Labrynth

Have learned quite a few new things in the past week or two of PvPing (without WW).

Will be posting some updates within the next few days

[ QUOTE ]
Pre-nerf, this was the reality hurricane faced:

Complaint “I can’t get close enough to hit you with hurricane up” – Fact is:
-Ranged attacks could bypass hurricane (3/5 of all hero ATs had access to them: Blasters, Defs, and holds from Trollers – not to mention Spines scrappers)
-Invulnerability powerset’s repel resist could bypass hurricane and walk right up to them to use melee attacks (2/5 of hero ATs had access: Tanks & Scraps)

Complaint “tohit debuff is too strong, I always miss” – Fact is:
-The tohit debuff required the person with hurricane to get in your face and actually hit you, then keep brushing up against you to maintain this effect.
-tohit buffs, especially in the post 40 PvP game, from BU, Aim, FA were more than enough to counter any debuff from hurricane (Aim available to Blasters & Defs, BU available to Blasters, Tanks, Scraps, FA available to Tanks & Scraps – 4/5 of all hero ATs had access to one or more of these – not to mention other tohit buffs are also available like tactics and fortitude)

Complaint “I’m always being knocked down and pushed back by hurricane” – Fact is:
-Everyone has access to knockback/knockdown protection via Acrobatics from the Leaping power pool – there are other powers that can knock you on your butt, and most serious PvPers try to fit Acrobatics into their build to prevent this.
-Knockback protection can be attained from other toons via powers like Increase Density from kinetics

*Heck, stormers were meant to make it difficult for melee toons, that was their specialty.
Ranged attacks, debuffs, melee with repel resist were their nemesis. Hurricane was a solid power that had enough means of bypassing/defeating already existing in the game – this nerf wasn’t needed, and it only make Defs and Trollers with Storm Summoning squishier, something the two squishiest hero ATs don’t really need any more balancing with.

P.S. Since the balancing stick is lose yet again (i.e. the Nerf Bat of Luv), I think squishies should demand to be able to 2-3 shot all tanks and scraps! Of course I’m j/k – but then again if enough newbie PvPers cry foul for this who knows what these ‘lack of clear direction and focus’ devs may do.


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QFT

Anyone who complained about a storm, NEVER played a storm. Yes, they were a pain for many a toons. But they also had a lot of weaknesses and definately suffered at the hands of some ATs.

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remember guys...

storms have no self heal
storms have no mez protection
storms have no ranged defense
storms NOW HAVE extremely limited melee defense

they do not need this nerf.

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oh cry me a river. tell that to my bubbler. oh btw at least your storm has offensive capabilities. be thankful.

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Before the hurricane nerf...

Bubblers > Storm

Now, its not even a contest.

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If Hurricane fell victim to the nerf bat, what makes you think SC and DF are safe? Or even FB and TK?

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FB is safe cause you cant find it in Sirens Call. All casual PvP'rs only PvP in SC, and since their the majority of players who cry for nerfs in PvP, you wont find any of them complaining about Force Bubble.

Heres a few things ive noticed...

- Easily get into melee range with Hurricane now. No jousting is necessary.

- Acc debuff isnt nearly a problem anymore

- Debuff is much more difficult to apply. You used to only have to graze any part of the hurricane for you to be debuffed. Now you need to be much closer to the caster.

- Only real benefit I see to the power now is the -range

[ QUOTE ]
I hate to say it, but your comments didnt address anything I said. We know Blasters are the dmg dealers, and in no way do it effect theyre overall dmg output if their dmg was less then scrappers in melee. They would still be the best dmg dealers in the game. So now answer my question, whats the trade off to over half the other ATs in the game for doing more dmg than scrappers? What the "risk" to them going into melee with squishies?

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Sorry I didnt get back to you sooner on this...

The risk involved is getting kited from range by these toons. Its often better for a blaster to pick them apart from range. Melee is best used against tougher to kill targets like scrappers.

