Moraelin_EU

I also wanted to add: please, please, please, no one take that as a template to follow from level 1.

Honestly, that it's this kind of thing that makes me hate PvP with a passion in COH. It's a build which, even _if_ it worked in PvP, it's going to be a freaking nightmare in PvE in the 30s and above, and generally just short of worse than useless in a team at any level.

Ok, duly acknowledged, you do mention that it's going to be a respec for later. And I don't even have a problem with people pulling such a stunt at level 50, if they're going to retire that character from PvE. Sure, if you want to have a purely PvP char, knock yourself out, for all I care.

But I've had the mis-fortune of actually grouping in the teens and twenties with such... worse than useless builds, which just went along such a path from level 1. People who, for example, at level 20 hadn't even _started_ on Fitness, because all they cared about was willy-waving about how many Stalkers they can kill in Siren's. Or still had one attack plus Brawl and Parry. Of course, the rest of the group just had to carry them along as some useless dead weight, because between two toggles and SS, they had no endurane to actually fight for more than 15 seconds at a time, and not enough attacks for much of an attack chain.

I wouldn't even mind it if they just stayed in their own PvP world, or had a special PvP build that is valid only in those areas, but the sad thing is then ending up grouped with a... worse-than-useless dead-weight character, in a PvE mission.

Sometimes I wish there was... well, not a rollback to I4, like someone else had proposed... but at least a strictly non-PvP server and a one-time ticket to copy my characters there. Then I wouldn't have to deal daily with bad PUGs of people with some non-functional PvP-only build.

That's why I suggested FF to go with it. They _can_ tank an Elite Boss when properly bubbled and with Aid Other thrown in now and then. Plus, for all its pitiful damage, Force Bolt can keep almost anyone off their feet a lot of time, which helps with minion survivability too. Makes it a lot easier to play casually, and not worry much about making them apply any kind of tactics.

As for robots... well, what makes me really wonder is that, as I've said in the MM forum, from my experience robots and ninjas seem to act exactly the same. I'm told that one prefers ranged and one prefers melee, but that preference seems to have only a small-ish effect. Just like with Ninjas you see 1-2 Genin charging and the rest of the gang standing back and throwing shurriken, with robots you see... 1-2 tier 1 robots charging (why?) and the rest of the gang standing back and shooting.

Actually, on the contrary, I find Ninjas/FF plus Aid Other to be the least headache to solo, if you're not a perfectionist. Sure, it won't be the maximum damage per second if they stay ranged, but, eh, they survive anyway. The defense bonus seems to stack nicely with the bubbles, so they start being pretty hard to hit even on DOs. Not ice tank class, but enough to survive pretty easily while AO is recharging.

The only "micro-managing" I do is telling the whole gang to attack the same enemy, because otherwise they're like a bad PUG, everyone attacking a different target and chasing them down a different hall. But from there I couldn't care less whether they stay ranged or charge in.

Robotics is also a pretty good choice, though the protectors' bubbles are less defense than the innate bonus the tier 2 and 3 ninjas get. On the plus side, though, they also have some resistance and bubble you too.

I've seen Stone Tankers using it to great effect, for example right after a Tremor or Foot Stomp.

Depends on which other sets you mean. Sets which debuff defense can do better, at least after you've managed to get a hit in. Dark Melee, on the other hand, I can tell you first hand that it misses a lot. Especially against Banished Pantheon it can feel like you're doing only aerobics at times, but BP aren't the only ones.

Bear in mind too that I7 cuts both ways. While it's good to be missed more if you're a SR Scrapper or Ice Tanker or bubbled by a FF, you'll also miss more against anyone with defense even if you weren't one of those. Your accuracy SOs and MA accuracy bonus help less than when they were applied to your to-hit _before_ defense was subtracted.

Edit: and yes -def sets are a bit better off now, because of where that -def is applied now. Your accuracy SOs now multiply that -def value too. Well, technically the enemy still gets the same -def value, but now if they're attacked by someone with 1 accy SO, effectively that attacker also sees the -def value multiplied by 33%.

Nope, the Genin didn't have SJ in I6. They did get that in I7, not in the hotfix, though.

Well, if we're at minions just doing something stupid, as opposed to being suicidal, I'd have to nominate my whole ninja gang for that. They have strong melee attacks and weaker ranged attacks. Yet one will run in and melee (typically a tier 1 Genin) while the others stand away and throw shuriken, doing pitiful damage. (For crying out loud... at least use the bow.)

