Is there any answer to CC?

[Damoklese]

I LOVE(d) my defender.  But I went up against Malta last night and it turned me into a mobile buff dispenser.  Basically all I could do was buff my tank, and then try (unsuccessfully) not to die repeatedly from the constant CC.

 

Is there anything I can do to stop this?  I have some sets that provide mez resistance.  I have a blessing of the zephyr.  If any of that made a lick of difference last night, I couldnt tell.  

 

Before anyone says you just have to control aggro and the tank needs to keep things focused on him.  That isnt a sufficient answer.   I like to solo as well, and half of the times when I was CCed, it was in AOE form from getting too close to the fight.

 

The attached image is my current CC protection.  I did not specifically build for that, so the stats arent particularly good, but i thought id provide them in case anyone wanted to see what I was actually working with before commenting.  (Im Nature/Elec btw)

 

So.. anyone have any advice?

[Glacier Peak]

Teammates, temporary powers, breakfrees, change in playstyle.

[Lunar Ronin]

If you're rich, buy Defense Amplifiers from START.  If you're level 50, get a tier 4 Clarion Core Destiny which provides permanent mez protection.  You can also get Rune of Protection from the Sorcery power pool, which provides mez protection some of the time.

[Zect]

Defense helps a lot. You can't get mezzed if the mezzes don't land, see. (However, as you noticed, a lot of mezzes - and a lot of the most dangerous attacks - are aoe so you need to build for that too and not just regular hoverblasting.)

 

57 minutes ago, Lunar Ronin said:

If you're rich, buy Defense Amplifiers from START.

 

I like defense amps a lot. The great thing is, you can also get them without ever paying START a penny. They drop from super packs, which has 2 important benefits. 1) They can be claimed from character items wherever you go, even in combat. 2) Opening super packs is, on average, a small net profit if you sell the ATIOs.

[Psyonico]

there's also the sorcery pool and Rune of Protection.

[Doomguide2005]

1. High Defense.   If it does not hit it does not mez in most instances.
2. Defense Amplifier
3. Mez them first.  Including START Stun grenades.  Stealth and target binds to spot them first.
4. Breakfree inspires.  Binds to convert inspires to Breakfree types
5. Sorcery pool - Rune of Protection
6. Combat Jumping vs Immobilize (also afaik Teleport abilities should move you around if the mez is Immobilize)
7. Acrobatics vs Hold
8. Mez resistance while it won't stop will shorten time mezzed.
9. Pets from any source to draw fire both before mezzed and to draw them off you while you stand there realizing you don't have a breakfree 😳
10. Positioning and maneuvering.  Pull and then end drain the crap out of them preferably while standing in one of your buff patches 
11. Swallow any pride you have and turn it down or otherwise adjust notoriety.
12. Pull to elevators or doors.  Even if held stunned and sleeping you can still click a door and most (not all) mobs will not chase you further.  The only way my pre IO post nerfs Regen/Broadsword scrapper survived Sappers was tp foe and if she got zapped teleporting one was just this when her end bar vanished.

Edited March 16 by Doomguide2005
Immobilize note

[Psylenz0511]

I think you nailed it in another post about defender buffer teams. Faraday Cage, Sonic Dispersion, FF Dispersion, Traps' Forcefield generator are good to team with

[WumpusRat]

Also remember that you're up against Malta. They're SUPPOSED to be the "anti-super" villain group, with the tools to take down superhumans.

 

But if you're on a character without innate status protections, yeah, carry break frees, proactively take out the enemy CC-casters, stack a lot of defense (purple insps can help you mitigate a lot of incoming), etc.

 

Malta aren't meant to be easy. They can and will absolutely shrek you if you're not prepared.

[CrimtheCold]

21 minutes ago, WumpusRat said:

Snip

 

They can and will absolutely shrek you if you're not prepared.

 

I had to.

Edited March 18 by CrimtheCold

[WumpusRat]

1 hour ago, CrimtheCold said:

 

I had to.

 

Somebody once told me

That Malta's gonna roll me

I ain't got no status protects

She was looking kind of glum

As the Sapper began to hum

And zapped her straight into the bulkhead

 

[Nemu]

On 3/16/2024 at 10:57 AM, Damoklese said:

Basically all I could do was buff my tank, and then try (unsuccessfully) not to die repeatedly from the constant CC.

Change in playstyle and learning mob AI/mechanics first and foremost. Not every engagement involves you standing right next to the tank, and if you don't adapt some factions will decimate you with Mez/AoEs. Know when to attack and when to hold back, when to use AoE and when to focus on single target. For a game as easy as this, there's still a lot of value in movement and positioning.

 

Then inspiration management, downtime means time to combine inspirations to those that you need the most. You should always have some breakfrees in your inventory as a squishy, then defense inspirations. Prioritize those inspirations that you need and combine the rest into them.

 

Lastly build. Most people jump on this as the first point to remediate and I can tell you that if you master the previous 2 items you'll be less dependent on builds covering for your other shortcomings.