Empathy / Assault Rifle

[COH Radgen]

Hi folks.  On live my first 50 was a radiation/electric defender and I've recreated him on HC.  I had a couple other defenders on live and on HC but I decided to try my first Empathy char a while back.  He's pretty decent but about 15 sec sort of perma-hasten and I'm sure he can be tweaked for improvement.

 

I've seen the Emp guide @MonteCarla made and comments made by @Doomguide2005 but I'm open to most any recommendations/build suggestions.

 

Spoiler

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Thanks for your help!

Bobby_emp_ar_Defender.mbd

[Doomguide2005]

    Very interesting build.  Still looking over the build but at first glance I see what appears to be some reaches for +regen set buffs (specifically with Recovery Aura).  +8% and most the rest of the set bonuses for +regen pale when compared to having RegenAura up and running.  You have an excellent cooldown with Hasten running.  I would really like to see Hasten and Tactics earlier in the build unless this is intended for 45+ content only.  My first choice would be to swap the Rez for one of them.   I really like the way you used Aegis in Rune and Tough I've never seen that done before (not counting a much older version of my SR scrapper).  Anyway, have to run be back later.

[Doomguide2005]

So having another longer look at your build.  Is it intended to only be used at 45+ or is exemplar work to be expected as well?  Solo or teamed?  Some of the early TF are going to be a bit rough.  You have really only two solid attacks by level 20 (M30 Grenade at 10th and Sniper Rifle at 20th).  Accuracy is on the weak side as well until you can run Tactics.  No Kismet +6% either to help.  The procs in M30 Grenade are going to miss a lot and damage will be rather random with the procs (each has about a 38% chance to trigger on a foe).  I usually recommend an Endred in Resurrect because even with Vigilance you do not want to be caught without the endurance to cast Rez when everything is going sideways and a key ally just got dropped.  Working on a build assuming it's not to be only a solo or 45+ content build.  Be back later.

[COH Radgen]

@Doomguide2005 Thanks for your feedback and I'm looking forward to seeing your build.  I've currently got this guy parked in the Hive for Hami raid healing (Early Bird on Torch so there's always at least 1 round of clearing mitos) but I would like to take him for more team oriented and exemping activity throughout the city. 

 

I could add what you come up with as a 2nd build but I have the feeling what you come up with will be just as useful for Hami raids as what I have currently.  By the by, I have the resources available to afford pretty much whatever you come up with, excepting a slew of D-Syncs...I have an aversion to the Aeon SF.

[MoonSheep]

looking at the build, i would consider rolling it as a sentinel - it would give you the defensive and damage focus you're looking for, the defender AT will hold you back on this side of things. or as a halfway house, consider rolling it as a corrupter for a greater damage potential

[COH Radgen]

Thanks @MoonSheep but I have corruptors a-plenty and I had rolled this one specifically to be my first Emp and as a defender.  To mostly be in a supportive role when exemping down to work on teams not at max levels.

[MoonSheep]

6 hours ago, COH Radgen said:

Thanks @MoonSheep but I have corruptors a-plenty and I had rolled this one specifically to be my first Emp and as a defender.  To mostly be in a supportive role when exemping down to work on teams not at max levels.

 

that's helpful to know ty. i have a different perspective on how i would build and slot the alt if you're seeking to focus on support. the comments below are just a serving suggestion from someone who mains a defender in a support role

 

as an observation i would say the build you've posted above achieves neither your ambitions of being a support AT or decent damage. the over-focus on personal defense is robbing you of your full potential as a support AT or a meaningful damage dealer and ends up leaving you sub-par on both fronts. the only benefit you're gaining from the hyper-focus on defense is being able to face tank a few mobs, which could instead be replicated by popping 2 medium insps

 

properly slotting your buffs would give a far greater benefit for your objectives to be a support role, some key observations:

 

[1] Slotting a corrupter with 5 sets of Numina's in the key empathy powers gives better support numbers than on your current defender build and you benefit from having double damage on your attacks through scourge and a higher damage cap. The current build has weaker buff numbers than a corrupter and significantly lower damage

[2] Absorb pain is a key power for empathy. If things are getting hectic in content, being able to bring a tank on red hp to near full hp is hugely valuable

[3] Not picking Powerboost puts you at a significant disadvantage, especially if you want to support during hami raids. A strong tank has over 3000hp, healing for 518hp, or 20% of their total health is barely noticeable

[4] Vengeance is hugely valuable on a defender as its base values are strong. Slotted veng with Powerboost gives around +68% defense for the whole team and a bucket load of +To Hit. You will actively look forward to people dying

[5] Not having recall friend reduces your ability to provide support. Bringing back fallen team members or moving them outside of combat to rez is valuable

[6] Not slotting fortitude reduces its value to team members. It can give good defense numbers on a defender when slotted. The +To Hit aspect is often overlooked and important at lower levels, e.g. Posi 2 TFs where there's a lot of -accuracy powers. there's a hami-o which i feel must have been made by the devs specifically for fort. membrane exposure gives +def, +rech and +to hit.  triple slotting it into fort is a perfect pairing

