Linea_Alba

Traps anything is fine. I think I like traps/dark the most. You're a tank starting the minute you can stack FFG, Seekers, TT, and NF. By the time you add Triage, Aid Self, or Drain Life it just starts getting silly. Add in Vengeance and Force of Nature and ...

I dropped trip mine for Fire/Traps as well. I much prefer the Defender version of traps, but I had an old Corruptor I needed to revamp to at least playable levels.

The more stealth you can get, the earlier, the better. Stealth (SS+Stealth Proc) combined with seekers is one key point to breaking spawns. You can do it without the stealth, but the stealth makes it childs play. I really don't have enough stealth for Keilyn or Delain, but can't figure out how to work in Super Speed for either, and I'm not that interested in this build anymore. Alleyne does have enough stealth, and it's a noticeable difference.

Triage or Aid self as early as possible as well.


Click this DataLink to open the build! - Fire Tramp Revamp - 2b [i16]

I'd have to test each power, each works differently as I recall.

More to the point, you could make yourself the temp phase power and do the same until you are statisfied with the findings.

Trip Mine Phases. Un-phase and it goes boom. This can be handy. Run in stealthed, phase, start dropping everything you can, (caltrops, seekers, mortar(s), mine(s)). The (phased?) Mortar takes aggro and pulls stuff to it into a nice cluster. Start the PGT animation, and un-phase just milliseconds before it finishes for a spectacular show.

Pretty sure Mortar Phases as well, but I dropped phase from my build so I'd have to make a temp phase to test with.

PGT, fires, but as I recall did not affect targets until I un-phased. Which, makes it less useful as the primary use is the initial hold. But, you can time un-phasing to dropping PGT for full effect.

Seekers, I really don't recall.

Storm/Ice - General Purpose
Storm/Sonic - Single Target, and Hard Target Killer
Fire/Storm Corruptor - What's better than Chaos ? AoE chaos of course.

Yes, you can cage Standard AVs, STF Pylons, Patron AVs, and LR himself; in increasing order of difficulty, with varying levels of Hami-Os to enhance your cage. Many standard-type standard level (+0) AVs will be caged with no enhancement required, while a max difficulty patron may require 2-3 Hami-Os for a defender and 1-2 Hami-Os for a controller.

Yes, while squishing one tower, it can be helpful to cage another tower to remove that buff from LR.

Example cage the blue so defense works, vengeance and eat purples, then take out the yellow. Once the yellow is down, perma-cage LR himself and mop up. It's a bit harder to pull off than it sounds, but it does work, and it does allow a completely tank-less and healer-less team to complete the STF. Well, assuming people listen, understand, and stock up on the purples, greens, and vengeance accordingly.

It will increase your personal defense, but not defense of others.
It will also die when something so much as frowns in it's direction. Don't depend on it, it'll be dead anytime you actually "need" it.

Actually, lack of provoke, is one of my biggest problems in open/outdoor maps. If I don't kill them all quickly, they spread out and run, then come back and snipe team-mates to death. Provoke would be very useful to solidify the traditional tanking roll. My latest build doesn't even have an immobilize, I'll still wondering and discovering just how much I'm going to regret that decision.

Cold/Ice nuking with sleet, heat loss, aim, ice storm, blizzard (or heat loss last) is massive damage. Add in PBU and it's even more massive. I've put real dents into EBs with that combo.

My question isn't "Why would you use PBU ?", my question is why would you NOT ?

Also, contrary to most, I (almost) never use the holds on any defender. I just use sleet and/or storm and bull through. Maybe not the most recommended option, but I get by.

I also don't worry about accuracy that much, sleet and infrigidate are my accuracy. True it can rarely hurt when something runs over there and isn't debuffed, and you have to wait on the debuffs, but I work my way along just fine most of the time. Another option that probably isn't highly recommended, but, again, I get by.

Virtually true story:
There was an EB snuck in-between two packs, the nuke combo took out everything but THE EB, and I was left standing there wondering why he wasn't dead, and not really prepared for it. If I'd noticed him, I'd have used him as the center of the nuke combo and made sure to be prepared to finish him off.
"Everything else is dead, but that last boss is at 1/4 health, how the heck did he survive that ? "
*pow pow pow*
"dang it, he won't die! does this guy have some kind of tier 9 I didn't notice ?"
*pow pow pow, splat*
"Oh, that was an EB. DOH! No wonder he was so tough."
When I came back, I popped a small purple and stomped him into the ground effortlessly. If I'd just realized he was an EB and I might need that little extra bit of defense, I'd have been fine the first time around.

Most Psi attacks are positional typed, but enough are not that it can be problematic. For example, I tend to lower the difficulty to +1x8 when fighting Carnies.