BTW, I agree 100% that toggle drops for blasters need to be taken a look at. However, I dont think theyre damage should be tampered with.

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A blaster's melee damage was lower than a scrappers, for the most part? So Blapper's dont out scrap, scrappers.

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Blasters need a reason to take the risk and go into melee. f their melee attacks dealt less damage then a scrappers, they would have zero reason to use any of those powers.

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A risk? Excuse me but something tells me there more than one AT in the whole game a blapper can go into melee with, *without* being in hi risk.

Yes a blapper should risk going into melee with scrappers, brutes, and to a lesser extent tanks and stalkers. They shouldnt have any advantage going into melee with these folks at all. Only to finish them off after tearing them up with ranged attacks.

But do you forget about defenders, controllers, corruptors, dominators, and MMs? What EXACTLY is the risk going into melee with all those folks? Seriously, whats the trade-off here?

The point is this. For Scrappers and Brutes, their primary function is melee. Nobody in the game should be able to out perform these folks and their defining role. Melee is a 2ndry for blasters. Sorry there's a reason that most 'troller 2ndries arent as effective as Defender primaries. The same should apply here too.

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And no AT should outdamage a blaster. Thats a blasters role. Melee or Range, it deals the most damage of any AT out there. Scrappers dont have the same damage capabilities as blasters, but they have a lot better defenses (resists, Regen, w/e). Thats the tradeoff. A melee fight between an /EM blaster and a /Regen scrapper isnt nearly as one sided as you seem to think. As was mentioned before, the problem isnt here. Its with the fact that the defense side that blasters lack can easily be made up for by support toons. Damage is much harder to boost.

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A blaster's melee damage was lower than a scrappers, for the most part? So Blapper's dont out scrap, scrappers.

[/ QUOTE ]

Blasters need a reason to take the risk and go into melee. f their melee attacks dealt less damage then a scrappers, they would have zero reason to use any of those powers.

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Thanks for the info C-Lab. I am in the same SG as Biotron and have learned the ropes of PvP Emping from him. He says there is very few good PvP Emps CoH wise, you were one of them. Props.

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Yeah Bio is a great Empath as well. Back in the early days of arena nights on test, there was myself, Biotron, Basic Heal, and Tribute Guard. If you had one of us on your team, you knew you could play as recklessly as you wanted :P

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why not use tp rather than sj/ss?

just curious. I usually pick tp as travel power, and you can pick up tp foe and tp friend in the pool of course, and that would come in handy sometimes in pvp

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The difference between TP and SS/SJ is that with SS/SJ you can buff/heal while you move from point A to point B. As an empath you want to stay moving as much as you possibly can, and this includes while you are buffing. TP doesnt allow this.

TP might be a good alternative to Concealment, but I still prefer to have GI/Phase.

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Alas, C-Lab, the unrooting effect of Whirlwind is gone.

Kinda looking like the superior invis'ed ill/emp is looking better all the time.

Grrr.

With all the things they could nerf, why did they have to nerf defenders?


[/ QUOTE ]

Yup, they did

Of all the toons out there, i dont think theres question that the WW nerf hurts empaths the most. Going to have a few arena nights and then get back on here with an update on how to deal without using WW.

I have tried several no-WW matches, and it was definately more difficult, but it is still very possible to be just as much of a difference maker as before.

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No reason to pick Flight over Leaping for an empathy defender :P

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Your missing the one important reason that Fly actually IS beneficial.

Against inferior competition, flying targets get attacked significantly less. Most of the people out there, not on freedom or test, qualify as inferior competition. Not saying it's worth taking fly over your build, but just thought I'd put that out there.

Also - on Adrenaline Boost:
Adrenaline Boost with 0 end mod: Blaster booms, no endurance recovery.
Adrenaline Boost with 1 end mod: Blaster Booms, some endurance recovery.

