Empathy/Dark Defender - new 50 on HC - need some build help please

[RayOfHope]

Could someone post an Empath/Dark build for me please?

 

Looking for bread-and-butter middle-of-the road build that's not gonna break the bank.

 

Looking at Doctored Wounds maybe for Healing Aura/Heal Other and the rest are probably going to be S/O unless there's better options available for my budget.

 

This is for a fresh 50.

 

For Dark I use mostly Dark Blast, Gloom, Dark Pit and Tenebrous Tentacles during task forces and such.

 

Also want Teleport/ATT as well as Stealth and Hover/Fly. Anything else is entirely up for grabs.

 

This is for a support toon ONLY (TFs, missions and such).

 

I last played this combo on Legacy and am completely lost on Homecoming with it.

 

I'm ready to respec and have about 24M in the bank. Willing to hear any and all suggestions.

[Psyonico]

Not on my computer, so I can’t really put something together at the moment, but just some food for thought on your power pools:

 

 you want TP and Fly and concealment, which could work, but I’m a firm believer that Empathy works best with Hasten (to get your RAs and AB down) and I also feel at least Assault and Tactics are great powers for empaths. (Maneuvers and Vengeance are pretty solid too)

 

so, that’s 5 power pools and you can have a maximum of 4, so which one gives?

 

now, if you don’t care about having stealth on 100% of the time, you could drop Stealth for Super Speed with a stealth IO in it, giving you the same stealth level but for a higher endurance cost, so you won’t want to run it full time.  That drops you to 4 power pools, Speed, Flight, Teleport, and Leadership.

 

As for sets, Doctored Wounds is not a terrible set, and it’s relatively cheap (I think each IO costs between 500-750k) so for 5 IOs (where you get the global recharge buff) you’re looking at between 2.5 and 4 million inf per power.  If costs are closer to 1mil per IO, you might be better off buying a couple of LotG def/global recharge IOs (which usually sell around 5mil each) which will give you more global recharge for the same price. Drop 1 in hover and 1 in fortitude 

[Psyonico]

Also, I haven’t bought level 50 SOs in quite some time, so I may be wrong about this, but I suspect you’ll get level 30 common IOs cheaper than a level 50 SO.  I never spend more than 50k per level 30 common IO and they provide slightly more benefit than an even level SO.

[RayOfHope]

33 minutes ago, Psyonico said:

Also, I haven’t bought level 50 SOs in quite some time, so I may be wrong about this, but I suspect you’ll get level 30 common IOs cheaper than a level 50 SO.  I never spend more than 50k per level 30 common IO and they provide slightly more benefit than an even level SO.

 

First of all I appreciate your response and you've given me some food for thought.

 

I'm still completely lost when it comes to IOs because I can't get my head around the maths. 

 

You're saying that at 50 it makes more sense to buy lvl 30 IO sets than lvl 50 SOs?

 

Could you point me toward a guide that helps break the concept of it down for a non min/maxer to get my tiny brain around? 

 

What is a "common" IO? Where in the AH or in the world do I find these things? I only ever see the purple/orange/yellow stuff when I look at the auction so off to Youtube I go I guess ... 

[Frozen Burn]

4 hours ago, RayOfHope said:

Could someone post an Empath/Dark build for me please?

 

Looking for bread-and-butter middle-of-the road build that's not gonna break the bank.

 

Looking at Doctored Wounds maybe for Healing Aura/Heal Other and the rest are probably going to be S/O unless there's better options available for my budget.

 

This is for a fresh 50.

 

For Dark I use mostly Dark Blast, Gloom, Dark Pit and Tenebrous Tentacles during task forces and such.

 

Also want Teleport/ATT as well as Stealth and Hover/Fly. Anything else is entirely up for grabs.

 

This is for a support toon ONLY (TFs, missions and such).

 

I last played this combo on Legacy and am completely lost on Homecoming with it.

 

I'm ready to respec and have about 24M in the bank. Willing to hear any and all suggestions.

 

Hiya.  Here is my build for my Emp/Dark Defender.  It's probably more than what you are looking for, but may give you some ideas.  Any sets are better than SOs.  So, do what you can until you earn the moolah / reward merits to get what you want.

 

 

Emerald Touch - Defender (Empathy).mbd

[Psyonico]

Common IOs are non-set “white” IOs, they don’t give set bonuses.  In the /ah you can find the under Crafted Enhancements, they’re the first category there.