I would look at something along the lines of the following:

• Assymetric almost-softcapped to all vectors, or optional symmetric soft-capped to all vectors.
• You could swap Razzle Dazzle for Lockdown in Suppressive Fire for symmetric 46% Defense All Vectors. Typically I go for symmetric defense, but in this case I'd make the exception and go with lockdown for the extra hold duration and the (small) chance to hold a boss.
• Using Chem Rounds as a pseudo-resist Shields.
• Using Power Build Up with the Nuke for the +damage, as well as short-term defense boost.
• Using Power Build Up with Vengeance.
• I do not think that PBU will do anything with Force of Nature, but you could try it, if it does great, if not, no loss. FoN will nearly cap all your resists (minus psy) as is. Of course, many times it's that psy hole that needs capping and FoN is useless there. AKA: Carnies.
• If you really want a real travel powers, instead of [Ninja Run], you could always swap Vengeance for Super Jump or Super Speed, but I'm too fond of Vengeance for that.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.621
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Traps Pistols - Alpha 1a i17: Level 50 Magic Defender
Primary Power Set: Traps
Secondary Power Set: Dual Pistols
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Power Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Caltrops -- Slow-I(A)
Level 1: Pistols -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(3), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7)
Level 2: Dual Wield -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(9), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(11), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11)
Level 4: Empty Clips -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(13), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(13), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), Posi-Dam%(15), Achilles-ResDeb%(17)
Level 6: Acid Mortar -- ShldBrk-DefDeb(A), ShldBrk-Acc/DefDeb(17), ShldBrk-Acc/Rchg(19), ShldBrk-DefDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(19), ShldBrk-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(21), ShldBrk-%Dam(21)
Level 8: Force Field Generator -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(23), Ksmt-ToHit+(23)
Level 10: Swap Ammo -- Empty(A)
Level 12: Poison Trap -- Lock-Acc/Hold(A), Lock-Acc/Rchg(25), Lock-Rchg/Hold(25), Lock-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(27), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(27), Lock-%Hold(29)
Level 14: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 16: Bullet Rain -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(31), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(31), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), Posi-Dam%(37), ImpSwft-Dam%(48)
Level 18: Seeker Drones -- SipInsght-ToHitDeb(A), SipInsght-Acc/ToHitDeb(33), SipInsght-Acc/Rchg(33), SipInsght-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(34), SipInsght-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(34), SipInsght-%ToHit(34)
Level 20: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(37)
Level 22: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(37)
Level 24: Suppressive Fire -- Lock-Acc/Hold(A), Lock-Acc/Rchg(29), Lock-Rchg/Hold(31), Lock-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(36), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(36), Lock-%Hold(36)
Level 26: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(39), DefBuff-I(40)
Level 28: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(39), Krma-ResKB(46)
Level 30: Triage Beacon -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Mrcl-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(48), H'zdH-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(50), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(50)
Level 32: Tactics -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(42), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(42), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(43), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(43), GSFC-Build%(43)
Level 35: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(40), RechRdx-I(40)
Level 38: Hail of Bullets -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(45), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(45), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46), Oblit-%Dam(46)
Level 41: Power Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 44: Force of Nature -- ResDam-I(A), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(50)
Level 47: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 49: Vengeance -- DefBuff-I(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
Level 0: Ninja Run
Level 10: Chemical Ammunition
Level 10: Cryo Ammunition
Level 10: Incendiary Ammunition

I never finished testing every possible combination, but from what I did test, I was not certain if 2xL50 Hamis would enough or not, but that maybe L51 or L52 hamis might, It's a really close call. It could also be possible for the MA versions to not completely match the STF versions. All my testing was prior to MA and done in the STF under the old difficulty system (Heroic to Invincible).

http://www.repeat-offenders.net/foru...1&#entry116826

Alleyne Traps/Dark Tankfender - She's defensive overkill, the SO version was safe, the IO version I typically solo +2x8 with bosses. However, I'd probably recommend you turn bosses off, then you might even solo up to +4x8 no bosses. It's just that personally I feel like it's almost cheating to turn bosses off, even if my weakness is st damage and my specialty is AoE and defense.

Traps, FF, Dark, Rad for direct tanking in a more conventional sense. A good rad with provoke is eye-opening to watch.

Storm for a chaotic tank. -range combined with massive to-hit debuffing is incredibly safe, but requires an active and chaotic playstyle.

Kinetics with high recharge and an Regen Scrapper attitude and playstyle.

Cold I use in a combined alpha-strike, rain dancer, debuff method and I'm very survivable, but not in the traditional tank way.

An Emp pair, designed similar to Green Machine, makes for a nearly invincible pair of tankfenders.