I find it beneficial to slot AB 3 recharge, 2 heal, 1 endmod.

Just sharing. Great, informative, well-written guide.

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Back when I first started playing my empath, I would use flight regularly. It was better for avoiding trouble, as people dont often look up in the air. The biggest problem I had though was the complete inability to catch up to anyone who was in trouble. Flight was just too slow. Its not worth it to sacrafice the mobility (Also, there are just way too many spines out there that love to pick off flyers with impale)

Does the AB thing apply to all end drops, or just blaster nukes? This is actually the first time ive heard of it working like that (it used to be that way unenhanced, but they changed it to where even with RA + AB, you would still have zero endurance recovery). Going to have to test this out. Thx for the info

Thx for the feedback guys .

When it comes to Flight vs Leaping, look at what each offer...

Leaping:
Vertical and Horizontal Movement
Highly Resistant to Slows
Immob Protection
Full KB Protection
Few -Jump powers
Good movement power bypassing suppression
Minor Hold protection

Flight:
Unlimited Vertical Movement
Minor KB protection
High End Cost
Many -fly powers
Slower movement

No reason to pick Flight over Leaping for an empathy defender :P

Thx guys

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I prefer zone PvP and have the leadership line for stalkers (PvP in Siren's, will move to RV when its out). I know you're a big proponent of Arena, but in your estimation and experiences in the PvP zones, do you think leaping pool is superior to leadership? Basically, of the three, leap, leadership and conceal, which two would you take, keeping SC and RV in mind?

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Leaping IMO is the most important of all the power pools for you to take. Super Speed is nice for mobility, but if you get slowed, you will be in a lot of trouble. Super Jump is great for getting out of those slowed positions. Very important for fighting villains as those ice/cold corruptors will be deadly.

Aside from SJ, you also have the opportunity to get Acrobatics which is essential for keeping up your mobility. My Rad/Sonic defender is currently lvl 32, and I love playing him in SC, but he has one big problem... lack of acrobatics. Any Robots MM completely dominates him with the constant KB. You dont want your empath to be susceptible to the same thing, especially when you have plenty of room for power pools. Another reason the KB protection is so important is for against stalkers. If you get KBd by anything, it gives those stalkers a good opportunity to AS you, something that you can much easier avoid if you have acro.

Leadership is a good pool, but one big positive empaths get is CM and their ability to give out +perception to their teammates. The +per on CM is more then enough for your team. As long as you remain on the move, stalkers will have problems AS'ing you, especially when your whole team can see them.

Concealment is a great pool for arena, but it does loose some of its benefit in pvp zones. Phase Shift is amazing in the arena, but in PvP zones, its better to just run around until you lose whoever is on you. Grant Invis and Stealth are still two very useful powers in PvP zones. Last night, I was teaming on my fire/energy blaster with an empath friend of mine and we were in SC. He made sure Grant Invis was on me the whole time and I was able to catch a few people off guard who couldnt see me.

Overall though, for PvP zones or for the arena, I would go with Leaping and Concealment.

C-Lab's Guide to the PvP Empathy Defender


1. Introduction
2. Empathy
3. Power Pools
4. Epic Power Pools
5. Sample Build
6. PvP Strategy
7. FAQ



INTRODUCTION

Hello everyone and welcome to my first PvP guide. Ive thought about writing this for awhile, but have always decided against it. A day of boredom and lack of anything to do in CoH finally swayed me to do it. Ill start off by telling everyone a little bit about my emp in PvP (C-Lab)

Ive been PvPing in CoH since the arena hit live and have loved every minute of it. It is the sole reason I am still playing CoH. Some of my other PvP toons include my fire/energy blaster (Labinator) and my ill/rad controller (Labrynth). Out of all my toons, there is no doubt in my mind that my empath defender is the best. I have 7 level 50s and not one of them can even hold a candle to the impact my empath can have on a PvP team, whether it be arena or PvP zone.

