Defendermania running wild! Dark/Dark/? edition

[BurtHutt]

So, I am on a bit of a DEF kick! Thanks to all who discussed Thermal on my other post.

 

I am also wanting to make a Dark/Dark DEF. I know it's a popular build (or was). Can people chime in if it's still a good one? Is it as tough as it used to be? And what would your epic/ancil power be? Posting builds would also be awesome! 🙂 

 

 

[Psyonico]

To my knowledge, nothing significant has changed in Dark/Dark, so yes, it's just as good as it used to be.  Back on live, I loved my D3, I've got one on HC, but it hasn't clicked with me like it did on live.

[Psylenz0511]

7 hours ago, Psyonico said:

To my knowledge, nothing significant has changed in Dark/Dark, so yes, it's just as good as it used to be.  Back on live, I loved my D3, I've got one on HC, but it hasn't clicked with me like it did on live.

the 3 DDD, the darkity/dark/dark is full of awesome sauce. It's a friend to teams. Fearsome stare is a strong to-hit debuff that also fears foes in place (terrorize is what tornadoes do to scatter spawns). Howling Twilight is one of the strongest regeneration debuffs, it slows targets and is an AUTO-HIT low level stun and as a side effect only, it resurrects defeated allies in a nice large radius. Twilight grasp is also a strong quick recharging debuff of regen and to-debuff that also is one of the strongest AoE heals, centered on the caster, second only to kinetic heal > transfusion. To follow up, dark mastery thematically fits Dark defenders, and in practice fills 'holes' nicely- resistances, +damage, and end drain.

By the way, Howling Twilight creates a pseudopet to resurrect the allies, if you time it just right, you can rez yourself should you fall before the pseudopet starts the rez animations

[BurtHutt]

Does anyone have an awesomesauce build for this super defender?!

[Uun]

If you don't want to take Dark Consumption or Oppressive Gloom, Soul Mastery is another option for the Epic. You can take Dark Embrace at 35, then Power Boost and Soul Drain.

[Nightmarer]

No idea if it's awesomesauce but this is the one I use. This was a respec after lvl 50 so the lvl choices are quite screwed up since it was totally different to when lvling. I do not use Hasten on Dark themed chars because of concept.

Defender (Dark Miasma - Dark Blast).mbd

[Zect]

D3 was very valued in the days before the softcap meta became dominant, because it very easily floored enemy tohit even without any gear. In the modern age, it is still an effective combo - it's not like any of the powers have stopped working - but what it offers is no longer anything special because +def buffs are everywhere. One recent development is the replacement of pbaoe soul drain with taoe spirit drain.

 

I do not post builds, but here are general notes for constructing a highly efficient D3 that will be effective in all threat environments and mission profiles:

• Take tactics. Dark miasma's primary weakness is it does not have any -def, so tactics is your primary way of increasing team hit chance.
• Stack your tar patch (or be close to doing so). Endgame darks have Tar patch recharging in 22.5 to 25.0s to stack the -res against hard targets and increase your dps. This is a unique strength that several other support sets (rad, therm, time etc) do not enjoy.
• Skimp slightly on defense. Both your primary and 2ndary inflict -tohit, so there is no need to go overboard building for defense. Your target defense varies depending on comfort and your other build goals, usually ranging from 32.5%-40%. (In general, for most unarmored toons 40% is the new 45%; in team content maneuvers are very prevalent (I challenge you to get on a team with 0 maneuvers running. Yep, thought so.) to provide the last 5% and there is no point stretching build resources to go to 45% or beyond, while solo the last 5% is a defense amp away (barrier if you're poor) which as a side effect also deletes mezzes as a game mechanic).
• Take spirit drain. This is one of the main epic options for getting decent dps as a fender (another being procced GFS) and with a 15ft radius it will generally cap out at 5 targets for a nice +80% damage/+20% tohit. You have now installed build up on a fender, enjoy.

Most of your build will be defined by your mitigation strategy. You can generally get R/aoe to 40-45%, or tri-vector to 35%-40%, and SL resists at 50+% (fightingless) or 75% (with fighting) depending on your pool power and incarnate configuration.

[Uun]

6 hours ago, Zect said:

Take spirit drain. This is one of the main epic options for getting decent dps as a fender (another being procced GFS) and with a 15ft radius it will generally cap out at 5 targets for a nice +80% damage/+20% tohit. You have now installed build up on a fender, enjoy.

