Super Strength/Shield

[fatenabu1]

Hello,

 

Can someone point me in the direction of a super strength/shield def. build that I could somewhat modify to meet the character concept I am working on. I am looking for one that would make a pretty good tank in group situations.

 

Thanks,

 

Dustin

[Croax]

If you want to tank on a serious lvl i would like to point you to the 'rage crash'.

 

If rage expires you will deal extremely reduced damage for 10 seconds AND your Defense will drop by 20% also for 10 seconds.

 

Since Shield is a Defense focused set you will loose a lot of your mitigation during that period. Better take some purple inspiration during that time. Just consider another primary if you could find it annoying to pop purples all the time.

[Xaeon]

Due to the def crash, Super Strength does not really go well with any defensive based sets. Shield is unfortunately a defensive focused hybrid defense set that even on tankers struggles to cap more than S/L resistance or perhaps F/C if you go ham on purple sets.

 

I'd recommend street justice if you want a set about punching people, martial arts if you want a set with a similar design philosophy (mostly ST with an AoE and mostly smashing damage), or war mace if you want a set all about brutally hitting people in the face for massive damage with tremendous strength.

 

War Mace is in a really good spot right now, I highly recommend it as a companion to shield defense. Martial Arts also has a synergy with Shield Defense from Storm kick buffing all your positional defenses, which is extremely nice. You can also replace the kick animations with punching ones for Storm Kick, Cobra Strike, Crippling Axe Kick, and Eagle's Claw.

[fatenabu1]

Can you elaborate on what you mean by the Def Crash? I am somewhat new

[Xaeon]

Can you elaborate on what you mean by the Def Crash? I am somewhat new

When rage ends, you lose 20% off of your defense, which is terrible because that absolutely pushes you below the softcap of 45% and increases the amount of times you get hit massively. You might be used to only being hit once every 20 attacks, but after rage ends you're now being hit once every four attacks which is a massive spike in the damage you take.

 

Resistance instead relies on reducing the amount of harm attacks that land deal (while regeneration recovers lost health and absorbtion basically gives you more health), and if you're at the 90% Brute/Tanker resistance cap to the incoming damage type you don't really care about losing defence because you weren't relying on it to protect you anyway and the extra hits barely damage you anyway.

 

Shield however, is first and foremost a positional defense set with some resistance and a boost to your maximum hitpoints. Losing that defence cripples your survivability and while it's not quite as screwed as say; Super Reflexes; it's still painful and can very frequently result in eating the floor.

[Hyperstrike]

Basically Rage bumps your +Damage and +ToHit.

However, when it wears off, you experience a damage crash (you're not doing NO damage, but VERY little).

Worse, your Defense crashes as well.

 

There used to be a bug, whereby if you had Rage double-stacked, you'd be able to avoid the Defense crash (but not the Damage crash.

 

From Xaeon's point of view, it's not worth taking on a Defense-centric set BECAUSE of said crash.

 

Never mind thaton such sets you can USUALLY over-build your Defenses to compensate for it.

Also, contrary to popular delusion, dipping below soft-cap is NOT an automatic death sentence (like Invulnerability's Unstoppable crash is).

The game provides all sorts of mitigation options.

 

Defense Soft Cap simply provides maximum mathematical safety.

 

Case in point.  On this build, you can experience a Rage crash and your Melee defenses remain above Soft-Cap.

Your others dip into the mid-30's.  Oh no!  Eat a Defense inspie before the crash and be done with it...

 

In short, the Rage crash is real.

The concerns about it are overblown.

Because...DRAMA!

 

 

 

Villain Plan by Hero Villain Designer 2.23

https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer

 

Click this DataLink to open the build!