[7] Without much effort you can easily get +60-65% S/L res and some +defense going, if you do get hit you can heal yourself quite quickly with healing aura. If you find you're getting a lot of aggro then it's likely a playstyle issue. I run my defender (a kin) with just Dark Embrace on speed runs, 4 star content, posi TFs and everything in between and it does fine

 

here's a comparison table i made of some key powers and where improvements can be enjoyed on the key buffs:

 

Power	Current Build	Corrupter slotted	Defender slotted	Defender Powerboost
Healing Aura	264hp	267hp (+3hp)	304hp (+40hp)	436hp (+172hp)
Heal Other	518hp	525hp (+6hp)	596hp (+78hp)	854hp (+336hp)
Absorb Pain	0	1339hp (+1339hp)	1522hp (+1522hp)	2180hp (+2180hp)
Spirit Ward	35hp per tick	43hp (+8hp)	59hp (+25hp)	N/A
Fortitude	17% Def, 18% To Hit	17% Def, 22% To Hit	23% Def, 28% To Hit	38% Def, 46% To Hit

 

i do observe that the eternal 'Flavour of the Month' on homecoming is building for defense without reflecting on whether it's helping the AT or the player to achieve their key objectives. defenders are great archetypes as their support numbers are the most generous, building upon that really makes them shine at what they can do

 

again, that's personal preference though - i really enjoy enhancing the base characteristics of the archetypes i play so that the build creates most potent 'version' of the primary set. i appreciate many people prefer combat classes and don't necessarily want to commit too heavily into the support role. which is what corrupters are for in my view

 

[Doomguide2005]

I think @MoonSheep has hit it on the head for why I'm having difficulty coming up with a build while staying with or close to your power choices.  You've spent a lot of effort towards personal defense via two pool powers which require 6 power choices, 5 of which are taken by 24th (or 5 of 14 power choices at that point).  And you have 5 slots devoted to Health and Stamina which ought to be total overkill with minimal cooldowns in the Auras.  I've done a build which you can use for ideas or whatnot working on points MoonSheep and I have brought up.  It is something along the lines of what I would do.  More armor/defense would be something I'd tackle as a 2nd build as an option for situations and teams that might require it.

 

 

Bobby EmpAR (v2.00 i28.10) COH Radgen - Defender (Empathy - Assault Rifle).mbd

[MoonSheep]

3 hours ago, Doomguide2005 said:

I think @MoonSheep has hit it on the head for why I'm having difficulty coming up with a build while staying with or close to your power choices.  You've spent a lot of effort towards personal defense via two pool powers which require 6 power choices, 5 of which are taken by 24th (or 5 of 14 power choices at that point).  And you have 5 slots devoted to Health and Stamina which ought to be total overkill with minimal cooldowns in the Auras.  I've done a build which you can use for ideas or whatnot working on points MoonSheep and I have brought up.  It is something along the lines of what I would do.  More armor/defense would be something I'd tackle as a 2nd build as an option for situations and teams that might require it.

 

 

Bobby EmpAR (v2.00 i28.10) COH Radgen - Defender (Empathy - Assault Rifle).mbd 42.03 kB · 3 downloads

 

this is more my kind of build. there's a lot of core empathy powers to take, it makes fitting everything in tricky

 

some bits i'd change, salting to taste mostly:

- i'd prefer the numinas set over panacea. i know panacea gives nice +recharge, but i'm a bit of a moth to numina's +heal set bonuses. 5 sets gives a nice +30% heal bonus. 5 slotting would give +18.75% S/L res too. if we then picked spiritual core paragon as our incarnate alpha we'd have an extra +33% heal bonus for a total of +63%. now we're cooking with gas

- i would choose soul mastery over energy as the powerboost recharges a lot quicker (240s vs 120s)
- I'd put the blessing of the zephr KB protection in combat jumping instead and in temp invul, 4 slot for aegis + the steadfast def IO
- If we chop off a slot from somewhere else like tactics or maneuvers we could put it on M30 grenade and 6 slot it with defender's bastion to get the +10 rech
- i'd find a way to have spirit ward in the build under lvl 20 and 2 slot it for health, applying it on the lead alpha taker is nice for posi TFs and makes a difference. i would sacrifice clear mind and put hasten later in the build

- it has no travel power currently, i'd sacrifice assault for super jump

Edited February 9 by MoonSheep

[Doomguide2005]

@MoonSheep

Something more like this perhaps:

Sorry jet packs for travel power ... and numerous START options for Teleport or swap out Rez for travel choice (of SJ, Mystic Flight, or SS) and grab the temp power to Rez (and or Day Job).  Personally, I drop Resurrect for Clear Mind, and I do not like it that late in the Build much less missing.

