcap defenses to all positions to support the team (cuz I can't healz if I is dead amirite?) However, when I evaluate my goals, I also want to be able to contribute by actually killing stuff, because there is a balance. Also, dead things don't fight back, and you don't get xp for just staying alive.

 

That to me means at the very least 3 single target attacks so I can have a decent rotation just so I have some capacity to solo. I'd also like to have 2-3 AoE attacks in my toolbox as well so I can kill fodder quickly. Bosses may be the most dangerous mobs in a pack but the added damage/debuffs from fodder matters, and it pays to kill them quickly. Power pick progression also matters to me a lot, I try to have 3-4 attacks by level 30 so I have some semblance of an attack chain.

 

Finally understand your toolkit and playstyle, the same powersets can be built and played very differently depending on AT and what you pair it with. On defenders Venomous gas is a power to build around and it favors you debuffing stuff by existing next to them. This means I'm less thrilled about cones in my arsenal because that means I have to move/reposition to maximize my cone coverage. I don't have that issue on masterminds, so I can approach that build differently.

 

Here's my Poison DP defender, the game plan is to exist next to mobs but you'll notice I don't have softcap melee/AoE defense, only high range defense. Defensively I have hail of bullets, poison trap and for lols world of confusion in addition to VG that can deal with stuff trying to melee me. The high range defense + weaken can deal with mobs outside of my zone of interaction that are all too happy to shoot at me.

 

Offensively poison trap pulls double duty as mitigation and damage via proc bombs, and thus the build also has a focus on recharge via set bonuses + FF procs to make sure that and hail of bullets can be up quickly to take out fodder. Procced out dominate acts as a hard hitter that rounds out my single target rotation. I shy away from cones of any type because I know my game plan is to stay next to mobs, call me lazy but I made a conscious decision to stick with pbaoe/targetted AoEs for my AoE options.

 

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There are layers of synergy with this build, and it's hard to see them if one's metric for builds is simply 45% defense and 75% resists which frankly is overkill for all but the hardest encounters. The irony with those hard mode encounters is that you are actually better off leveraging team buffs/barrier than your personal defense for survival, which means you can dump those set bonuses/slots towards debuff/buff/recharge/procs/damage rather than waste them on survival. I think of all my defenders I've ever only done the 45%/75% thing on my traps fender, and that was because it was so easy to do it without going out of my way and sacrificing balance to achieve those numbers. So I'm not saying don't chase those numbers, I'm saying don't go out of your way chasing them and sacrifice balance in the process.

Here's my Necro/Poison MM.

 

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It's built and played a lot differently than the Poison/DP. On paper it has even less survival and I imagine a lot of people won't call it a good build. But I can keep up with a +4/8 team , provide damage and support, also drop poison trap in melee range without face planting. There are a few reasons for this:

 

1 - teams have buffs and ways to split/share aggro

2 - I know how to play my build and use all the tools available to me (that includes the tried and true defense/resist set bonuses) despite the squish factor.

 

Certainly 45% def + 75% resist builds can cover for deficiencies in both 1 and 2. But once you master 2, a world of new build possibilities open up and that's when you can explore off the beaten path, and there are some interesting and fun builds down those other paths.

[Zect]

On 1/30/2023 at 9:57 PM, Scarlet Shocker said:

Here I am not asking for specific builds, but rather principles of a good build.

1. Leverages unique advantages of powersets/AT
2. High offense
3. High defense
4. High slot-efficiency and power-efficiency (i.e. no using 3 powers to do the job of 1)
5. Tailored to player's skill level
6. Accomplishes stated build design goals

[MonteCarla]

I play lots of different Defenders.
I tend to chase all round Defence (but focussed on Ranged) and Recharge (around +100%).
Every Defender benefits from staying alive and having Aim/Nuke up as often as possible.

