Lhurgoyf

Anyone see my post on the previous versions of this thread regarding the relative uselessness of Hamidon Enhancements for the majority/major Kinetics powers and agree or disagree with me? This became the case after the change to HOs so that they are now equal to dual level 50 SOs. Bottom line is that I don't think it's fair compared to other sets, not just defenders.

Appreciate the message regarding high level defender play. Although I didn't see it stated, I can only assume your comments are meant to address PvP in addition to PvE. For the record, I really enjoyed playing my level 50 Kinetics Defender in PvE before disciplines were removed - she lived on them - literally.

With regard to PvP, high level Defenders, for the most part, are seriously lacking. Hamidon enhancements exacerbate the issue, but the problem is more fundamental. High level defenders lack both defensive and offensive potency.

Debuffs generally do not provide good defense. Take my Kinetics Defender's fulcrum shift and siphon power for example, her primary defensive debuffs. In PvP, the damage reduction applies only to base damage. If for whatever reason a Kinetics defender is unappreciated on a high level PvE team, where he/she can substantially reduce the amount of incoming damage, consider the case in PvP where the debuff is much much less.

Ancillary power pool armors do help provide personal defense, but these are toggles which can easily be dropped. I say easily because Defenders, with the exception of Force Fielders, do not have access to personal status protection powers. Whereas Blasters generally make do with less defense because of their superior damage, and Controllers compliment Defender type debuffs with control powers, Defenders are by no means a "happy medium".

Again focusing on my Kinetics Defender because of personal experience, the reduction to the effectiveness of endurance drain in PvP (although less for Defenders than Blasters), again really hurts her defensive capability. It is especially futile when coupled with the addition of end drain resistance to many powers.

As I've mentioned, Disciplines were her lifeline in PvE. Breakfees are nice in that they protect against all status effects, but their limited effectiveness against stacked effects and shorter duration usually means that they are not effective at providing defense long enough for a defender to have meaningful impact on a PvP battle. This can also be true in PvE.

Offensively, Defenders have lived with 66% Blaster damage for a long time. And for the most part, in PvE, it is liveable. In PvP however, Defender damage is ineffective. In PvP, the gap between Blaster and Defender damage is increased even more because a percentage of Blaster damage is unresistable. Blasters also have the benefit of increasing their lethality through good toggle dropping powers.

As a Defender in PvE, I could always be thankful that I had access to a decent set of blasts, for that is what made me different from a Controller. In high level PvP, my whole identity went out the window with the change to controllers such that they now do double and triple damage when their target is held. Many high level Controllers already do great damage with pets.

The damage multiplier, plus thier holding abilities, plus thier Defender type debuffs, plus their access to a status protection ancillary power make Controllers far far superior to their Defender counterparts in high level PvP.

Speaking for myself, I don't want my high level Defender to be uber in PvP. I just want to be competitive and able to contribute to a team.

If you are talking high level PvE and not PvP, it's not that I don't appreciate the attention in any case. However, it's just that I was really looking forward to exploring PvP now that I've hit 50.

Thanks for the quick replies! Unfortunately, most of my Kinetics powers don't buff or debuff defense or accuracy. However, they can benefit from the accuracy, endurance reduction, and recharge effects.

This may be a stupid question given all the information already posted on this thread - which I really appreciate btw - but, has it been verified that the acc bonus on a lysome (acc/def debuff with acc) is the same as a acc/mez or acc/dam?

Thanks in advance.

Just reached level 50 last night on my Kin/Elec Meleefender named Joulea and thought I would share my current respec build. She has never trained the Fitness pool and doesn't plan to.

Possible changes include replacing Tesla Cage or Conserve Power with Aim and dropping a slot from Hasten to add to whichever of the former I keep. So far I'm not overly impressed with Conserve Power, but the same could be said for Aim once I trained and slotted Power Build Up. I got by fine without either during the last few levels. At the moment, I'm leaning towards keeping Tesla Cage since I'm still finding uses for it (after respec'ing into it a while back), including helping to hold AVs since I can't drain their end effectively.

In my opinion, the highlights of this build include great damage (for a defender), great local healing, good damage resistance, good defense, and good control using end drain, hold, and stun effects.

Again, this is a respec build, so it doesn't include the Fighting pool, which I had trained, slotted, and couldn't live without at lower levels. It got swapped out for Leadership once I trained and slotted Temp Invuln.

Comments welcome and I'd just like to say that I really appreciate all the great info from both the Meleefender guides. Props to Quason and the rest of the contributers.

Joulea's no Stamina Meleefender build:

01 : Charged Bolts: acc, end-red, dam, dam, dam, dam (six slotted)
01 : Tranfusion: acc, acc, rec-red, heal, heal, heal (six slotted)
02 : Lightning Bolt: acc, end-red, dam, dam, dam, dam (six slotted)
04 : Siphon Power: acc, acc, end-red
06 : Hasten: rec-red, rec-red, rec-red, rec-red, rec-red, rec-red (six slotted)
08 : Increase Density: dam-res
10 : Ball Lightning: acc, end-red, rec-red, dam, dam, dam (six slotted)
12 : Speed Boost: end-rec
14 : Super Speed: end-red, end-red
16 : Stealth: end-red, end-red
18 : Combat Jumping: defbuf
20 : Super Jump: end-red
22 : Short CIrcuit: acc, end-red, end-drn, end-drn, end-drn, end-drn (six slotted)
24 : Acrobatics: end-red, end-red
26 : Transference: acc, acc, end-rec, rec-red, rec-red, rec-red (six slotted)
28 : Maneuvers: end-red, end-red
30 : Tactics: end-red, end-red, tht-buf, tht-buf, tht-buf, tht-buf (six slotted)
32 : Fulcrum Shift: acc, acc, end-red, rec-red, rec-red, rec-red (six slotted)
35 : Tesla Cage: acc, hld-dur
38 : Thunderous Blast: acc
41 : Power Buildup: rec-red, rec-red, rec-red, rec-red, rec-red, rec-red (six slotted)
44 : Temp Invulnerability: end-red, end-red, dam-res, dam-res, dam-res, dam-res (six slotted)
47 : Total Focus: acc, end-red, dam, dam, dam, dam (six slotted)
49 : Conserve Power: rec-red

Quason,

I expect you are reluctant to get rid of Aim because it sets up Short Circuit, which doesn't have any accuracy slots.

I'm really interested in any testing you do without it because I'm also looking for an extra power spot on my Kin/Elec (currently level 37). She's based on your template, but with Fighting instead of Fitness. I also still have Siphon Power - was actually considering respec'ing out of it until reading this post :-).

I really want to try Thunderous Blast at 38, but have pretty much decided to take Acrobatics instead. If I respec Acrobatics for Aim, I can take Thunderous Blast at 38 and have room for the whole Power Mastery pool later on.

Thanks for all the great info! Awesome thread!

Edit cause I just thought of something. Does Power Build Up increase the end drain of Short Circuit? If so, that might enable you to switch out one or two end drain enhancements for accuracy enhancements and mitigate dropping Aim. Just a thought.