A little bit of a warning in advance: this guide is for a purely support PvP empathy. In fact, you wont take a single power from your secondary outside of the initial power. The reason for this is because of how powerful your primary is. Because of how effective it can be, the empathy is the number one target on everyones hit list. This is where the real challenge begins... staying alive. If you can survive on your empathy, you can be the biggest difference maker of every team. If none of the following apeal to you and you just need to be able to dish out damage, then this is not the toon or the guide for you...

- Pure Support Role
- ZERO soloability
- Hunted down more then anyone
- LOTS of movement

If you are okay with the above, then you can look forward to this...

- At least doubling the effectiveness of every PvP team you are on
- Having relatively zero problems finding a PvP team while in a PvP zone
- Making a lot of Blaster friends
- Having a LOT of fun

Alright so anyway, lets get on with it!


EMPATHY
Lets dive right into the most important part, your primary.

Heal Aura
Description: PBAoE Team +Heal
Comments: One of the biggest positives to being an empath is your survivability. Heal aura is a big part of this. Not too much to say about this power. Use it when your not at full health

Recommended Slotting: 3x Heals, 3x Recharge

Heal Other
Description: Ally Heal
Comments: The staple Heal of the set. Use this as patchwork for your team. The heal isnt nearly as good as it used to be before ED, but it is still very potent. You will use this power more then any other.

Recommended Slotting: 3x Heal, 1x Range, 2x Recharge

Absorb Pain
Description: Ally Strong +Heal, Self Moderate DMG, Self (-Heal)
Comments: One of the most important powers in the set, Absorb Pain is what defines empathy as hands down the best healing set in the game. Not a power you want to be spamming all the time, but AP will allow you to make a life saving heal from red to full health. Do not use this power unless one of your teammates is really really hurting. It can fully heal a squishy and this is where it should be used. The most satisfying moment in an empaths life is when he steals that kill from the opposing team by fully healing a teammate with one power.

Recommended Slotting: 2x Heal, 2x Range, 2x Recharge

Resurrect
Description: Ally Rez
Comments: Dont need it for PvP. Skip it.

Recommended Slotting: N/A

Clear Mind
Description: Ally +Res (Disorient, Hold, Sleep, Immobilize, Confuse, Fear) +Perception
Comments: Ironically, this is one of your best powers, but it will also be the cause of many of your teammates deaths. Clear Mind is an absolute must, and should be slotted with 3 ranges, just to make sure that you can cast it from a far. The reason I say it will be the cause of many deaths is because of its horribly long animation time. You will often find yourself stuck in the CM animation, unable to heal a teammate. Because of this, you will want to use CM more in downtime, leaving yourself open to heal in rush times where your team is engaged with the enemy. I suggest keeping 1-2 CM’s on teammates, increasing that whenever they get focused on by controllers, or just if you have nothing better to do at the moment.

Recommended Slotting: 3x Range

Fortitude
Description: Ally +DEF, +DMG, +ACC
Comments: Despite being greatly nerfed, this power still is very useful. The defense buff is 12.5% (not sure on the tohit buff). Some people look at this 12.5% as pitiful, but keep in mind that an SR's toggles provide the same buff. One really nice way to get the most out of your fort is to use it right after power build up. Power Build Up gives a 151% boost to secondary effects. This means a 151% bonus to the defense and tohit bonus of Fort. Compare this to the 55% bonus you get from enhancements and you'll see how important PBU really is (you'll be giving more defense then an SR minus Elude). The best targets for Fort are blasters, defense toons (to stack with their defense), and Storm toons.

Recommended Slotting: 4x Membranes or 3x Recharge, 3x TohitBuffs

Recovery Aura
Description: PBAoE +Recovery
Comments: An amazing power in PvE, RA isnt nearly as useful in PvP. Its still a great power, but the biggest problem with it is getting your team to gather for it. In tough situations, they are likely to die if they stop moving for too long. Because of this, I would suggest advertising when your about to use RA, just dont wait for everyone to gather. Give them 5 seconds tops, and if theyre not there by then, forget about it. You will need this endurance buff yourself so you wont want to wait around too long to use it. If your in a rush to use it, Id suggest finding one person on your team who moves around the least and give him it (usually the storm).