 

I’m going to try and keep the math to a minimum here, but basically, SO strength is based on the level difference between you and the SO.  If you are level 50, a level 50 damage SO (for example) provides a 33.33% boost.  IOs work differently.  Instead of based on relative level, the level of the IO determines its effectiveness.  A level 30 damage IO provides a 34.8% boost, regardless of your level.  You just have to be at least level 27 to slot a level 30 IO.

 

IOs never “expire”.  That is to say, as long as you are at least the minimum level required to slot the IO (3 levels below the IO level) you can slot the IO and continue to use it as you level up.  For me, I slot SOs until level 27, then I buy level 30 common IOS until I’m ready to buy set IOs.  A level 30 IO continues to work all the way to level 50.

 

So, what I was suggesting in my first post is if a given level 50 SO costs at least 50k inf, just go on the /ah and purchase a level 30 common IO.  I never bid more than 50k per common IO and usually purchase it instantly, but in the worst case, it takes a day or so to purchase.

[Jacke]

17 hours ago, Psyonico said:

now, if you don’t care about having stealth on 100% of the time, you could drop Stealth for Super Speed with a stealth IO in it, giving you the same stealth level but for a higher endurance cost, so you won’t want to run it full time.  That drops you to 4 power pools, Speed, Flight, Teleport, and Leadership.

 

As the stealth expert, I have to point out while Super Speed does provide stealth, it only provides it in PvE.  Super Speed itself contributes no PvP stealth.

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=pool.speed.super_speed

 

I don't know if the mobs in PvP Zones are affected by this.

 

 

[RayOfHope]

9 hours ago, Psyonico said:

Common IOs are non-set “white” IOs, they don’t give set bonuses.  In the /ah you can find the under Crafted Enhancements, they’re the first category there.

 

I’m going to try and keep the math to a minimum here, but basically, SO strength is based on the level difference between you and the SO.  If you are level 50, a level 50 damage SO (for example) provides a 33.33% boost.  IOs work differently.  Instead of based on relative level, the level of the IO determines its effectiveness.  A level 30 damage IO provides a 34.8% boost, regardless of your level.  You just have to be at least level 27 to slot a level 30 IO.

 

IOs never “expire”.  That is to say, as long as you are at least the minimum level required to slot the IO (3 levels below the IO level) you can slot the IO and continue to use it as you level up.  For me, I slot SOs until level 27, then I buy level 30 common IOS until I’m ready to buy set IOs.  A level 30 IO continues to work all the way to level 50.

 

So, what I was suggesting in my first post is if a given level 50 SO costs at least 50k inf, just go on the /ah and purchase a level 30 common IO.  I never bid more than 50k per common IO and usually purchase it instantly, but in the worst case, it takes a day or so to purchase.

 

Okay are those the crafted Invention enhancements you can buy at auction?

 

I generally switch to those at level 22 (start with 25) and then upgrade them along the way. 

 

So those are still considered IOs, just non-set IOs? Got it. 

 

And SO is just the stuff you buy out at the store/vendor, right? I've gotten away from them because constantly upgrading those gets expensive, and I'm an alt-o-holic lol.

Edited Tuesday at 01:58 AM by RayOfHope

[RayOfHope]

21 hours ago, Frozen Burn said:

 

Hiya.  Here is my build for my Emp/Dark Defender.  It's probably more than what you are looking for, but may give you some ideas.  Any sets are better than SOs.  So, do what you can until you earn the moolah / reward merits to get what you want.

 

 

Emerald Touch - Defender (Empathy).mbd 48.19 kB · 1 download

 

Appreciate it! I just wanted to look at some builds and couldn't find any when I searched here. 

 

I'll end up building my own anyway, just needed an idea of where to begin really.

[Psyonico]

Yeah, the generics are still considered IOs because they’re made the same way and function the same as all of the set IOs.  They were also released as part of the invention system update many years ago.

 

yes, SO stands for Single Origin, those have a specific origin tied to them (natural, magic, etc) and can be purchased through regular vendors.

 

also, level 25 common IOs aren’t quite as powerful as an even level SO (they provide 32% instead of 33.33% bonus for schedule A) but it’s close enough that it doesn’t really matter for most content.