Ways to Be Immune to Mez?

[BlackSpectre]

What are the major ways to make characters immune to mez such as holds? What's the current thinking about this?

 

Way back during the retail version of COH, almost every toon I made had the Leaping pool to get Acrobatics, which protects against knockback and holds.

 

The various knockback protection IOs such as Blessing of the Zephyr, Karma, or Steadfast Protection have also been a must have for most toons.

 

At Homecoming, the Sorcery Pool added another item to this list of mez protection... Rune of Protection which gives protection against Hold, Sleep, Immobilize, Knockdown, and Disorient. It only lasts for 60 seconds, has a long 3 min recharge time, and there are rare times when mez protection is needed but the power is on cooldown. That said, it works fairly well to keep toons un-mezzed. 

 

Recently I ran across the Sheer Willpower accolade power. This only lasts for 30 seconds, and it has a 10 minute recharge time. Honestly, there's 2 problems with this... the first is that it's on cooldown most of the time, so its use is marginal. Also the amount of badges that need to be acquired to get the accolade power is daunting. I'm not sure what the lowest level is to acquire this, but if it's not by the mid 20's, it's all but pointless. 

 

 And that's all I know. Are there any other good pool powers, temp powers, or IOs available? What do you guys use?

 

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 01:27 AM by BlackSpectre
typos

[Psyonico]

I should point out, you can't be immune to mez.  All of the above grant protection, not immunity.  I was on a team earlier today with a tank that got perma-mezzed by Malta and died.

 

But to add to your list, Clarion adds mez protection and 1 of the T3s (partial core) lasts the full 2 minute recharge.  T4 Core also lasts 2 minutes.

[Glacier Peak]

Breakfrees

 

Teammates

 

Temp powers

 

Kill the enemy that causes mez before they can cast the mez power on you

[MonteCarla]

The Defense Amplifier from the START vendor gives you Mag 4 mez protection. 

It costs Level*Level*1000 inf for 1 hour application, so you can buy 8 hours at level 1 for 8000 inf, up to 2,500,000 per hour at level 50.

 

It's a game-changer.
 

[Uncle Shags]

Blasters can use their first 3 attacks while mezzed and then clear it with a proc in one of them. That's not quite full immunity, but not really fully mezzed either...

[BlackSpectre]

2 hours ago, Uncle Shags said:

Blasters can use their first 3 attacks while mezzed and then clear it with a proc in one of them. That's not quite full immunity, but not really fully mezzed either...

What proc?

[Scarlet Shocker]

O2 Boost is also a good mitigator

[Bill Z Bubba]

3 hours ago, BlackSpectre said:

What proc?

 

6th enhancement in Blaster IO Defiant Barrage but Mids' lists it as Mag 1 protection and it's marked not to self-stack.

[Six-Six]

Build up your ranged def. that's how mez gets to you.

 

[Bio-Link]

on my stalker i alternate between, sheer willpower, liberate insp., Kuji-In Rin(ninjitsu)

[Psyonico]

4 hours ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

 

6th enhancement in Blaster IO Defiant Barrage but Mids' lists it as Mag 1 protection and it's marked not to self-stack.

Unless something changed, it does self stack and you can reliably get 2-3 of them.

 

9 hours ago, Uncle Shags said:

Blasters can use their first 3 attacks while mezzed and then clear it with a proc in one of them. That's not quite full immunity, but not really fully mezzed either...

Correction: they can use their first 2 tiers of attacks from their primary and their tier 1 from secondary.

[Uncle Shags]

2 minutes ago, Psyonico said:

Correction: they can use their first 2 tiers of attacks from their primary and their tier 1 from secondary.

 

AKA their first three attacks... 

[Bill Z Bubba]

11 minutes ago, Psyonico said:

Unless something changed, it does self stack and you can reliably get 2-3 of them.

 

 

Certainly wouldn't be the first time Mids' was wrong but just sharing to show what I was reading from. I thought it stacked too. Just checked City of Data and it shows it stacks there as well.

[Uun]

15 hours ago, BlackSpectre said:

Recently I ran across the Sheer Willpower accolade power. This only lasts for 30 seconds, and it has a 10 minute recharge time. Honestly, there's 2 problems with this... the first is that it's on cooldown most of the time, so its use is marginal. Also the amount of badges that need to be acquired to get the accolade power is daunting. I'm not sure what the lowest level is to acquire this, but if it's not by the mid 20's, it's all but pointless. 

