/shield defense questions

[cprice]

Hi Gang. I had a few questions concerning /shield defense and the build.

 

1. Is it a common occurrence for a random toggle to drop? Many times I will look at my abilities and notice a toggle has dropped apparently for no reason. I wasn't stunned or anything as I have active defense on auto and it SHOULD overlap, but it doesn't it just waits for the previous duration to expire and then activates again.

 

 

2. I notice all, if not, many /SD build have hasten. I have active defense on auto, so I assume we are just supposed to keep a close eye on that hasten ability and keep clicking every time?

 

 

3. I don't care for One with the Shield to much. Not a very good "oh ****" button in my opinion. So would any of you recommend a self heal or something from a pool power to replace it? I can already hear the voice in the back of the hall yelling, "a good shield scrapper doesn't need a bail out button! Just build good and git gud!"  At this point in time, I end up needing that button occasionally. Lol.

 

Any other shield defense tips would be nice. I paired it with Fire Melee.

[Hopeling]

Is it actually a random toggle, or is it always Against All Odds? If you don't have much overlap with Active Defense, it's pretty easy for it to fall off for a few seconds in between when you're busy attacking. If you get mezzed during those few seconds, a toggle like AAO with a debuff component will get turned off. If it's other toggles, the only reason they'd turn off is because you run out of endurance.

 

AD does not wait for the previous stack to expire, and will double- or even triple-stack if you have enough recharge. But its base recharge is longer than its duration; you need at least 67% recharge in the power to make it perma, preferably more so that you have a bit of overlap.

 

Many /shield builds have Hasten for the same reason many other builds have Hasten: it's a pretty good power with no prerequisites and which only needs 1-3 slots. And yeah, you put one of the two on auto, then use the other manually or do clever tricks with /bind.

 

OwtS is pretty good for a crashless t9, but it's very much optional. Aid Self isn't a bad idea for sets without a self heal, but you can get by with just inspirations and eventually Rebirth Destiny if you want.

[cprice]

yes, most of the time it is Against All Odds! Once in a while, it's something else, but mostly that. I'm building more recharge as I go with the IOs. So eventually it won't be an issue. I found with enemies that slow recharge it can be a bit of an issue, but it is becoming less and less of an issue.

[Hopeling]

Typically I just put 2-3 slots in it for leveling, and then respec to just 1 slot once I have a build with global recharge bonuses.