Best Defender to support Endgame Farming

[bcommander]

Looking to make a farming defender to support... I'm really pretty open to different archetypes. Just trying to find the best combo's out there to narrow it down!

[Psylenz0511]

38 minutes ago, bcommander said:

Looking to make a farming defender to support... I'm really pretty open to different archetypes. Just trying to find the best combo's out there to narrow it down!

 

Sad to say, most farmer's are melee dmg output characters and don't really NEED a defender for support. That said I would choose a Rad/* or a Trick Arrow defender for big AOE debuffs including -regen, and -dmg.

[Psyonico]

Most farmers are self-sufficent.  When I do see a farmer wanting support, they advertise they want a Kin.

[Without_Pause]

Any competent farmer has Def, Res, and heals covered. What they want is even more Recharge and being Damage capped so they don't have to chug and convert Inspirs to reds. A Kin is so far ahead of any other support the only other powerset needed to support it starts after a Kin is already involved and that's sets with -Res debuffs. In terms of AT, Defenders have the best stats for Kin, but Corrs and Controllers are essentially close enough. One difference is Kin/sonic has the best -Res debuff. Now, I don't know enough on numbers to know if a Fire/kin Corr or Controller would be better due to their damage output, but I think it would partly depend on the number of Supers actively fighting.

 

If there already is a Kin involved, a good option is TA/sonic. Safe support from a distance and a Fire Farmer lights Oil Slick to a default.

 

In the history of the game, there has been call outs for three types of support:

'Healers' although that feels a bit on the yesteryear side lately and vastly due to the myth that CoH succumbs to the Holy Trinity trope when it doesn't,

Kins for farms mostly but cranking out missions in short order is always welcomed. I remember doing long TFs on Live and people happy I had my Kin or people hoping we could get one.

Debuffs/-regen because someone needs an AV killed.  

 

I'm not saying other support aspects aren't welcomed or appreciated. I just haven't seen calls out in channels for them.

[Psyonico]

Just spitballing here, but I think a controller with aoe immobilize would *not* be wanted because the farmer wants mobs to move with them.

[Scientist]

If the defender is just going to be on autofollow, say on a second account, one option I could suggest is a Traps defender.  You can put Acid Mortar on autocast, and it will keep dropping and firing off at mobs.  The advantage is that the Mortar takes the aggro, not the defender, and it is pretty tough, plus if you get enough recharge going you can double stack them at least part of the time for double the -resist (each Mortar counts as a separate "caster").  Toggle back to that account every couple of minutes to recast FF Generator and Hasten, and you are good to go.  

[arcane]

Fire/Kin Corruptor with capped res and soft capped def

[Troyusrex]

I'm partial to an empath because I find the Adrenalin Boost (AB) +recharge to be great. The +regen and +recovery don't hurt either, but not fully needed. When farming actively (instead of automatically) I use a fire/fire/fire blaster and AB.

[Hjarki]

There really isn't much you can do to 'support' a farm build. They've already got all the defenses they need and they're normally running about halfway to the damage cap. So you might as well just bring another farmer rather than trying to buff the farmer you already have.

[Triumphant]

A rare few of us use RP and/or generic builds for farming, because we don't want to make dedicated farming builds.  For mediocre farmers such as myself, I always appreciate heals and endurance buffs to keep me chugging along.

 

But as others have noted above, a truly well-built farmer will not need this kind of support and, unlike myself, most folks probably have built dedicated farming toons.

[golstat2003]

I would say a Fire/Kin Corrupter. Though the main farmer may be capped, they will always apprecitate Fulcrum and Speed Boost. Plus the rest of the hitters they may bring a long will DEFINETLY appreciate it. Other than that, maybe Poison for debuffs.

Edited August 29 by golstat2003

[evetsleep]

On 7/25/2024 at 9:08 AM, Scientist said:

If the defender is just going to be on autofollow, say on a second account, one option I could suggest is a Traps defender.  You can put Acid Mortar on autocast, and it will keep dropping and firing off at mobs.  The advantage is that the Mortar takes the aggro, not the defender, and it is pretty tough, plus if you get enough recharge going you can double stack them at least part of the time for double the -resist (each Mortar counts as a separate "caster").  Toggle back to that account every couple of minutes to recast FF Generator and Hasten, and you are good to go.  

Not saying this is crazy, but the few times I've brought in a traps toon to a farm the acid mortars didn't last long at all plus they take aggro away from the farmer (pealing off a few.. just enough to be a little annoying).

Edited September 8 by evetsleep

[evetsleep]

I've been noodling this question myself lately.. specifically on what to bring along with my farmer (other than another one.. I am far too impatient to build another).

 

I'm considering:

• Illusion/kin - really for the improved illusion for threat reduction and safe casting of fulcrum and speed boost for the recharge buff.. quicker burns and other AoE attacks.
• Illusion/Marine - Marine has some really interesting things that boosts recharge, damage, to hit, etc..  doesn't really need to be illusion, but I'm thinking invisibility will minimize taking aggro off the brute

 

In the end the problem (for me) is dealing with the aggro you'll get as a non-farmer.  If you have some tools to deal with that without being annoying to the farmer you're golden.  As a defender I think kinetics, Marine, or trick arrow are the best options since they boost the things a farmer needs: damage and recharge.

Edited September 8 by evetsleep

[Without_Pause]

Phant doesn't play nice since it has KB. You could skip casting it in a farm, Outside of Fire/kin Controller or Corr, I might be tempted to do a Ice/kin Corr since the slows will offer some mitigation and you can do ST damage to minimize aggro if need be. Stick a Ragnarok: Chance to KD in Ice Storm to further help.