*I* have never made a tank out of TA, or Sonic Bubbles, but It's probably possible. In fact, I think I have a reference build somewhere for a Sonic Bubbles resist based tank.

So, most likely any defender can tank, you just have to build them that way.

Add a mob in close proximity, set it to "3/4 health of Target", the result is a Pseudo Ambush. I'm still contemplating the shear magnitude of evil this can result in.

Are you certain caltrops procs every tick ? That would be 46 procs per target in 15 seconds. Most powers of that type are supposed to proc once every 10 seconds, or 2 procs per target for the entire duration of the power for a 15 second power. If it's proc-ing 46 times per target, that is (46 * .2 * 72) + (46 * .2 * 72) = 1300 damage per target in 15 seconds, that would most certainly be a bug. If it is proc-ing more often than 2 procs per target per 15 seconds, it should be /bugged.

I agree with Krogoth and Frosticus.

The ASAP powers are: Mortar, FFG, PGT, and Seekers

IO PGT ASAP, preferably with some accuracy and the lockdown proc, you can leave everything else SOs if you want, but I reccommend 6 slotting IOs.

Proc Mortar ASAP, a hold proc in the Mortar, you can leave any other slots SOs if you want, but I reccomend 6 slotting IOs and procs.

Everything else is optional.

I vary builds, and vary tactics from mission to mission. However, one of the primary tactics is indeed:

• Seekers to the middle of the pack.
• On my Traps/Dark I sometimes mix it up with both (debuff) cones after seekers, and before charging in for the PGT/Mortar. This is optional, and only applies to the one version of Traps/Dark.
• PGT and Mortar to the middle of the pack, while everything is distracted by the seekers. Alternately Mortar and PGT. I can't decide which order is best, or if it varies.
• Trip Mine or Blast. The PGT hold and defense should be enough for you to get of a trip mine vs anything other than: caltrops, ignite, earthquake, quicksand, or similar powers that may have been thrown at your Mortar or Seekers. These powers can be extra frustrating if you rely on Aid Self.

Alleyne Traps/Dark Tankfender - If this isn't enough survivability for you, then you need to go play a Tank.

Personally, I'd slot it for recharge, then slot for any other bonus you want, as long as you get some recharge in it, there are no bad choices, only varying degrees of good choices. It has base accuracy, so more accuracy is good, I'd put 2 acc, but depending on the rest of your build and how you want to use seekers, accuracy may or may not be required. Even unslotted with nothing but a generic recharge, it's still a useful power, just not "as useful".

As I recall, seekers is a 20% chance to stun (I checked mids, mids has it marked 25%). My build is defense oriented and doesn't use any stuns, so that alone isn't enough to make me want to slot any stun. Sure, that might be half the spawn once both hit, but that's still not enough to really make me, with a defense based build, want to slot for stun. On the other hand, if you have a stun heavy build or team, that extra stun could be very valuable in adding magnitude for locking down bosses. IE: Dark Pit + Seekers.

The -to-hit is 10%, enhanced that's 15% for 30 seconds or so (Mids has it marked as 40 seconds). That's the same as an additional 15% defense vs any of the targets that get debuffed. Well placed that can be most of the spawn. 15% defense is nothing to be laughed at. It's marked as unstackable, but since they are pets I'd have to test to see if it stacks or not (it wasn't an issue to me). Given decent recharge, it's not impossible to keep this going fairly steady, and given the duration, it's not impossible to simply have the fight wrapped up that quickly too.

Keys to PGT: Stealth (A stealth IO is enough, but more isn't wasted), Caltrops, and Defense.

Slower teams:
Caltrops, PGT, and optional Trip Mine such that Caltrops fills the area between you and the closest enemy.
Seekers and Mortar, Then blast them to bitty bits as they come at you.
If you do it right they'll mostly be debuffed and mostly be caught in the caltrop field and PGT radius.

Fast Teams, it varies.
Seekers and follow the tank in: PGT, Optional but Reccomended Mortar, Optional Caltrops (use with care, order and effect varies), and Trip Mine. The PGT hold if slotted with something like lockdown, combined with Mortar slotted with the hold proc will hold most if not the entire spawn just long enough for you to get the trip mine off. It gets Criminal if another trapper or controller is along for the ride. If you're fighting stuff with burn patches, caltrops, or other annoyance, skip the mine and just shoot them, they won't live that long anyway.

PGT without a IO sets or som Franken Slotting, isn't as useful.

My #1 cause of death is the FFG getting stuck, lost, or just 2 feet too far away.

Aleyne - Traps/Dark/Power Tankfender Build Not that I'd actually recommend following my build, but it might give you some ideas you could apply to Traps/Sonic.

