Making Empathy the best that it can be

[Onlyasandwich]

I was digging on one of the perennial "empathy is not so great" threads over on the Defender forums and inspiration struck. I haven't made an emp since live days - let's get something going!

 

Defender buff/heal values are of course superior, but it occurs to me that a certain type of controller would make for a more complete character, for a few reasons:

• If you're going to be doing the things that justify being an emp (Keeping Fort up, Clear Mind spam where appropriate, etc), a decent amount of your time is taken up by clicking your support powers. This is at odds with the Defender's entire blasty secondary! Sure Controllers can be plenty busy, but many primaries can set things in action and refocus on other powers during the engagement.
• Ice seems especially decent here, as a good portion of their power is invested in a completely passive effect - Arctic Air. 
• You have a lil buddy on which to use those buffs when solo.

 

Note that I'm not trying in any way to advocate for Ice/Emp as some amazing meta combo. I'm just thinking about the best ways to use Empathy in day to day gameplay without impinging on other priorities. I also don't intend to just spam Emp buffs all day and nothing else. The idea is to mitigate the impact of any Empy buff spam I do on other things I can bring to the team.

 

Anyhow, here I am with an Icy guy! I'd love your review and perspective.

 

Here are some goals:

• Recharge first and foremost. Get those controls rotating easily, keep Fort and AB up as much as possible.
• Proccy damage in a few key powers where they are worth leveraging. I'm not trying to be a damage monster here, but I want the time I spend clicking for damage to really count.
• Max hit chance against +3's. 
• Outside of this, it's basically just "good stuff" ie all the big defense and resist bonuses of any kind I can get with minimal side-tracking from the above goals. I'm not going for softcap on myself. I anticipate this being a so-so soloer at best, though most controllers can solo decently at higher levels anyhow on the strength of their controls alone.
• A side mission of slow resist. I haven't hit the totals I prefer here, but don't want to go too far out of my way to bend the build for it.

 

Little tricks I have in mind:

• Endurance looks really bad off the bat! With my current recharge, I can rotate RA and Conserve Power and always have one or the other up as long as I'm careful with my timings. I think this should work pretty well! Do you disagree? If so, why?
• Jack is softcapped. Not much to say there - it's just something he gets with a secondary that provides decent defense. Go go Jack, do stuff!
• The Overwhelming force I have in Ice slick is a placeholder for the new chance for confuse proc from the Spring Fling event. I'm not sure if this is worth it at all! I dunno - I just sort of want to play around with it, and the occasional confuse stacking opportunity to hit bosses might be nice. Do you see a better place for this enhancement, or something tremendous I could otherwise do with the slot? Ice actually lacks a good slot for it. 

 

I know - no rez! I'm all for hearing arguments to grab it. I'm fine just leaning on the START power when it's truly needed. For me, I'd rather go all-in (veng+tp other+rez) or not at all, and none of the powers are easy drops for it. Doesn't help that Emp rez just isn't very interesting.

 

As always, note that temporary buffs and powers with FFback are toggled off. Also note that Cold Snap does significantly higher proc damage here, as Mids doesn't reflect the Controller ATO damage proc.

 

Build:

Controller (Ice Control - Empathy).mbd

Picture:

Spoiler

Text:

Spoiler

Hero Controller
Build plan made with Mids' Reborn v3.7.5 rev. 21
──────────────────────────────

• Primary powerset: Ice Control
• Secondary powerset: Empathy
• Pool powerset (#1): Leaping
• Pool powerset (#2): Speed
• Pool powerset (#3): Flight
• Pool powerset (#4): Leadership
• Epic powerset: Energy Mastery

──────────────────────────────

Powers taken:

Level 1: Block of Ice

• A: Apocalypse: Chance of Damage(Negative)
• 45: Gladiator's Javelin: Chance of Damage(Toxic)
• 46: Ice Mistral's Torment: Chance for Cold Damage
• 46: Neuronic Shutdown: Chance of Damage(Psionic)
• 46: Ghost Widow's Embrace: Chance of Damage(Psionic)
• 48: Unbreakable Constraint: Chance for Smashing Damage

Level 1: Healing Aura

• A: Preventive Medicine: Heal
• 40: Preventive Medicine: Heal/Endurance
• 43: Preventive Medicine: Endurance/RechargeTime
• 43: Preventive Medicine: Heal/RechargeTime
• 43: Preventive Medicine: Heal/RechargeTime/Endurance
• 45: Preventive Medicine: Chance for +Absorb

Level 2: Frostbite

• A: Ragnarok: Damage
• 3: Ragnarok: Damage/Recharge/Accuracy
• 3: Ragnarok: Recharge/Accuracy
• 39: Ragnarok: Damage/Endurance
• 40: Ragnarok: Chance for Knockdown
• 40: Superior Overpowering Presence: RechargeTime/Energy Font

Level 4: Heal Other

• A: Panacea: Heal/Endurance
• 5: Panacea: Endurance/Recharge
• 5: Panacea: Heal/Recharge
• 37: Panacea: Heal/Endurance/Recharge
• 39: Panacea: Heal

Level 6: Arctic Air

• A: Coercive Persuasion : Confused
• 7: Coercive Persuasion : Confused/Recharge
• 7: Coercive Persuasion : Confused/Recharge/Accuracy
• 9: Coercive Persuasion : Recharge/Accuracy
• 17: Coercive Persuasion : Confused/Endurance
• 37: Coercive Persuasion : Contagious Confusion