If you take Soul Mastery instead of Dark Mastery you can still get Soul Drain. Although it only has a 10 ft radius, it has a 10 target max, so caps out at +120% dmg/+30% tohit. Since Blackstar is a PBAoE nuke, I would be inclined to go for Soul Drain. I think Spirit Drain is more useful with ranged nukes. 

[Ukase]

11 hours ago, Zect said:

Endgame darks have Tar patch recharging in 22.5 to 25.0s to stack the -res against hard targets and increase your dps. This is a unique strength that several other support sets (rad, therm, time etc) do not enjoy.

I was under the impression a second cast of Tar Patch refreshed the -res, but didn't stack it - unless it was in conjunction with another player's own tar patch. 
I could certainly be incorrect, 
I suppose the only way to be sure is to log in my own 3D, long neglected for 687 days. 
The famed Rikti Pylon, and it's stats via Power Analyzer: 

With 1 Tar patch: 

 

With 2 tar patches (from the same player), there is no difference. (I would share the graphic, but there really is no difference.) 
So, yeah, they would only stack from another player. If I had a second dark/dark...well, maybe I do, but I don't feel the need to log in that level 32 DD to demonstrate what I'm reasonably confident in. 
Still, with -30Res, who needs a 2nd dark. Nice to have, but I'd rather have a natty or a kin to complement, rather than stack. 

So, really, no need to push for more than a 45 second recharge in most situations, as that's how long the debuff lasts. 

[Wimbochismo]

1 hour ago, Ukase said:

I was under the impression a second cast of Tar Patch refreshed the -res, but didn't stack it - unless it was in conjunction with another player's own tar patch. 

 

 

[Zect]

7 hours ago, Uun said:

If you take Soul Mastery instead of Dark Mastery you can still get Soul Drain. Although it only has a 10 ft radius, it has a 10 target max, so caps out at +120% dmg/+30% tohit. Since Blackstar is a PBAoE nuke, I would be inclined to go for Soul Drain. I think Spirit Drain is more useful with ranged nukes. 

 

Fully saturated soul drain is slightly less likely on fenders than armored AT's, due to the lack of taunt auras to keep mobs tightly clustered around the caster. There is also some value in being able to buff at range and then go in only for the nuke. However, ultimately I'm just being very literal and assuming that OP only wants /dark and not /soul as a D3. Definitely try out soul if you like - it also lets you power boost heals.

[Zect]

5 hours ago, Ukase said:

With 2 tar patches (from the same player), there is no difference. (I would share the graphic, but there really is no difference.)

 

I am away on holiday but I was intrigued enough that I had to arrange for someone to do this for me. (corr numbers.)

 

 

Let no heathen doubt the sacred lore of the double tar patch! Unbelievers will be fed to the fluffies.

[Ukase]

I don't get it. I only got the singular effect from casting it 2x. I mean, I wasn't real sure, so I tested it and still come up wrong? What is this game?! 
The effect, per my detailed tab info is supposed to last 45 seconds. So, I cast the 2nd one at about the 30 second mark, as that's approximately when it recharged. I even redid it just now, and the power analyzer still only shows a single -30% from Tar Patch after casting it a 2nd time. I even closed the analyzer window and recast the analyzer and still only got the single effect. 
Mind you, this was with a DDD defender. 

I brought my ice/dark corr on and see the 2x effect. 

But I checked CoD and it does say for the defender the stacking is per caster, same as the corruptor. 
I'm not sure what to make of my glitched defender. 
Maybe that's why I hadn't played him in 687 days! 

And...yet, on the third test, it works as you folks say it does, 2x the debuff. 

So, clearly, something must have screwed up on my end. I appreciate you folks taking the time to point out my flawed conclusion. 
But honestly, I did test it! I just got bad results for reasons which escape me. Maybe it missed, and I didn't catch it? I only have the token slot, and no accuracy in it, just a slow/end/recharge. 

Edited November 30 by Ukase

[Uun]

1 hour ago, Ukase said:

But I checked CoD and it does say for the defender the stacking is per caster, same as the corruptor. 

If you look at the symbol next to "stacking is per caster", it shows "stacks with existing effect" for both the pseudo pet summon and all the various effects.

[Psyonico]

5 hours ago, Ukase said:

I'm not sure what to make of my glitched defender. 

I suspect it was power analyzer and not your defender that was glitches.

 

That is, the debuff was stacking, but just not showing up for some reason.

[BurtHutt]

I appreciate the banter! I am looking at running out a toon. I've been inspired!