Time Defender: Hover or no?

[StriderIV]

Hey squad,

 

I want to design a Time/Water Defender for tough content, but I’m torn. For those with Time Manipulation experience, do you play it hover style or no?

 

Hover is most likely safer, BUT Time has PBAOE’s and Auras that I feel reward it for being on the ground and more “in your face” style of Defender.

 

I’d love to hear your experiences and how you feel it works best.

[TygerDarkstorm]

I mean, this question is truly one that can really only be answered by "go with whatever floats your boat/is your playstyle."

 

If you run Time's Juncture, you need to learn to be okay with being in melee. Which can be done while hovering. I am slightly confused by this notion that to hover means you always need to be super far away (and yes, I realize that hovering in range, especially melee range, means you are going to get hit/take more hits).  So either you use hover to start building your defenses and hover in melee range (or joust in and out), you use some other means of building defense to play in melee, or you skip taking Time's Juncture (idk if that's advisable; my experience with Time isn't that knowledgable) and play in a ranged, hover style.

 

But there's no reason you can't hover in range of still being able to make your debuffs useful. I have a couple of toons who do it and I've seen others do it. Hence my general confusion at the topic/question.

[StriderIV]

1 hour ago, TygerDarkstorm said:

I mean, this question is truly one that can really only be answered by "go with whatever floats your boat/is your playstyle."

 

If you run Time's Juncture, you need to learn to be okay with being in melee. Which can be done while hovering. I am slightly confused by this notion that to hover means you always need to be super far away (and yes, I realize that hovering in range, especially melee range, means you are going to get hit/take more hits).  So either you use hover to start building your defenses and hover in melee range (or joust in and out), you use some other means of building defense to play in melee, or you skip taking Time's Juncture (idk if that's advisable; my experience with Time isn't that knowledgable) and play in a ranged, hover style.

 

But there's no reason you can't hover in range of still being able to make your debuffs useful. I have a couple of toons who do it and I've seen others do it. Hence my general confusion at the topic/question.

No this makes sense. I had the same thought on Time Juncture. I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t something I was REALLY missing since I see MOST Time Defenders I’ve played with are grounded.

[Zect]

Time is defensively very powerful, among the most survivable of all support sets. It can easily softcap multiple positions even without fighting pool, and live comfortably in melee.

 

In hardmodes, you really want to tag enemies with time’s junction, since the -dmg is valuable, and to be able to support teammates with your powerful buffs, 3 of which are pbaoe.  Being survivable enough to join the huddle is a significant tactical advantage.

 

You can try to play midfield, and stay close enough that your pbaoe buff/debuffs affect the frontline without enemies being able to melee you. This is still a useful skill to learn, because there are certain things in hardmodes that cannot be safely tanked; however if your question is “should I only build for ranged def and adopt a range hoverblasting strategy for mitigation”, the answer is that there is no need for this to be your default on time.

 

I have a lot of time fenders and corrs, of varying blast sets, with soul epic. I play them aggressively in melee, using powerboosted farsight and soul drain to deliver incredible supportive and damage output, while shrugging off huge amounts of damage with my powerful, multilayered defenses. 

[TygerDarkstorm]

23 minutes ago, StriderIV said:

No this makes sense. I had the same thought on Time Juncture. I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t something I was REALLY missing since I see MOST Time Defenders I’ve played with are grounded.

I don't think Time has any abilities that require you to be grounded, so if most seem to be grounded, my guess is it's because it's cheaper on end to run CJ instead of Hover

[StriderIV]

1 minute ago, TygerDarkstorm said:

I don't think Time has any abilities that require you to be grounded, so if most seem to be grounded, my guess is it's because it's cheaper on end to run CJ instead of Hover

Solid point. Especially when it can be pretty end intensive to run time as it is.

[StriderIV]

4 minutes ago, Zect said:

Time is defensively very powerful, among the most survivable of all support sets. It can easily softcap multiple positions even without fighting pool, and live comfortably in melee.

 

In hardmodes, you really want to tag enemies with time’s junction, since the -dmg is valuable, and to be able to support teammates with your powerful buffs, 3 of which are pbaoe.  Being survivable enough to join the huddle is a significant tactical advantage.

 

You can try to play midfield, and stay close enough that your pbaoe buff/debuffs affect the frontline without enemies being able to melee you. This is still a useful skill to learn, because there are certain things in hardmodes that cannot be safely tanked; however if your question is “should I only build for ranged def and adopt a range hoverblasting strategy for mitigation”, the answer is that there is no need for this to be your default on time.

 

I have a lot of time fenders and corrs, of varying blast sets, with soul epic. I play them aggressively in melee, using powerboosted farsight and soul drain to deliver incredible supportive and damage output, while shrugging off huge amounts of damage with my powerful, multilayered defenses. 

This was extremely helpful Zect, thanks so much. Seeing as I mostly main Scrappers/Tankers, I might be more comfortable in the fray… I’ll just have to be more cognizant of when I need to jump out 😂

[smnolimits43]

My Time Defender, uses Teleport Target and Teleport

[Hjarki]

The only reason for a Time/Water Defender to be in melee range would be Time's Juncture or potentially something from Epic/Patron Pools - and given that you're almost certainly either Power or Soul, probably not the latter.

 

Time's Juncture gets less and less useful the more you ramp up difficulty. Not only do its debuffs get purple patch'd, but in four star content you've also got to deal with enemies having inherent +damage and +resist. So that impressive-seeming -25% ends up reducing damage more like 6% even against otherwise undistinguished enemies.

 

Flight is also arguably the best movement power. It allows you to go anywhere and gives you two different Defense toggles in the same power pool pick.