Best Stand-Off sets

[MTeague]

Archery / Tactical Arrow blaster should not be overlooked.

Ice/Ice blasters are really good, too.

[Scarlet Shocker]

6 hours ago, Ukase said:

I don't think I understand the question. 

"Stand off combat"? Isn't that every character in the game? 

 

Ok I guess I'm gonna have to type slowly...

 

When I say "Stand Off" I mean specifically those characters that do their damage from range, and very rarely if ever get into melee. A character who can prevent all but the toughest opponent from approaching and engaging in melee combat due to holds, immmobs, slows etc so that any foe is discombobulated en route to delivering the big smackdown that sends you scrabbling for a wakey.

[Ukase]

1 hour ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

Ok I guess I'm gonna have to type slowly

I had to read that slowly, too. 
And I certainly didn't grasp that you meant ranged. 

If I was forced to play ranged only, I'd go ice/energy blast, for obvious reasons. 

[Psyonico]

After reading your post about Angels of Mons, I’m forced to suggest TA/Dark.  Yes, your number is melee range, but there’s a lot of good “stay away from me” between glue arrow and TT.  Life Drain also feeds into the “siphoning life “ thing.

[laudwic]

On 7/8/2025 at 4:38 PM, Skyhawke said:

Would the ole Energy/Energy Blaster count? Don't need defense if everything you hit keeps flying away and having to get back up. 

 

Honestly, that is part of the defense for my Pyro/Marine Controller and Marine/Electric Defender.  If you're not standing, you're not attacking.  Between the knockdown of Marine and the Blast Off of pyro, there is some nice damage mitigation before all the foes are locked down.  My Marine/Electric Blast Defender works on the idea of Knockdown, and the Sap all the enemies endurance while getting up.

[Gerswin]

Ice/storm, Storm/storm, water/storm corruptors. You never get close to mobs but you can lay down some sick AOE damage and debuff patches with lots of soft control from slows and knockdown.  You get a lot of mileage out of +range buffs as well. Ice/ gives the best single target damage but water/ is very versatile as well.  If you have time to set up, like in a zone invasion, ToT, or KHTF or something, storm/ annihilates everything with complete safety.

[Scarlet Shocker]

3 hours ago, Psyonico said:

After reading your post about Angels of Mons, I’m forced to suggest TA/Dark.  Yes, your number is melee range, but there’s a lot of good “stay away from me” between glue arrow and TT.  Life Drain also feeds into the “siphoning life “ thing.

 

I do love Dark as a control set, and this had occurred to me. My one issue with it is the pet at T9 the dire wolf which whilst a great power doesn't feel right with the character somehow

 

This would be a great stand off combo though

2 hours ago, Gerswin said:

Ice/storm, Storm/storm, water/storm corruptors. You never get close to mobs but you can lay down some sick AOE damage and debuff patches with lots of soft control from slows and knockdown.  You get a lot of mileage out of +range buffs as well. Ice/ gives the best single target damage but water/ is very versatile as well.  If you have time to set up, like in a zone invasion, ToT, or KHTF or something, storm/ annihilates everything with complete safety.

 

Storm I agree - it offers a lot and gives great defence via its KB and Freezing Rain is Sleet only a few tiers lower than Ice

 

[Psyonico]

4 minutes ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

I do love Dark as a control set, and this had occurred to me. My one issue with it is the pet at T9 the dire wolf which whilst a great power doesn't feel right with the character somehow

I’m talking about a TA/Dark defender, not controller.  Sorry for the confusion.

[BurtHutt]

I have a Storm/Energy Defender that is pretty great for most things. I have no problems clearing the rooftops in Cimerora or other 54 mobs in various zones. Bosses aren't an issue etc.  I know ENE sucks for the KB and I have used the KB to KD IOs. I think KB is awful in teams and I mostly team. It's just rude.

 

I made him high recharge (some Force Feedbacks as well) and a few of his attacks are 'proc monstered' so he can do some damage. 

[Neiska]

@Scarlet Shocker - I have a suggestion that nobody has mentioned yet - SoA, specifically, a crabber.