Getting this accolade red side is far easier than getting it blue side. Red side it requires Strike Force Commander (completing Tarikoss, Renault, Silver Mantis, Ice Mistral and Aeon). The lowest level you can get this is 35.

 

Not included in your list:

Indomitable Will (controller/dominator Psionic Mastery)

Destiny Clarion

Hybrid Melee

[Ukase]

So, I have an answer, but it's not the answer most want to hear. 
When you've played this game a while, you learn which factions do mez and which don't. 

Mr. Miyagi: "Daniel-san, best way block hit, no be there"

So, if Malta are going to drain your end...why fight malta? Fight something else. 

If Rikti are going to perma-mez...here's your solution - fight something else. Don't do Rikti missions solo. It really is as easy as that. 

Now, from a more practical perspective, if you're an established player, you just visit the START vendor and grab a defensive amplifier. At level 1, this is pretty cheap, and for the most part, mindless. If you buy hero packs, you probably have more than a few in your character email. (save these for higher level uses)

Another option, if you're like me and you much prefer blasters to melee ATs...the MA secondary. You're not immune to mez, but you have a solution that will only work when you're mezzed, so you put it on auto-fire, some other bind for Hasten. 
Ice/MA and Fire/MA are both amazing fun! If I could make my main with all the badges ice/MA, I would! But I can't. So, I'll just keep on keeping on with the ice/ice. 

Some of my characters just stack a ton of break frees in the AH. I just make sure I have 3-4 in my tray before I enter any mission. 
Also, SG empowerment buffs won't protect, but they will minimize duration. 

And lastly - defense. If the mez misses, you're not mezzed. Increase your positional defenses. 
Oh, speaking of positional...mind where your character is when fighting. Sometimes where you are is as important as what you're doing. 

[srmalloy]

16 hours ago, Glacier Peak said:

Breakfrees

Teammates

Temp powers

Kill the enemy that causes mez before they can cast the mez power on you

Forgot one: Don't get hit. 

[Glacier Peak]

4 minutes ago, srmalloy said:

Forgot one: Don't get hit. 

[Biff Pow]

Some Blaster secondaries have protection versus certain mez types. Energy Manipulation has Stun protection which is really useful.

[macskull]

Breakfrees are the easy and cheap way.

[WeatherLord]

Dominators with Domination up get full mez protection.

 

Some Defender/Corruptor/Controller Support sets only grant mez protection to other players, but the following also give protection to the caster:

• Faraday Cage from Elec Affinity gives hold, stun, sleep, immob, knockback, repel (but have to recast when moving to a new location)
• EMP Arrow from Trick Arrow gives hold, stun, sleep, immob, knockback, repel (but have to recast when moving to a new location and the power has long cooldown)
• Dispersion Bubble from Force Field gives hold, stun, immob while toggled on
• Sonic Dispersuon from Sonic Resonance gives hold, stun, immob while toggled on
• Force Field Generator from Traps gives hold, stun, immob while pet is summoned and follows you around
• Steamy Mist from Storm gives confuse protection while toggled on
• Shadow Fall from Dark Miasma gives terrorize protection while toggled on
• World of Pain from Pain Domination gives placate protection for a time after click
• Accelerate Metabolism from Radiation Emmission does NOT give protection, but lowers duration time of hold, stun, sleep, immob effects on you

Edited Saturday at 09:59 PM by WeatherLord

[Greycat]

11 hours ago, Six-Six said:

Build up your ranged def. that's how mez gets to you.

 

Melee attacks can also stun, which is a mez. They may have other effects. 

[BlackSpectre]

Thanks for all the replies, guys. Much appreciated. 🙂 

[Scarlet Shocker]

I find that clipping a can of "Acme Mez Resistant Spray" to your utility belt before setting out to do what you're gonna do is always a good plan! 

[Derek Icelord]

On 12/13/2025 at 8:02 AM, Bill Z Bubba said:

 

 

Certainly wouldn't be the first time Mids' was wrong but just sharing to show what I was reading from. I thought it stacked too. Just checked City of Data and it shows it stacks there as well.

 

It is wrong. I tested it while investigating if that IO was actually worth the slot, and it does stack. Putting it in my T2 primary set's attack I could reliably maintain 3 stacks while spamming.

[Snarky]

KNOW your enemy.  I can tell at a glance if a spawn will mez me 95% time.  (Or kill me, super mez…).  So, I then act accordingly.  
 

I tend to carry a bunch of medium purple inspirations. Both on me and in the AH for replenishment. One of those before a tough fight is a good idea.  
 

Mez them first!  I use fear, stun, and sometimes knockdown.  
 

Kill them.