Kinda makes me wonder if there's indeed much of a "prefer ranged" or "prefer melee" preference in the AI, since melee and ranged minions seem to do more or less the same thing. The ranged robots always have 1 or 2 which charge into melee, while the melee ninjas... well, act much the same.

Or it's almost funny (keyword: almost) seeing the Jounin eventually rush in, throw caltrops, Placate... then follow the slowly moving enemy for about 8 seconds... then finally hit them with a critical Gambler's Cut. I'm pretty sure that their other, more damaging attacks were recharged too, since the previous fight was half a minute ago.

Ninjas/FF FTW. Don't underestimate those little guys when bubbled up. It may take only a 2 or 3 hits from an Elite Boss to pound one into the ground, but, heh, even an Elite Boss will whiff at air a lot before he gets those 2-3 hits.

Add Aid Other into the mix and most of the time you never have to re-summon them in a solo mission. In a group they have a harder time, though, since there my first priority are the other players.

Well, BS/SR does have Parry, so there you go. I'm not surprised you were doing well. Try Claws/SR or Spines/SR for example and you might find your damage mitigation to be a whole lot lower.

I.e., the point isn't as much that SR is too weak or too strong as such, but that with BS or Katana it can be uber, with DM you end up using Siphon Life as part of your normal attack chain, and with the other 3 it's actually pretty gimped in PvE. That's really the imbalance there.

Yep, you're right, but in this case I needed it to do the 2.5 multiplication for SR. After all, it too is influenced by taking less damage. So it seemed only fair to include it for Regen too

[/color]<blockquote><font class="small">Antwort zu::[/color]<hr />
I'm not entirely sure what Regen numbers you're using here.

Integration is a 150% regen buff, with 3 Heal SOs it gives about 240% +regen. Fast Healing is a 75% buff, fully enhanced it's about 150%. Health is a 40% boost, so with 3 SOs it's 80%.

Adding them all up, it's 470%. That means that if you compare SR and Regen they are both pretty close (using your method of working out SR's 'regen').

[/ QUOTE ]

Add the 100% base HP regen that everyone has, and 470% + 100% = 570%

I've included that in SR's numbers too, that's why it was starting from 180% and not from just 80%

So, umm, looks like I was using the same numbers you do

[/color]<blockquote><font class="small">Antwort zu::[/color]<hr />
I don't really understand why you bring Parry into this. Parry makes all the scrapper secondaries perform much, much better. If you think that's unbalanced, it's really a scrapper primary powerset balance issue and belongs to a different discussion. If Parry is an even better match for SR than the others, then surely that's only good for SR.

[/ QUOTE ]

Because it makes a _four_ _times_ difference in damage taken for a SR, that's why. It's not a small boost, it's a huge boost. There's no way to see the primaries as balanced if 2 of them cause that kind of a _massive_ effect that the other 4 just don't have an equivalent of.

And because that particular fault is a direct cause of SR's problems. Everyone sees, "hey, look, we gave SR the ability to floor enemies", but tends to forget that it only applies to 2 flavours out of 6. As long as that's the case, we can pretty much forget any hopes for balance, since everything will be balanced for the massively boosted MA/SR or Katana/SR, not for us gimps with something-else/SR.

But, yes, you're right. I do find it ridiculous in its own right that an _attack_ set has a power that out-classes the corresponding SR toggle. The SR toggle has 12.5% base defense and _can't_ be stacked, while the BS or Katana attack has 15% base defense and _can_ be stacked. It's as absurd as having Temporary Invulnerability in the Super-Strength set instead of where it currently is.

Yes, I find it ridiculous to be allowed to double-stack something _that_ unbalanced even on a Regen, making it even more unbalanced than it already was. Ideally a Katana/Regen or a Katana/SR or a Claws/SR should perform similarly (again: "balance"), not be respectively uber, uber, and gimp.

And, yes, in a sense you're right that it's not just about SR or Parry. It's just an aspect of Cryptic's epic struggle with balance, always missing the point by a mile, and always ending up with a massively unbalanced mess. In a sense, I propose that the arch-nemesis for Statesman, Positron and the gang isn't Lord Recluse, but Lord Maths. Because that's what keeps foiling their balance attempts

[/color]<blockquote><font class="small">Antwort zu::[/color]<hr />
Flooring the opponents' tohit is not necessary, the other scrapper secondaries don't have that level of damage mitigation either under normal circumstances.

[/ QUOTE ]

Flooring them isn't necessary, yes, but again: then why allow it for 2 flavours and deem it unnecessary for the other 4?