 

I see them as sort of the hidden "Battle Mage" of the game. Its fairly easy to hit your DEF softcaps, and their resists can get as high as 85%. You can have an all-ranged build, even with flying. The only CC to speak of is web grenade or patron pool stuff, but often Hover proves to be enough.

 

You can just hover, throw web grenade, follow up with venom grenade, frag, suppression, etc. Your full attack chain can be ranged. And your AoE is actually very good. Your ST isn't so good though. You can boost it with things like Arcane Bolt, Gloom, Spirit Shark etc, but even then it's pretty "blah." Only with the pets all dogpiling things can you do good ST dps, but the problem is (when solo) you have limited tools to keep them alive. Even if you built to make them as durable as possible, on anything harder than +3/8 they are going to die often. Most of the time they shoot a few times, and then run in, and get clobbered. On teams its quite good since the pressure isn't ALL on them, but alone your choices really are play on lower difficulties than +4/8, or accept they are entirely disposable and will die often.

 

The other Crabby issue is they are fairly harsh on the blue bar. Not as bad as Dark Armor is, but its rougher than most.

 

The way I see it, you can build them two general ways - 

 

1. Focus on Recharge to keep pets perma, and up as much as possible. You sacrifice a lot of slots and a few power picks doing this though, but this is kind of the "go-to" setup for Crabbers.

 

2. If I want to solo harder content, I have had much better results omitting pets entirely. That frees up many power picks and slots to put elsewhere. When I go petless I always plan to fly and push DEF, Resists, with the best attack setups I'm able to cobble together. And while I am not soloing AVs/GMs with this setup, it's still one of my favorite builds in the game to play and is quite capable of soloing +4/8. Just Elite Bosses can take awhile, so I usually just ignore them or pass them.  Not many people build Crabs this way, but its certainly an option to omit pets entirely.

 

But if you like being a very durable build that can fight at range, with good AoE and "meh" Single Target, you can try a Crabber.

 

I attached a pic of one of my setups, (the first kind of build with pets since that's what most people like.) As you can see it sports VERY good Defenses and Resists. Even plugged the Psionic hole. And this is without any buffs, no rune of protection, no destiny, etc. It also has an immobilize with Soul Tentacles, and Dark Obiliteration to help pets a bit more outside of Destiny big-buffs. This is just you flying around with toggles on, and you are as tough as some Tankers. Without the pets, you could push these resists even Higher, and beyond even that if you are willing to accept a Psionic Resistance hole.

 

This setup has been the best results for me for crabber "with pets" solo-play.

 

My "all resists, no pets" setup is similar defenses with 80% to pretty much everything. Again, no buffs or incarnates on. Thats just you flying around with your toggles. There were times which I outlived everyone else on the team, which honestly is kind of funny.

 

 

Anyway, Hope this helps! Or at least inspires someone.

 

 

PS - added a pic with rune of protection on to show what top resists values look like with a crabby.

Edited Friday at 07:02 PM by Neiska

[Neiska]

Ack sorry, double post

Edited Friday at 07:02 PM by Neiska

[Scarlet Shocker]

@Neiska That's super detailed and I appreciate it but I have to say I'm not much of a VEAT fan. The only one I've ever had much luck with was a stock spider that I went Huntsman route with; when they made me do the forced respec I went the centre path and got a guy with a gun who had great defence and resistance and delivered a sea of orange numbers. The only thing lacking on that build is the lack of a hold (which made soloing LGTF  impossible at Hamidon stage)

 

I've actually gone a Dark/TA troller and I'm loving it for now.

[Scarlet Shocker]

Just got an ancient Plant/Dark troller out.

 

It's poorly slotted (see my Pets & End if you want to know more) but I noticed even without Endurance it can still stand its own. at even conning mobs at lvl 48

 

It has 2 pets and it's very hard to see (and hit) - I've never used Black Hole before but I kinda understand the mechanic now and rather like it. It makes sense to me at least.

 

With some good slotting, perm Carrion Creepers and both pets doing their worst I'm thinking it has the potential to do some really nasty damage and stay suriviving without too many challenges.