Recommended Slotting: 3x Recharge, 1x End Redux, 2x End Recovery

Regen Aura
Description: PBAoE +Regeneration
Comments: Hands down, the most underrated power in the empathy set, Regen Aura is very very helpful in PvP. Pre-ED I used to slot it for 6x heals, and it was amazing to see my entire team turn into a regen scrapper for its duration. It was a very very rare site to see someone on my team die with regen aura on them. Post-ED it is still very helpful as all types of minimal damage are negated. For you it serves another purpose. When Regen Aura is up, you can basically use Absorb Pain at will and youll be amazed at what youll still be able to survive (Absorb Pain blocks you from healing yourself, but not from Regen'ing that health).

Recommended Slotting: 3x Recharge, 3x Heal

Adrenaline Boost
Description: Ally +Recovery, +Regeneration, +Recharge, +Res (Slow)
Comments: The greatest single target buff in the game, Adrenaline Boost is the buff everyone wants. The one thing ive noticed about AB is that it makes good players into amazing players, but doesnt do too much for bad-mediocre players. It acts like Speed Boost on steroids, allowing those good players to attack more without worrying about their health, endurance, or being slowed. The best targets for AB are blasters, Storms, and Spine Scrappers, but player skill should be looked at as well when choosing who to give AB to.

Recommended Slotting: 3x Recharge, 3x Heal

POWER POOLS

Just as important as your primary are the power pools you choose. Because you are not getting anything from your secondary, you have a lot of room for a lot of power pool choices. This is good, because your going to need it. These 4 power pools will contribute to your success by drastically increasing your survivability.

---Speed---

Hasten
Description: Click- Self +Recharge
Comments: Despite no longer being perma, this power is still essential to a PvP Empath. Long recharge times is one of the biggest complaints about empathy post-I6, so there is no reason to not get Hasten and use it as much as you can. It is also critical for rough times when you need to continually spam Heal Other + Absorb Pain as much as possible.

Recommended Slotting: 3x Recharge

Super Speed
Description: Toggle- Self +Speed
Comments: Speed is king in PvP and that holds true more for an empathy then any other toon. This along with Super Jump will allow you to move VERY fast

Recommended Slotting: 2x End Redux, 2x Run Speed

Whirlwind
Description: Toggle- PBAoE, Foe Knockback
Comments: One of the most important powers for a good PvP Empath is Whirlwind. Not because of the knockback, but instead because of the fact that animation roots are eliminated while this is toggled. This is the king of all speed powers in that it enables you to continually run nonstop. This is extremely important as you almost always have people chasing after you. The one drawback to this power is having to endure the dreadful animation. You can try to play your empath without this power, but it will definately be more difficult especially with keeping Clear Mind (4 second activation) on everyone on your team.

Recommended Slotting: 2x End Redux, 2x Recharge

---Fitness---

Hurdle
Description: Auto- Self +Leap
Comments: Just a prerequisite to Stamina. You will have Super Jump toggled almost all the time and you can reach the leaping cap with just that.

Recommended Slotting: 1x Jump

Health
Description: Auto- Self +Regeneration, Res(sleep)
Comments: Even though the +regen is minor, anything is useful. Also, this build has an abundance of slots, so theres no harm in slotting this up. Note: The Resistance to sleep is for duration and is NOT protection against sleep.

Recommended Slotting: 3x Heal

Stamina
Description: Auto- Self +Recovery
Comments: This build uses up a lot of endurance and even though you have several other methods of preserving your endurance, I still recommend getting the fitness line for Stamina. On my empathy, endurance is never a problem, and that is definately how I want to keep it. A good empath shouldnt ever have to worry about not having enough endurance to buff someone or to get that heal in time.

