Cold/DP

[Tonio]

I don't usually play Defenders, have never played Cold Domination on any AT, and have only played DP once or twice, and a long time ago.  Moreover, I'm still trying to learn the ins and outs of making builds, so any help is very welcome.

 

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From what I can tell, Cold Defenders want lots of recharge for Heat Loss, so I built around that.  Didn't try to cap defenses, thinking I probably won't be soloing, and/or maybe taking Barrier?  I would like to maybe someday attempt hard mode content, but not sure what's needed for that (except hearing that cold domination is useful there).

 

Any and all help is very welcome, no need to be gentle (if the build sucks, please let me know!).  Thanks!

Creed McGraw - Defender (Cold Domination - Dual Pistols).mbd

[Uun]

• Infrigidate requires accuracy. Use an Accurate Tohit Debuff set. Add the Achilles' Heel proc alone.
• Why are you taking the shields at lvl 41 and 47? These are core powers and should be taken early.
• 5 slots in Snow Storm is 4 too many. It doesn't need more than 1 endred. The accuracy and damage is completely wasted.
• I know you're chasing recharge set bonuses, but the 6 slots in Frostwork could be put to better use. The power is largely skippable. I would take this much later if at all.
• 3 more slots in Arctic Fog for damage resistance.
• You don't need the Kismet 6% if you're running Tactics.
• Benumb requires accuracy.
• Tactics needs endred. At a minimum add the Gaussian's tohit/end piece.
• Slot a set with more recharge and better bonuses in Sleet. Add the Achilles' Heel proc alone.
• More damage in Piercing Rounds.
• Replace the Power Transfer %heal in Stamina with Performance Shifter endmod and %end.

[Tonio]

2 hours ago, Uun said:

• Infrigidate requires accuracy. Use an Accurate Tohit Debuff set. Add the Achilles' Heel proc alone.
• Why are you taking the shields at lvl 41 and 47? These are core powers and should be taken early.
• 5 slots in Snow Storm is 4 too many. It doesn't need more than 1 endred. The accuracy and damage is completely wasted.
• I know you're chasing recharge set bonuses, but the 6 slots in Frostwork could be put to better use. The power is largely skippable. I would take this much later if at all.
• 3 more slots in Arctic Fog for damage resistance.
• You don't need the Kismet 6% if you're running Tactics.
• Benumb requires accuracy.
• Tactics needs endred. At a minimum add the Gaussian's tohit/end piece.
• Slot a set with more recharge and better bonuses in Sleet. Add the Achilles' Heel proc alone.
• More damage in Piercing Rounds.
• Replace the Power Transfer %heal in Stamina with Performance Shifter endmod and %end.

Thank you!

 

Trying to incorporate your changes, came up with this.

Got rid of Frostwork to get Super Speed for slow/kb protection, moved around some slots/powers, etc.

 

Better?

 

Creed McGraw (v2) - Defender (Cold Domination - Dual Pistols).mbd

[Uun]

Looks a lot better. As you play it, you may decide you need another slot in Stamina.

 

When looking at your defense in Mids, make sure you turn off Hail of Bullets - the 15% defense only lasts 5 seconds.

[Tonio]

After playing a while with this, I've noticed my mez resist needs help.  Endurance is tight, but not lacking, as long as I hit Heat Loss on cooldown. All in all, pretty fun, though!  I'd consider Clarion to cover the mez resist, but since I'd like to do hard mode content at some point with this guy, it looks like Barrier is pretty much a must. =/

[Uun]

You're a Cold defender. Except for the first 10 seconds, your shields are better than Barrier. Take Clarion.

[Zect]

On 5/14/2023 at 6:57 AM, Tonio said:

Any and all help is very welcome, no need to be gentle (if the build sucks, please let me know!).

 

Your build is trash and displays a fundamental misunderstanding of how to play your powersets, the invention system, and the - just kidding. There are inefficiencies, but this is nowhere as bad as some examples I've seen.

