Doomguide

Here's a couple links to the excellent articles in Paragon Wiki Kractis_Sky is referring to.

http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Attack_Mechanics
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Limits

The defense AT Mods I'm referring to are mods applied do to the AT to a base amount .. and is why a blaster does more damage with his Blaze or Flare than a defender will and why in the reverse a defender's Tactics (or other buffs/debuffs) are more potent than that of the blaster. In this case the AT modifier for the Tank AT is larger than that of the scrappers ... meaning the base defense of Focused Fighting for a Tank is 18.5 rather than the 13.88 of the scrapper and then you start applying the effects of whatever enhancements are in the power. The Tank is roughly 5% closer to the cap by virtue of being a Tank. On the other hand the Scrapper melee damage mod (and most attack powers in general) is higher than the Tanks. Also for a Tank the defensive powers are in their primary and therefore generally get them much earlier than they would have access as a scrapper being that they are in their secondary. A Tank could have both Evasion and Lucky by 18th whereas the Scrapper can't have both until 35th when they get Evasion. The net is a much faster and easier journey to reach the soft cap of 45% for a Tank. This is why Laevateinn talks about low to midgame SR/* Tankers being "hugely powerful".

Edit: Also with respect to the ... "that the opponents would miss my toon on every 4th attack, and my toon hit on the 4th attempt. This was against white and yellow level enemies. " ... note the section on Attack Mechanics about the Streak Breaker. Between the Streak Breaker and the nature of human perception to recall bad things vs good things likely explains much of what you're noting (in addition to random is, well, random).

I can only imagine how easy it would be to sneeze and soft cap oneself as a /SR Tanker given the ease with which one could do it with a scrapper and tanker defense AT mods ...

A Scrapper using ONE non-common generic IO, a Steadfast resist/+3% def >>>

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.95
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Leaves lots of room to concentrate set bonuses on +max health ... and the only real fear on most /SR builds (particularly late game IO builds) is the unlucky streak of multiple hits overwhelming ones Health. With a Tankers Health the likelyhood of a lucky steak ending you diminishes with every move towards the Hit Point Cap.

Having teamed with bAss Ackwards on Succubus Kali (DM/Inv) on several occasions I'd have to say the two large edges she has on GRETA-001, my Claws/SR, in the survival department is she doesn't need to be nearly dead to have her S/L resistances sitting around 73% (and generally higher overall as well), closely followed by the massive heal of Dull Pain available against a large spike of damage.

That resistance (backed by the rest of the build/power sets picture) is really why I'd lean towards */Inv in general over other secondaries for overall survivability.

No need to be moving, toe bomb away!

Nothing but small stuff >>>
Consider swapping to Blood Mandate in Summon Disruptor for both ranged and AoE +defense. You still have enough recharge to maintain perma Hasten and AM with Incarnate powers toggled on (and just shy with Incarnates toggled off).

Could swap the Efficacy Adaptor Endmod/Acc/Rech for a straight up level 50 Recharge. Which would keep AM perma even with the loss of both the 6.25 recharge in Summon Disruptor (if you were to swap as above) and the very brief downtime on Hasten when Incarnates are toggled off.

Lingering Radiation --> Microfilament HO+Lvl 50 Acc IO saves a slot for something elsewhere. Almost same debuff values, higher power Acc. Doubt you'll miss the +1.5% recover set bonus.

And a PS: Still can't use the Links but the Data Chunks work for me (and I am using Mids v1.95 and have used other links for some other builds in the forums).

Neither link currently works for me to look at the builds.

And yes I didn't necessarily mean to replace Shout with Screech ... ideally I'd grab both as Quaver mentions. Personally I find the animation annoyingly long though it does hit very hard.

I'm usually using Screech, Shriek, Scream and Electric Fence. Very rapidly (on Rianna Sidhe, an Emp/Sonic/Elec) I'm shooting at a stunned, immobilized, and often held by Devastation procs, target. I was using Shout, Shriek, Scream and Screech on Tryth, my Pinnacle Emp/Sonic/Elec, as it allowed me to gain more +def(ranged) on a pre i18 RWZ challenge build for her.

Another vote for Howl and its -resist. I'd also try to work in Screech not only for its stun but also for its -resist (longest duration of all the blasts).

If you look under the 'Effects' tab for Siren's Song (or under the Window tab >> Data View) you'll note xx.x second Sleep (mag 3) to Target (after 0.25 seconds, to Critters). That delay of 0.25 seconds is why the sleep works as intended, damage then the sleep.

Probably all 8 would need to be soft-capped vs the AV(s) ... Taunt duration would be effected wouldn't it? Aggro, I imagine, would be essentially uncontrolled.

Link isn't working for me.

Could you post the Data Chunk as well.