As for what other secondaries need or allow, please see the maths in the previous post. A Claws/Regen mitigates more damage than a Claws/SR in the exact same fight, _and_ has a very good heal to deal with whatever got through that mitigation. A BS/Regen can just about turn into a pre-Granite Stone Tank (defense _and_ regen), a Claws/SR can't. Yes, the BS/Regen will lose DPS in the process, but it seems to me like a reasonable price to pay to be able to turn into a light tank whenever you wish or need.

Just one more quick point as to why I consider SR broken: all other sets have some form of heal or HP boost. Dark Armour has Dark Regeneration, Invulnerability has Dull Pain, Regen has Dull Pain _and_ Reconstruction. SR doesn't get anything.

SR needs 6 powers and CJ just to be at a 60% damage mitigation (approx 30% dodged out of 50% incoming) and... that's it.

Even by itself it's less than Regen _without_ Recon or DP. Taking Health and Stamina on both a SR and a Regen puts the Regen at about 570% regen, the SR at 178% regen. Let's say 180%, as a round number. But wait, the SR takes 2.5 times less damage (40% remaining damage after 60% mitigation.) So let's boost the SR's value by 2.5. Now the Regen is at 570% vs 450% for the SR. In fact Regen wins even _without_ Health there, since it becomes slightly over 490% on FH and Integration alone.

DP boosts that regen by a further 40%, moving Regen even further out the league of SR even if it wasn't a heal too.

And SR had to get to level 35 to get that for all attack types, Regen had that since level 16.

Yep, SR sucks in that comparison. Like an industrial vaccuum pump.

Note that at this point I haven't even included IH yet, which boosts the Regen by another 800% even without any healing enhancements in it.

And then come the heals. Where Invuln or Regen or DA can heal some of the damage right back, a SR can't. As a SR even if you survived the fight, you're looking at some long downtime just waiting for your health to rise back.

Simply put, there's no bleeding way to see SR without a heal as even remotely equivalent to how much damage a Regen can mitigate (well, heal right back) in the exact same fight.

What I'm saying is: if a SR is supposed to perform equally well without a heal as another Scrapper flavour does with their heal (which is what "balance" means), I'd expect their defenses then to work a lot better. It's, if you will, the same difference as between Warriors and Priests in WoW: sure, the priest can heal or shield themselves, but the Warrior get a _lot_ more damage mitigation for not having that ability.

Sure, you can use one pool choice, two power picks and 6 slots just to get a usable heal, but so can anyone else. (God knows I've even seen a posted Regen build with Aid Self.) Plus, it needs a total of 10 power picks (including your 8 defenses) just to get where everyone else was on less powers.

And again, it shouldn't be that an _attack_ set (that even a Regen can take) gives more melee defense than SR's corresponding toggle.

According to all info I have, Parry is 15% defense to Melee without even any def enhancements in it. So seein' as the toggles + passives + CJ put you at a bit over 30% defense, it seems to me that exactly one unenhanced Parry is needed to hit the 45% number that floors the enemies.

And yes, it's not on all the time, but, eh... You could just put two accuracy SOs in it, and there you go, you can open the fight with it and have that defense from the start.

That's an interesting read, Idris, but to the best of my knowledge the Minion to-hit wasn't 50% in I5 and I6. AFAIK, the defense "nerf" in I5 was accompanied by a reduction in the base to-hit for NPCs.

Admittedly, it's hard to be sure, since if you've followed the US boards in I5 and I6, each dev thought a different formula applied. And then some players came and measured it with Hero Stats and it was an entirely different formula that was actually implemented in the game. So it's hard to remember which was the truth and which was Statesman having zero clue how his own game works.

Still, whether that's true or not, it's fairly a moot point. If it's been 50% all along, then SR was broken all along. It's that simple. It doesn't really change the fact that it's utterly broken to need an _attack_ set to make a _defense_ set work _four_ _times_ better. Whether it's new in I7 or has been that stupidly designed all along, makes little difference.

Well, it does make one small difference. I'm sure I could be even more disgusted by Cryptic's utter inability to balance a game even after 7 major "issues". But, eh, my opinion of their maths abilities is pretty much "floored" already, to use the COH lingo, so even that's not much of a change.

[/color]<blockquote><font class="small">Antwort zu::[/color]<hr />
make it less and SR would be 2 overpowered...20% aint that much..shall we say this..20% chance to hit someone is a big pain in the behind..

[/ QUOTE ]

Shouldn't that apply to Katan/SR and BS/SR Scrappers too, then? I mean, surely if a Katana/SR at 5% chance to be hit isn't overpowered, then Claws/SR wouldn't be that much overpowered under 20% either.