I was soloing the Traps/Dark +2x8 with Bosses the other day. The downside, I really should have turned off bosses, it does take a good while to chew threw 4-6 bosses at a time, and is fairly painful to boot. The upside, it was like completing a +2 and +3 RWZ challenge around every corner.

Given the company you plan to keep, I'd go Assault Rifle: Blast and Burn.

Given that you have 2 controllers for Immobilize, I would look into Assault Rifle. IF and ONLY IF, you can immobilize foes, Assault Rifle is the highest damage defender blast set for both AoE and ST. IF and ONLY IF, you can immobilize your foes. That should not be a problem on a team with two controllers. It also gets a crashless nuke. However, I prefer the Archery crashless nuke, if the crashless nuke is the only consideration.

If you had multiple DP on the team, you could stack -damage to useful levels, creating the equivalent of resist shields. (-damage = +resist). This is something you could do even on an all blaster team, and is a somewhat unique niche for a blast set.

Archery and rolling nukes: Aim + APP:Power Build Up + RoA = Impressive Fun. Also, given the way this power is setup, you can hit more than the damage cap number of targets. Each wave of the power is limited to the damage cap, but there are multiple waves of damage.

For the most impressive nuke, I'd go Ice Blast. The Ice Blast nuke pet can be thrown around corners and has some very impressive damage. Ice is also a very strong set for ST damage, and Moderately strong for AoE. It's somewhat the best average of both worlds, but not the very best of either. IE: A Cold Domination/Ice Blast defender Blizzard Nuke (2200) can surpass Blaster Blizzard Nuke (1800) damage when combining all their powers properly.

I did some testing. On my test, Even the first ally reduces XP by 10%, every additional Ally reduces by 10% of the previous number. It's exact down the the last integer.

XP(1) = 0.90 * XP(0)
XP(2) = 0.90 * XP(1)
XP(3) = 0.90 * XP(2)

Rad/Sonic - Lacks AoE but can solo Giant Monsters. enough said.

Storm/Ice - I can solo ITF rooftops with this one, but it takes a great deal of skill and isn't the fastest. Very skill intensive, but rewarding.

Traps/Dark - It's a mini-tank with cones. An IO build can soft-cap all vectors. My current inexpensive build has 46/46/46 defense, a self heal, Force of Nature to cap resists, Vengeance to over-cap defense, and (eventually) Eye of the Magus to extend the high resists duration to 3 minutes. Killing bosses can be a pain, but It's one of the next best things to a tank.

(Edited and re-posted from the RO Forums)

"7662 - Cathan's Revolt"
Arc ID: 122478

No Avs, I like to maintain solo-ability even if it is difficult and requires some strategy, tactics, patience, or inspirations. Addin AVs eliminates soloing for 95% of the CoH population. I test for solo-ability using a variety of defenders with SO only builds: Cold/Ice, DDD, Sonic/Sonic, Green Machine Emp/Sonic, Traps/Dark and others. (Disclosure: I typically build using an SO Kat/Regen Scrapper or IO Fortunata as they are faster and more durable for the building phase, and if THEY get killed it's almost guaranteed it's too hard.)

I have some bosses that should feel more like Elite Bosses, but since they are only boss level they are still control-able. I didn't wanted to limit high status protection to certain special mobs and end bosses only.

None of the regular bosses should be terribly difficult. All the nastier foes are only LT level. Just do unto others before they do unto you.

There should be approximately 1 to 2 dangerous enemies in each group. They were eating a careless Brute alive last night. If you get sloppy, there should be something hiding in each group to nibble on you. If you play tight, you'll steam-roll them and not even notice.

The last test run went well at +4x8. Killed more tanks than I can count, but everyone appeared to have fun. The biggest complaint was the Soul Transfer stun on the final boss. However, I really can't find another set that does what I want for the end boss.

*Disclaimer: These are my opinions on the challenge, nothing more.

Think (+4 or +5 x8, Enemies Buffed, Players Debuffed) ITF and LGTF and I suspect you'll be right on target.
Think surprise Team Teleport onto the platform in the 3'd ITF Mission at +5x8 Buffed Debuffed.
Think surprise Team Teleport into the Nicti and Rom in the 4'th ITF Mission at +5x8 Buffed Debuffed.
Think surprise Team Teleport into the portal of the last mission of the LGTF at +5x8 Buffed Debuffed.

I only got to run a handfull of these before TFs were nerfed, and I expect this is exactly the kind of madness Smurphy is wanting to recreate. It's definitely the kind of madness I'd want. Yes, this means I'm insane, and I wholly suspect Smurphy is too. But until you've done it, survived it, and beaten the snot out of it you'll never understand that insanity.