 

 

Bobby EmpAR sans Panacea (v3.00 i28.10) COH Radgen - Defender (Empathy - Assault Rifle).mbd

Edited February 9 by Doomguide2005

[MoonSheep]

1 hour ago, Doomguide2005 said:

@MoonSheep

Something more like this perhaps:

Sorry jet packs for travel power ... and numerous START options for Teleport or swap out Rez for travel choice (of SJ, Mystic Flight, or SS) and grab the temp power to Rez (and or Day Job).  Personally, I drop Resurrect for Clear Mind, and I do not like it that late in the Build much less missing.

 

 

Bobby EmpAR sans Panacea (v3.00 i28.10) COH Radgen - Defender (Empathy - Assault Rifle).mbd 47 kB · 2 downloads

 

now that's a good looking support alt 😎 i'm invested in this build now regardless of whether OP plays it. i don't mind having less powers early on if i'm focusing on support, could consider switching buckshot for sniper rifle

 

you're probably right regarding removing rez. as a kin i often feel a bit bad (only very slightly) during a death on the team;

> someone dies

> i announce the death, ask people to gather round me

> tp the body infront of me

> activate powerboost, cast veng

> announce that we all now have glorious powerboosted veng

> run off leaving the body on the ground

 

looking forward to seeing what @COH Radgen thinks of this revised proposal

 

 

[COH Radgen]

Thank you @MoonSheep and @Doomguide2005 for your builds and suggestions.  The character will use flight due to concept/background but most of the rest is open for change.  I like the idea of taking Clear Mind rather than the Resurrect, even tho both issues can be mitigated by using an inspiration.

 

I'm still working in Mids of the tweaks I want to make so I can take Clear Mind early enough in the build to have under level 20 and get Mystic Flight shoehorned in somewhere.  Probably moving Hasten back some...move Maneuvers up so I can still get Tactics in there for the Confuse/Fear resists.  I had actually started a respec earlier but realized that after replacing Assault with Clear Mind I didn't have the pre-req to take Tactics, so I will definitely be using a build at least based on what you both have provided.

 

And just to be sure I'm not off base with cats and boosts, aside from the purples I should attune the enh's so the sets bonuses are available as early as possible for exemping down, correct?  Well, also aside from the basic IO enh's that should get +5'ed at some point.

[Doomguide2005]

Purples and PvP IO's work as if attuned so generally you want to boost to +5 if you do anything to them.  Which while I appreciate the Numina's for the large heal boost those set bonuses will disappear below 27th as Numina's is a 30 to 50 set.  That's another reason I like the Panacea they are already "attuned" and operate all the way down to 7th (i.e. before Posi 1) and also provide a not insignificant +recovery if you have 4 or 5 sets @2.5% per set.  In the ideal spending is money is no limit conceivably do both using the Panaceas for builds pre 27th and Numina's post 27th.  That's why it's really a playstyle thing above all.

 

Edit:  read up on attuning in the wiki ... and I've managed to confuse myself.  I'll have to check in game if attuning a Numina's will make it retain the set bonuses below 27th.

Edit2:  No, it's as my senior brain was thinking, becoming attuned is not going to yield set bonuses from Numina's below 27th level.  Even in Ouro it's still showing as no heal bonus while exemped to 24th (so not even with the +5 effective level for powers does Numina's start providing a 6% heal bonus)

Edited February 11 by Doomguide2005
spelling and grammar errors

[COH Radgen]

@Doomguide2005 I really wasn't looking to have 2 builds on this char, especially with identical powers and nearly the same slotting. 

 

Reviewing https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Attuned shows that:

• When exemplaring, the effective aspect enhancement is figured as if it were the current natural level of the character, or, the maximum level of the range of enhancement if the character has outleveled it.
• For the sake of Bonus Sets, the bonus effects cut out when exemplaring more than three levels below the minimum of the Attuned Enhancement's range.

With the number of healing powers, does the increase in healing for levels 27+ make enough of a difference to offset not having set bonuses below 27?  I suppose I'll have to work with it one way or the other and find out for myself in actual play.  Then again, I could have several powers slotted with Num and the others with Pan and change it up to all of one or the other if I find it isn't working well.  

 

At the moment I'm looking at the build below.  I'll likely swap out the Posis in Full Auto for some of the new Cupids but Mids hasn't got that updated quite yet it seems.

 

 

Bobby_EmpAR_Num_Pan_ Flight.mbd

[Doomguide2005]

Other thoughts you might want to consider:  

1. You could swap out the Sudden Acceleration for a Force Feedback in M30 grenade.
2. I'm experimenting with a full Cupids set in PA so far it seems to work fairly well and should be crazy once I hit 50 on the character and can slot in the Purple Confuse including the Contagious Confusion in Deceive.  Be curious to hear how it works for you in Full Auto.
3. I tend to like to put a 'range' in Clear Mind, to get that one guy who always seems to be way off across the map instead of close.  But Endred for when you have to cover a lot of allies when RA is on cool down works too especially at lower levels when recharge is thrown off by exemplar status.
4. If you can swap slots a bit to get one more in Fortitude, I'll just note if you put the Guassian's BU proc in there it will proc on you.  Fort someone, see it proc, and open up with FA is also a fun option.

Edited February 11 by Doomguide2005