Some further thoughts:

Not sure I'd go for soft-capping ... 32% or even less is probably very survivable, especially teamed, given the amount of AoE -To Hit debuff you can generate between Darkest Night and Fearsome Stare.

I think both Tactics and Tar Patch are eating up too many slots for the return investment.

Fearsome Stare (as Kioshi pointed out about his build) is too late in the build ... if not an ASAP power it's durn close to it. Obviously if this is a level 50 respec build (which I gather it is) the level at which you gain Fearsome Stare is only truly important if you exemplar frequently (which would be true of your power order in general).

I'd rather see Tough (and to a lesser extent) Dark Embrace slotted up more, probably a minimum of 3 slots a piece.

If you plan on exemplar status often ... use level 25 LotG +7.5%, a level 10 knockback IO and a level 10 Steadfast resist/+3% defense. At the very least these IO's should be at or below the level you expect to exemplar with any frequency.

I'd try to fit that Kismet +6% in Hover or Shadow Fall.

One thing NOT to do is place Kismet +6% in Vengeance ... Kismet only functions while the power is active, so ideally a power taken at low levels that you intend to run 24-7.

I have an Earth/Storm/Stone who is very melee oriented ... stacked stuns from Thunderclap, Stalagmites, and Fissure. Stalagmites while closing (or aimed at a foe in melee due to stealth abilities) followed by Thunderclap. Usually followed by Seismic Smash and Fossilize etc..

Many of her Targeted AoE's are used at very close range/at her feet ... just because they can be used at a distance doesn't mean they have to be.

Been two places where I've run into 'issues' with knockback beyond things already noted. As with most posters particularly those with non-melee/PvP concerns I generally grab 4 pts worth of protection. My Emp/Sonic/Elec Incarnate build being the sole exception having 12 pts currently.

1) On an /Electric Armor scrapper (no resistance, 4 pts kb protection at that time) up level Cabal Stormy bosses (in Croatoa) primarily with Gale as I recall and

2) Tin Mage TF ... the Malta AV Director 11 and his way happy trip mine pets, despite 12 pts of kb protection would knock my Emp/Sonic/Elec if she happened to get hit by a mine(s?). Quite possibly either because of multiple hits or that combined with rank etc. modifiers as at least my own trip mine users don't have anywhere enough kb to send a foe with 12 pts protection flying via a single trip mine.

I think the OP's question applies to pretty much ALL Defender primaries.

About the only defenders who could SOLO at all by merely using their Primary are likely Storm and Traps.

Most of the defender primaries have either ZERO ability to do damage or trivial amounts. A couple might actually do some additional damage with IO procs.

Cold has Sleet.
Dark has Howling Twilight.
Empathy has zip.
Force Field has Repulsion Bomb.
Kinetics has (like Empathy) zip.
Radiation Emission has zip.
Sonic Resonance has Liquefy.
Storm has Freezing Rain, Tornado and Lightning Storm.
Traps is another with a fair amount of damage in its primary ... Caltrops, Acid Mortar, Seekers, Trip Mine and Time Bomb (probably enough to actually solo with primary alone at something slightly faster than glacially)
Trick Arrow has Acid Arrow and Oil Slick Arrow.

Outside of Storm and Traps almost any defender either needs teammates and/or their secondaries/pools/etc. to have any chance to solo (Edit: or to complete missions) at any setting ... the difference between the solo speed of say Kin or RadEm and Empathy is non-existent until you add a secondary or teammates etc. And guess what they have the same choices of secondary.

I just typically do as Chaos Creator, regardless of what I currently have on hand I just buy everything for each recipe, then either hang on to the extra salvage (because I already have it) or sell it back as usually if its hard to buy at WW then it will sell back readily enough to avoid losing any significant amount (or is worth hanging onto against future shortage).

And as always patience is worth its weight in coin when it comes to buying salvage (or anything) off WW.

I feel you have given up too much recharge for the level of defense you've obtained.

Empathy is all click powers, recharge is your friend and is generally considered to be ones primary build goal on a team oriented build. Even a solo build you'll generally want substantial amounts of recharge unless you are going to be soft-capping some aspect of defense (usually ranged), ideally with some extra to ward against cascade failure.

I'd usually go for slotting +defense in Fortitude then worry about slotting and enhancing for To Hit. Doubly true if you intend to be running Tactics.

Slot up Hasten (3 Recharge) before you slot the second (or more) recharges in Resurrect.

I'd likely go Performance Shifter over Efficacy Adaptor. Performance Shifter supports the goal of defense and there are many many better ways to get the 5% recharge present in Efficacy Adaptor. Nor does Efficacy Adaptor max the recharge in RA. Neither set does which is why I typically don't use sets in Recovery Aura even in some of my "experimental" solo builds with high levels of defense.