Recommended Slotting: 3x End Modification

---Leaping---

Combat Jumping
Description: Toggle- Self +Leap, Res(All), Res(Immobilization)
Comments: The sad thing about this power is the fact that you cannot use it at the same time as Super Jump. For this reason, you wont be using it often. However, I still recommend keeping this available to toggle on in case you are getting Immobs stacked on you (unlike Health, Combat Jumping does give you protection from Immob).

Recommended Slotting: 1x Jump

Super Jump
Description: Toggle- Self Long Jump
Comments: Super Jump is currently the best PvP travel power hands down. It allows for good vertical and horizontal movement in addition to the fact that slows simply do not slow it down like they do Super Speed. You will have this toggled on at all times and you should also be jumping all the time. One big key to Empathy in PvP is the fact that buffs/heals do NOT trigger suppression. Its because of this that you can be more mobile then any other toon out there.

Recommended Slotting: 2x End Redux, 3x Jump

Acrobatics
Description: Toggle-
Comments: Another necessary power for a PvP empathy (as well as most PvP toons out there). Acrobatics gives you knockback protection which is essential in maintaining your speed. Getting knocked down will slow you down enough for most people to kill you. In addition to KB protection, it also gives minor hold protection. Its not enough to save you from getting held by a controller, but it does work against blaster single target holds.

Recommended Slotting: 2x End Redux

---Concealment---

Stealth
Description: Toggle: Self Stealth, +DEF
Comments: A helpful power for escaping those without perception. I always have it toggled, but for the most part it is a prereq power for the much more important phase shift.

Recommended Slotting: 2x End Redux

Grant Invisibility
Description: Ranged Team Stealth, +DEF
Comments: Not the greatest of your buffs, but still has uses at times. I never worry myself too much with keeping this on the team, but it is helpful for giving it to other support toons on your team and keeping them from danger.

Recommended Slotting: 2x End Redux

Phase Shift
Description: Toggle, Self Intangible
Comments: This power is the reason you should take the concealment pool. Unlike your illusion/empathy buddies, empathy defenders do not have the best options of escaping danger. Phase Shift is the perfect power to use when in a lot of danger. Be careful though as the power does not activate immediately. You have a few seconds in between when you first cast the power and when you are actually phased. Good times to use phase shift include: when you are massively slowed, several blasters/spines scrappers all chasing you down, after being held and all your toggles have dropped.

Recommended Slotting: 3x Recharge, 1x End Redux

Epic Power Pools
I personally havent tested all the epics, but my favorite will always be the Power Mastery. Heres my take on the powers...

Conserve Power
Description: Self Endurance Discount
Comments: I know what your probably thinking, "MORE END!?!" To be honest, it doesnt hurt to have CP back up RA and Vigilence. You will be running a lot of toggles all the time as well as constantly using powers. One of the best things about an empath defender is your ability to always have enough endurance. Endurance is never a problem for me and I definately want to keep it that way (and usually am in need of CP at least once a match).

Recommended Slotting: 1x Recharge

Power Build Up
Description: Self +DMG, +ACC, +Special
Comments: The main reason for getting this epic is for this power. During its 15 second duration, you will have increased heals as well as one amazing fortitude to pass out. Your self heal will also be increased greatly (heals for over 400), allowing you to survive better.

Recommended Slotting: 1-3x Recharge

Temp Invulnerability
Description: Toggle: Self +Res (Smash, Lethal)
Comments: Not much to say other then you need this power for the resists. Best S/L resists will allow you to withstand Spines attacks better then most.

Recommended Slotting: 2x End Redux, 3x Dmg Resist

Total Focus
Description: Melee, Extreme DMG (Energy/Smash), Foe Disorient
Comments: Personally, I was okay with just going pure empathy, no attacks, on C-Lab. If you absolutely positively need at least one slotted attack, then I would suggest taking Total Focus. It has more damage then any attack your going to find from any secondary (except for the nukes), and has a nice stun to it.