 

What you've got right:

• Recharge focus - you need rech for perma-heatloss, perma-benumb, permahaste and 2x sleet. (A couple seconds less on most of these is acceptable, but not significant gaps.)
• Agility alpha - not a bad choice for cold. The tradeoff is less return from procbombing your powers.
• No excessive recovery slotting - coldfenders get a lot of end through heatloss, and should try to exploit this by devoting fewer slots to recovery.

 

What you didn't:

• Neglecting enhancement value - you slotted power transfer in heatloss which has low rech enhancement (this IO set is designed for attacks that also drain end, like elec melee/blast powers, so a lot of its enhancement value is in +dmg). A set that ed-caps rech like preemptive optimization would allow you to spend fewer slots building for global rech, at only a slight cost in recharge set bonuses.
• Your FF proc should go in a power with higher availability than hail of bullets, such as rain or empty clips. It really shines in things like footstomp which you spam on cooldown in crowds. Your hail of bullets is available every 30s or so. That means you get 5s of 100% rech every 30s. If you put it in a large aoe that recharges every 10s, that could be 5s of 100% rech every 10s - a significant improvement. The lower proc chance is compensated by using it on large mobs.

I'm also going to disagree with a lot of what uun said above, but specifically in the context of hard mode and only because you say you are interested in hardmode. I would agree outside of hardmode.

 

You should consider kismet despite having tactics, because you are playing a blast set without aim and you want to avoid benumb missing. Hardmode AV's have large amounts of def, and they resist debuffs. Respect them.

 

You should bring barrier if you wish to do 4* hardmode. 1) Cold shields are not enough if you are the only def buffer. 2) Barrier also provides res. 3) Many leaders who run pug hardmode will ask for it. Some will not bring you if you don't have it.

 

However, this is not a big issue since you can change your destiny at will. You could easily carry barrier for hardmode, and clarion for babymode.

 

Finally, if you wish to do 4* hard mode, consider building for more defense. It is common that you are the only def buffer on the team, and since you can't shield yourself, that also makes you the most vulnerable member. This will also help your mez situation outside of hardmode - you need mez protection less if you're dodging the mezzes, see.

 

Obviously, a more optimized team comp makes these non-issues, but if you are running pug hardmode, then it pays to have a little insurance. Even if you are leading, there is no guarantee you can find people with the ideal support powersets.

 

This should give you some ideas if you wish to pursue more def while still maintaining comparable heatloss, benumb, and hasten uptime. The remaining slots are yours to spend.

 

 

I want to point out one hardmode-specific optimization which I am now trialing personally. Note that tough is not slotted. The reason for this is that the current hardmode meta is built around barrier stacking. Ideally, there will be 7 barriers going at once (8 if the leader cares enough to unslot their incan for tough fights, rarely 5-6 if you have people who can't use it on cooldown or who didn't bring one). Since each barrier is 5% def and 5% res to all at the weakest, we can expect an average of 35% res to all at all times including your own barrier. This suggests that resistances significantly in excess of 40% are wasted. Therefore, this build trims back some SL res to regain slot-efficiency, and builds for between 35% to 40% res to all except psi. You still have the option to turn on tough and get 71% or so SL res without external buffs.

 

Creed McGraw (v2) - Defender (Cold Domination - Dual Pistols).mbd

Edited May 17, 2023 by Zect

[Tonio]

28 minutes ago, Zect said:

Your FF proc should go in a power with higher availability than hail of bullets, such as hail of bullets or empty clips.

I assume you meant "bullet rain or empty clips"?  If "bullet rain", I'd have to move the Defender's Bastion set somewhere else, to avoid losing the +rech set bonus.  Same with Empty Clips and the Frozen Blast.  (Not saying that's a problem, just making sure I understand what you meant.)

 

Thank you so much for the detailed explanation. Lots of info there!