 

Level 50 Magic Brute

Primary Power Set: Super Strength

Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense

Power Pool: Fighting

Power Pool: Leaping

Power Pool: Leadership

Power Pool: Speed

Ancillary Pool: Pyre Mastery

 

Villain Profile:

Level 1: Punch -- Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg(A), Mk'Bit-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Mk'Bit-Dmg/Rchg(3), Mk'Bit-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Mk'Bit-Dam%(7)

Level 1: Deflection -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(7), UnbGrd-ResDam(9), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(9), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(11), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(11)

Level 2: Haymaker -- Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg(A), Mk'Bit-Dmg/EndRdx(13), Mk'Bit-Dmg/Rchg(13), Mk'Bit-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(15), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), Mk'Bit-Dam%(17)

Level 4: Battle Agility -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(21), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(23), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(46)

Level 6: True Grit -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(23), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(25), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(25)

Level 8: Knockout Blow -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(27), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(29), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(31)

Level 10: Active Defense -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31)

Level 12: Kick -- FrcFdb-Rechg%(A)

Level 14: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(31), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(33), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(33), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(33), GldArm-3defTpProc(34)

Level 16: Against All Odds -- EndRdx-I(A)

Level 18: Rage -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(34)

Level 20: Phalanx Fighting -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(34)

Level 22: Weave -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(36), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(46)

Level 24: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(36)

Level 26: Hurl -- SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg(A), SprWntBit-Dmg/Rchg(36), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), SprWntBit-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(37), SprWntBit-Rchg/SlowProc(39)

Level 28: Grant Cover -- Ksm-ToHit+(A)

Level 30: Maneuvers -- Rct-Def/EndRdx(A), Rct-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Rct-ResDam%(39)

Level 32: Foot Stomp -- SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg(A), SprUnrFur-Dmg/Rchg(40), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), SprUnrFur-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), SprUnrFur-Rchg/+Regen/+End(42)

Level 35: Shield Charge -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(42), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(45)

Level 38: One with the Shield -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(45), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(45), UnbGrd-Max HP%(46)

Level 41: Char -- SprEnt-Rchg/AbsorbProc(A)

Level 44: Fire Blast -- Apc-Dam%(A)

Level 47: Fire Ball -- SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg(A), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx(48), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(50), SprFrzBls-Rchg/ImmobProc(50)

Level 49: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50)

Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Fury

Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)

Level 4: Ninja Run

Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(17), Mrc-Rcvry+(19)

Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(19), EndMod-I(21)

Level 50: Agility Core Paragon

------------

 

 

 

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[Hyperstrike]

And before someone tries to bring up Super Reflexes.

 

Even in a Rage crash, it's still above soft-cap for Melee & AoE.

For Ranged, it's at 41%.

Again, eat an Inspie or pop Elude if you must.

 

Villain Plan by Hero Villain Designer 2.23

https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer

 

Click this DataLink to open the build!

 

Why Did I Take Elude?: Level 50 Magic Brute

Primary Power Set: Super Strength

Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes

Power Pool: Fighting

Power Pool: Leaping

Power Pool: Leadership

Power Pool: Speed

Ancillary Pool: Pyre Mastery

 

Villain Profile:

Level 1: Punch -- Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg(A), Mk'Bit-Dmg/EndRdx(36), Mk'Bit-Dmg/Rchg(37), Mk'Bit-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Mk'Bit-Dam%(39)

Level 1: Focused Fighting -- Rct-Def(A), Rct-Def/EndRdx(5), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(45)

Level 2: Haymaker -- Mk'Bit-Dam%(A), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg(23), Mk'Bit-Dmg/EndRdx(25), Mk'Bit-Dmg/Rchg(34), Mk'Bit-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(36), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36)

Level 4: Focused Senses -- Rct-Def(A), Rct-Def/EndRdx(7), Rct-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(45)

Level 6: Agile -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(7), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(45), Rct-ResDam%(46)

Level 8: Knockout Blow -- SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg(A), SprUnrFur-Dmg/Rchg(9), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), SprUnrFur-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11), SprUnrFur-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), SprUnrFur-Rchg/+Regen/+End(13)

Level 10: Practiced Brawler -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(11)

Level 12: Kick -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(39), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(40), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(40)

Level 14: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(15), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(15), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(17), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(19), GldArm-3defTpProc(19)

Level 16: Dodge -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(17)

Level 18: Rage -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(21)

Level 20: Evasion -- Rct-Def(A), Rct-Def/EndRdx(21)

Level 22: Weave -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(23), LucoftheG-Def(43)

Level 24: Combat Jumping -- Rct-Def(A), Rct-Def/EndRdx(25), Rct-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(46)