Recommended Slotting: 2x Acc, 3x Damage, 1x End Redux

Sample Build

Exported from version 1.5C of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

Archetype: Defender
Primary Powers - Ranged : Empathy
Secondary Powers - Support : Energy Blast

01 : Power Bolt acc(01)
01 : Heal Other hel(01) hel(3) hel(3) rng(5) recred(5) recred(7)
02 : Healing Aura hel(02) hel(7) hel(9) recred(9) recred(11) recred(11)
04 : Absorb Pain hel(04) hel(13) rng(13) rng(15) recred(15) recred(17)
06 : Hasten recred(06) recred(17) recred(19)
08 : Clear Mind rng(08) rng(19) rng(21)
10 : Hurdle jmp(10)
12 : Fortitude recred(12) recred(21) recred(23) thtbuf(23) thtbuf(25) thtbuf(25)
14 : Super Speed endred(14) endred(27) runspd(27) runspd(29)
16 : Health hel(16) hel(46) hel(46)
18 : Recovery Aura recred(18) recred(29) recred(31) endred(31) endrec(31) endrec(33)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(33) endrec(33)
22 : Combat Jumping jmp(22)
24 : Super Jump endred(24) endred(34) jmp(34) jmp(34) jmp(43)
26 : Acrobatics endred(26) endred(36)
28 : Whirlwind endred(28) endred(36) recred(50) recred(43)
30 : Regeneration Aura recred(30) recred(36) recred(37) hel(37) hel(37) hel(39)
32 : Adrenalin Boost recred(32) recred(39) recred(39) hel(40) hel(40) hel(40)
35 : Stealth endred(35) endred(43)
38 : Grant Invisibility endred(38) endred(42)
41 : Power Buildup recred(41) recred(42) recred(42)
44 : Temp Invulnerability endred(44) endred(45) damres(45) damres(45) damres(46)
47 : Phase Shift recred(47) recred(48) recred(48) endred(48)
49 : Conserve Power recred(49) recred(50) recred(50)

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

01 : Brawl enhancement(01)
01 : Sprint enhancement(01)
02 : Rest enhancement(02)

PvP Strategy
I could probably go on forever about every little detail of what to do in PvP, but a lot of it should be learned on your own through play. Most of the helpful hints I could give you are with each of the individual powers and were already mentioned, but heres a few more...

- To every arena match, bring 16-20 Break Frees and 0-4 Respites depending on who you are facing.

- Keep an eye on your status icons in the top right corner. If you see icons for Energy Melee, Ice Blast, or Spines pop up, you know its time to run and get ready to heal. If you have a lot of those pop up, its time to think about using Phase Shift. This also helps with dealing with holds. Know how many holds you have on you and when to use a Break Free.

- There is a delay with most powers that you can use to get ready for what is coming. With every power there is an activation time. When that power is first activate, the target gets the icon in the upper right hand corner. The important part to note is that the effect of the power (the damage/status effect) does not happen until the animation of the power is complete. If the power is a projectile (spines/Ice attacks), it has a further delay as the power needs to be activated and then the projectile needs to hit you. Put all of this together, and you can brace yourself for mostly anything your opponents throw at you.

- Watch the Icons of your teammates just as much as yours. Open up the team window and click the arrow to the right to open up all the icons for your team. Use what was said above to brace your team for everything. This is hands down the most important thing an empath could do. Using this, your team will never have to say "held" or "I need a heal" because you should know before they do what they need. Use this to learn what targets are being made on your team. If you see one person on your team getting massive holds stacked on them, you keep stacking CM's on them. If you see a bunch of attacks pop up for someone, get ready to heal them. Using this will only save you seconds, but youd be amazed at how many people you'll save with just a few extra seconds.