 

My generic recipe would be:
6 or 7 primary powers
7 secondary (skip Tier 1 blast and something else not Aim or Nuke)
- Hasten
- Manouvers
- Kick/Tough/Weave
- Combat Jumping or Hover

 

Defence starts at: Weave (+8), Tough (+6 for two unique IOs), Manouvers (+5.5), CH/Hover (+3 with one LotG) = + 22.5 
- In the 40s I'll slot Tough with Unbreakable Guard and get an epic Resistance armor, which usually caps my S/L Resistance

 

Everything else I slot for Recharge:
- Full set of Defender's Bastion somewhere (+8.75)
- Split Vigilant Assault between two AoE attacks (+12.5)
- Sting of the Manticore (+7.5)
- Basilisks Gaze in any Hold (+7.5)
- LotG in every Defence power, plus 5 Red Fortune in Weave/Manouvers eventually (+22.5 + 10)
- Decimation in one of the blasts (6.25)
- Obliteration in my Nuke (or Bombardment) (+5)
- Prev Medicine full set in a Heal if we have one (+8.75)

 

Thats about +90% there, which makes Hasten close to perma (we need +110% for that?) bringing you into he realm of 30 second nukes 

 

And Gaussian's proc in Aim, so it nearly always gives you an extra +100% damage on your nuke!

 

I slot as I go with Attuned enhancements, from around level 22 onwards. By 40 everything's coming together very nicely. And because I'm rich I boost this with P2W buffs all the way to 50, meaning I'm starting at 27.5% Defence to all without ANY contribution from my primary taken into account.

 

This recipe varies, of course, with powersets.

[serxiom]

On 2/3/2023 at 5:50 AM, MoonSheep said:

it’s a great example of a build that would be better on a scrapper or sentinel than a buff/debuff support set 

 

positioning and proper team play will always be a more effective survival strategy than relying on set bonuses to facetank every mob

 

#bringbackdefenders 

 

I must agree with @Mythical Creature. There is not "one way" to play a defender or a "correct" way to make a build. People can find their own style through different builds which is the beauty of this game. 

 

I´ve seen so many people on these forums thinking they own the truth about how a character must be played or built... and that video that Mythical posted show you how wrong you are about to try to set a "meta" or a "must" on this game.

 

I personally dont like Mythical build but no because is missing or picking powers that i would pick, i dont like it because my Poison Defender it must go besides the tank right on his side. Thats my playstyle, going melee range and set up my trap and do the rest of my work debuffing.

 

Going back to the original question on this post: What makes a good defender build? To understand the reach and limits of you can do with the power choices you have in hand. Also understanding the role you have in a team and lay down a build that can help you to fit that role. Finally understand this concept: Buffs and Debuffs are king in this game. 

 

[KaizenSoze]

Lots of good ideas in the thread I will not repeat.

 

Another thing to think about is how aggressive you want the toon to play.

 

Some power sets really lead themselves to the offender play style, trick arrow for instance. I tend to build for a lot of durability, so that I can be the one to take the alpha from the next group.

 

The first question when making a new defender for me. What is my opening attack?

[Scarlet Shocker]

7 minutes ago, serxiom said:

 

I´ve seen so many people on these forums thinking they own the truth about how a character must be played or built... and that video that Mythical posted show you how wrong you are about to try to set a "meta" or a "must" on this game.

 

 

I certainly agree with this statement. There has always been a segment of the community that believes there is only one true way to create a character and play this game - but that's simply a reflection of wider society. My own personal take is that I love the diversity and options this game gives - to me that is one of its best strengths.

 

3 minutes ago, KaizenSoze said:

Another thing to think about is how aggressive you want the toon to play.

 

Some power sets really lead themselves to the offender play style, trick arrow for instance. I tend to build for a lot of durability, so that I can be the one to take the alpha from the next group.

 

The first question when making a new defender for me. What is my opening attack?

 

That's a very good point. With my Poison toons I have to be in the thick of it because if I'm standing off from the action I'm not giving my team the benefit of Venomous Gas nor am I able to utilise Poison Gas Trap.

 

I do usually prefer to stand back and support from a distance but I have more experience of controllers than I do defenders which lend themselves to that.

 

Your question raises an interesting point to me: Will my first attack be consistent through the levelling process? How will I know what my attack chain looks like at 54 when I've not yet tried the power set combination? But it does nevertheless give a good insight into what I'd like to achieve.