Level 8: Combat Jumping

• A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• 9: Kismet: Accuracy +6%
• 48: Winter's Gift: Slow Resistance (20%)

Level 10: Cold Snap

• A: Impeded Swiftness: Accuracy/Endurance
• 11: Impeded Swiftness: Chance of Damage(Smashing)
• 11: Ice Mistral's Torment: Chance for Cold Damage
• 17: Glimpse of the Abyss: Chance of Damage(Psionic)
• 45: Superior Will of the Controller: Recharge/Chance for Psionic Damage

Level 12: Ice Slick

• A: Superior Frozen Blast: Damage/Endurance/Accuracy/RechargeTime
• 13: Superior Frozen Blast: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• 13: Superior Frozen Blast: Recharge/Chance for Immobilize
• 15: Overwhelming Force: Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown

Level 14: Hasten

• A: Invention: Recharge Reduction
• 15: Invention: Recharge Reduction

Level 16: Clear Mind

• A: Invention: Endurance Reduction

Level 18: Hover

• A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed

Level 20: Fortitude

• A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• 21: Shield Wall: Defense/Recharge
• 21: Shield Wall: Defense/Endurance/Recharge
• 36: Shield Wall: +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All)

Level 22: Glacier

• A: Unbreakable Constraint: Hold
• 23: Unbreakable Constraint: Hold/Recharge
• 23: Unbreakable Constraint: Hold/Recharge/Accuracy
• 25: Unbreakable Constraint: Recharge/Accuracy
• 34: Unbreakable Constraint: Hold/Endurance

Level 24: Recovery Aura

• A: Invention: Recharge Reduction
• 25: Invention: Recharge Reduction

Level 26: Jack Frost

• A: Expedient Reinforcement: Accuracy/Damage
• 27: Expedient Reinforcement: Damage/Endurance
• 27: Expedient Reinforcement: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• 34: Expedient Reinforcement: Resist Bonus Aura for Pets
• 34: Soulbound Allegiance: Chance for Build Up

Level 28: Regeneration Aura

• A: Panacea: Heal/Endurance
• 29: Panacea: Endurance/Recharge
• 29: Panacea: Heal/Recharge
• 33: Panacea: Heal/Endurance/Recharge
• 33: Panacea: Heal

Level 30: Adrenalin Boost

• A: Panacea: Heal/Endurance
• 31: Panacea: Endurance/Recharge
• 31: Panacea: Heal/Recharge
• 31: Panacea: Heal/Endurance/Recharge
• 33: Panacea: Heal

Level 32: Fly

• A: Blessing of the Zephyr: Knockback Reduction (4 points)

Level 35: Conserve Power

• A: Invention: Recharge Reduction
• 39: Invention: Recharge Reduction

Level 38: Temp Invulnerability

• A: Gladiator's Armor: End/Resist
• 42: Gladiator's Armor: Resistance
• 42: Gladiator's Armor: TP Protection +3% Def (All)
• 42: Steadfast Protection: Resistance/+Def 3%

Level 41: Energy Torrent

• A: Superior Frozen Blast: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• A: Superior Frozen Blast: Damage/Endurance
• A: Positron's Blast: Chance of Damage(Energy)
• A: Bombardment: Chance for Fire Damage
• A: Annihilation: Chance for Res Debuff
• A: Force Feedback: Chance for +Recharge

Level 44: Power Boost

• A: Invention: Recharge Reduction

Level 47: Maneuvers

• A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• 50: Reactive Defenses: Defense/Endurance
• 50: Reactive Defenses: Scaling Resist Damage

Level 49: Tactics

• A: Adjusted Targeting: To Hit Buff/Endurance

──────────────────────────────

Inherents:

Level 1: Containment

Level 1: Brawl

• (Empty)

Level 1: Sprint

• (Empty)

Level 2: Rest

• (Empty)

Level 1: Swift

• (Empty)

Level 1: Hurdle

• (Empty)

Level 1: Health

• A: Panacea: +Hit Points/Endurance
• 50: Miracle: +Recovery

Level 1: Stamina

• A: Performance Shifter: Chance for +End
• 48: Performance Shifter: EndMod

Level 35: Afterburner

 

 

Edited Monday at 06:17 PM by Onlyasandwich

[Maelwys]

I'd great fun on live with an Illusion/Empathy Controller. Building for Perma Phantom Army also resulted in Perma Adrenaline Boost, 5-6+ simultaneous Fortitudes and considerable uptime on the Auras. I took Power Boost which meant no Patron pet, but the PA plus Phantasm plus Confused enemies worked out grand for soloing.

 

If I was to redo it again I might be more tempted by Arsenal Control these days. Much better damage output and control; and throwing a Power Boosted Fortitude on the Tri-Cannon combined with either Radial Clarion or Maneuvers + a Pet IO or two should get it to both the Res Hardcap and Def Softcap...

[Onlyasandwich]

21 hours ago, Maelwys said:

Illusion/Empathy Controller

Definitely a classic there!

 

I have a fun theme going for ice/Emp, which is always a good starting point. I do love Arsenal Control! My absolute favorite is my Arse/TA controller - don't want to draw any comparisons with Emp. It would only come up short. 😄