- The Defenders 2nd Inherent Power: Taunt. Defenders have a horrible reputation when it comes to PvP, as everyone always seems to go for them first. This is definately true, but its for a reason. Defenders can help a team more then any other toon, making it harder to kill everyone else. Because of this, the defender is hunted down first. Know this, and use it to your advantage. Whenever you use phase shift, make sure to run into the middle of everything without WW up. You'll be amazed at how many people will completely stop what they are doing and attack you.

- Run like a madman. Dont ever stop moving. Ever

FAQ

-coming soon-

Wow, so Im finally done. If youve read through the whole thing, then I thank you for taking the time to do so, and I hope you learned a few things

Not sure where or when some of these numbers came from, but when I tested this on my sonic defender, I came up with these for the -resist debuff percentages...

Sonic Siphon- 30%
Disruption Field- 30%
Shriek- 20%
Scream- 20%

And yes, everything here stacks with everything else (the only case of the -res not stacking is when applying multiple sonic siphons. These do not stack with each other).

Castle = coolest dev EVER!

Im gonna assume that no datamining will be done to reset everyones rep according to how much they have earned?

If you have a predetermined grudge against pvp, w/e, I dont care. Most people will just give the mission a shot and go see what its about. If you hate it that much as to the point where you wont even try it out, you can come on the forums ask whats going on, get the answer, and then leave it at that. No reason to make a federal case out of it like they just destroyed your entire world by making you enter a pvp zone for a few seconds.

The point is that you and everyone should try something before you complain about it.

Its like a 5 year old saying that he doesnt like a food when hes never tried it.

This is yet another thread of someone complaining about getting a mission that involves 2 seconds of talking to a contact right by the entrance to the pvp zone. There is a problem with people getting ganked through loopholes in the safe zone, but that becomes more of an inconvenience then anything, and should be whats being addressed, not the fact that you have to go to the pvp zone for a very short period of time.

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Less lag would have helped but it still was dull and irritating.

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Dull?

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Yeah, not exactly sure if this was the right word for it. Laggy and irritating I can understand, but dull? There was a LOT of nonstop action going on throughout the entire zone.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun. Couldnt see myself not having fun at a pvp event though.

This was exactly what I was looking for

very nice job stalemate

Been looking for one of these for awhile. Very nice job

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Same with blasting Hami... I admit that at least twice in my carreer, while clearing mitos, I got carried away and shot at what I thought was a next-to-dead mito and accidently had targetted Hami while fast-clicking... usually followed by an instant faceplant on my part. It DOES happen...

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(This is where I slowly raise my hand and say, in a small voice, "Guilty as well.")

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Oh thank God!
I was worried it'd come back that I was the only one who had ever done that.

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The thing is, if I had done it, I would have had no problem whatsoever with anyone telling me to stop. The thing of it is though is that I had Major T targeted the entire mito clearing phase, so unless he targeted him, I didnt attack hamidon. Even after I explained this to the person who sent me a tell, this person continued to tell me (in caps) to stop and that im ruining the raid.

EDIT: Meh, decided to edit this cause it sounded a little harsh :P. Anyway, I was talking to Ish during the hold phase, and I really dont know what the lesser of two evils are: leading a raid, or going to a raid normally. Leading theres a lot of stress, but you dont have to deal with anyone arguing with you. Everyone accepts u know exactly what you are doing (as they should if u are leading) and thers no problems there. Also, you get rez'd immediately after u die .

If you dont lead, you have to deal with a lot of time dead, and also have to put up with things like this.

Well if new people are reading this, then I can clue them in on something. Dont tell me what to do :P. Ive done enough raids (and led enough) so where I know every aspect of a raid, and I do not need some brand new PL'd 50 telling me not to attack hamidon when I had nothing targeted except for Major T during the entire mito clearing phase.

Sorry if this sounds a little harsh, but things like this REALLY piss me off.