Level 26: Hurl -- SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBrtFur-Dmg/Rchg(27), SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(27), SprBrtFur-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(29), SprBrtFur-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), SprBrtFur-Rech/Fury(31)

Level 28: Lucky -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(29)

Level 30: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(31), LucoftheG-Def(46)

Level 32: Foot Stomp -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(33), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(34)

Level 35: Quickness -- Run-I(A)

Level 38: Elude -- RechRdx-I(A)

Level 41: Char -- SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg(A), SprWntBit-Dmg/Rchg(42), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), SprWntBit-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(43), SprWntBit-Rchg/SlowProc(43)

Level 44: Melt Armor -- AchHee-ResDeb%(A)

Level 47: Fire Ball -- SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg(A), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx(48), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(50), SprFrzBls-Rchg/ImmobProc(50)

Level 49: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50)

Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Fury

Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)

Level 4: Ninja Run

Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(3), Mrc-Rcvry+(3)

Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(5)

Level 50: Agility Core Paragon

------------

 

 

 

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[Hyperstrike]

In short, don't ever let someone else's biases tell you you shouldn't/can't do something in this game.

[Xaeon]

And before someone tries to bring up Super Reflexes.

 

Even in a Rage crash, it's still above soft-cap for Melee & AoE.

For Ranged, it's at 41%.

Again, eat an Inspie or pop Elude if you must.

 

 

Nobody picks defensive T9s that aren't meltdown (which is essentially crashless), parasitic aura (which isn't a "press 9 to godmode and then die"), granite armour (which is a toggle), rise of the phoenix (a self res), or soul transfer (a self res) outside of PVP or bad meme builds.

 

Unstoppable style protective T9s are generally terrible; Paragon Studios itself noticed how almost nobody was picking T9s with massive crashes like Elude or Unstoppable and decided that in the future; new protective sets would come with much less punishing crashes in exchange for not quite as extreme buffs that nobody ever really needed in the IO set bonus era anyway.

 

:U

 

As for being able to ignore the defense crash being a bug, it was initially an unintended function of the code that as long as you had another instance of a clicky running you avoided any crash associated with it; and they did indeed patch out avoiding the damage crash; but they intentionally left the ability to ignore the defensive crash in the code despite being able to remove it at any time as per the word of Castle. They did the testing and ran the feedback with the community and found no reason to remove the "bug" and instead incorporated it as a feature.

 

The removal of the feature was an unintended consequence of SCORE cleaning up some of Paragon Studios' messy code that was causing glitches with other click buff powers; not an intentionally directed nerf of a set that's mostly just solidly adequete outside of AE farming.

 

 

 

 

[Bloodofcaine]

and while it's not quite as screwed as say; Super Reflexes; it's still painful and can very frequently result in eating the floor.

 

 

Super Reflexes possesses a massive amount of Defense debuff resistance though, higher than any other set.  While you can be debuffed if the cards stack against you, it is highly unlikely. I'd say as a defensive set that makes it better than shield will ever be. Shield's advantage is that it can do other things and has a great attack in shield charge, but from a purely defensive standpoint, no way is super reflexes "screwed".

[Hyperstrike]

The problem is, there's no real, layered mitigation.

 

It's basically almost completely Defense and nothing else.

 

And yes, Defense can be effective.

 

But Defense is terribly BINARY.  You either take damage or you don't.

Since SR has almost no Resist and no Regen, it's prone to eggshell'ing.  If an enemy can reliably crack your defense, you're boned.

Anything auto-hit or with monster +ToHit and you're caught with your pants down and your keister flapping in the breeze.

 

Ice has similar problems.

[Lazarus]

I was thinking of making something similar but with all the rage crash drama I stalled it.,,

 

Does defense debuff resistance help reduce the crash?

[archgemini24]

On 7/23/2019 at 12:14 AM, Lazarus said:

I was thinking of making something similar but with all the rage crash drama I stalled it.,,

 

Does defense debuff resistance help reduce the crash?

Unfortunately not. You eat the full 20% for 10 seconds. As has been mentioned, there are ways to offset that portion, but the -Def was enough to push me to other sets to use with Shield, because if I need inspirations/overbuilding to fix that hole, I might as well run an entirely different melee set and not worry about any part of the crash at all, and use said inspirations/overbuilding to drive me further up.