I mean, seriously, what the... the Katana is just another primary, not some kind of nobility for which entirely other rules apply. I could even understand being at 5% when everyone else is at 10% or some such, but everyone else taking _four_ _times_ more damage is bloody ridiculous.

[/color]<blockquote><font class="small">Antwort zu::[/color]<hr />
you have problems with white minions?...Wonder how a DO'd SR can tank yellows then

[/ QUOTE ]

Unless they're Katana/SR or BS/SR, simply put, they can't. Jumping into a yellow group that's been spawned for more than 1 or 2 people in the team, as, say, a Claws/SR earns you a very quick faceplant. On _DO_? Oooer. Now that'll be one quick faceplant.

Sure, you could get a FF defender to bubble you up into being able to tank them (but then they can bubble a Blaster into being able to tank them too) or an Empath doing nothing but healing you all the time, or whatever, but then a Regen can do the exact same then, and do it better.

Your impressions closely mirror my own. Oh, I can do perfectly well in door missions, where there are 2-3 enemies in a group. But jump into, say, a lower level group in TV that my Regen had relatively little problem with, and it's faceplant time.

The problems are sorta like this:

1. While everyone sings praises that now a SR can floor even AVs, what they don't tell you is that it _only_ applies to Katana and Broadsword Scrappers using Parry all the time. (And even then only to melee.)

But for the rest of us it's been a nerf. If you're say, a MA/SR or Claws/SR Scrapper, your defenses won't even floor a white minion any more. In fact, even _with_ the passives, it will leave a 20% chance to be hit, which, frankly is only marginally better than you had in I6 with just the passives and CJ. It's that freakin' useless.

But maybe it evens out by protecting you better from bosses? Hah. Now an equal level boss has that approx 20% times 1.2 (or is it 1.3?) accuracy, for an about 24% chance to be hit. Again, it's _more_ than before.

Congrats, you've been nerfed.

Dark Melee has also been nerfed into oblivion in the process. The way it previously subtracted from the enemy's to-hit, it went a long way towards flooring at least one enemy. (E.g., the boss.) Nowadays it's subtracted from their 120% _accuracy_ factor, so, heh, it might get him down to minion accuracy. Yay. Not.

The real saving grace DM has is Siphon Life. That's what kept my Scrapper alive, not the newly nerfed shields. But if you're claws, you don't even have that, so, yeah, I can feel your pain.

Plus, healing every 15 seconds with SL is really Regen in disguise. And a gimped one, compared to how much a real Regen heals. If that's doing more to keep me alive than the nerfed SR shields, it says a lot. Seriously.

2. Even more importantly you have zero defense yet to cone and AOE attacks. In COV at least they merged the ranged and the AOE protections, but in COH you won't have any protection to those until the 30's. (And even there it will be the sucky protection from point 1.)

Congrats, anyone with a shotgun, flamethrower, grenade, bazooka, fire breath, etc, etc, etc, will shoot right through your shields as if you had none. Well, you actually have none.

3. Without those last 4 powers _and_ being level 50, your defense-debuff resistance is just barely above zero. Keywords: just barely.

Congrats, anyone with a sword, axe, SMG and a few others can reduce your shields by a ridiculous amount.

4. Not shield or survival related, but what rubbed me even worse than even being a defenseless Scrapper are the looping sounds. PB gets on my nerves already. Having the sounds fade out after about 10 loops, when you'll need to activate PB again around the same time... yeah, that's soooo much of an improvement.

But anyway, well, the moral of the story is: roll a FOTM Katana/SR like everyone else or yeah, get a Regen if you're one of us silly people insisting to play a Martial Artist or Claws or whatever.

Yep, Leadership really helps a lot more on a bubbler.

Hmm... now that build on the other hand is completely overkill, IMHO.

E.g., Power Bolt is purely a knockback, and the damage is negligible. For someone whose secondary is Energy, I'm sure they could take an attack that does the same knockback _and_ does some damage too.

E.g., Group Fly is beyond useless. I'd take an attack there, if you ran out of other ideas.

E.g., hmm... I can see some point in Force Bubble, but Repulsion Field too is maybe a bit overkill, at least in PvE. With the small bubbles, DB and Maneuvers, people will only very rarely get hit even if enemies do get into melee range. So the advantage of pushing enemies outside melee range, well, it certainly exists as they can get stuck on just trying to run back in instead of attacking, but it's IMHO fairly small. Plus, it prevents you from positioning yourself so the tanker is in the DB too.

[/color]<blockquote><font class="small">Antwort zu::[/color]<hr />
I am anti-knockback. I protest about kheldians and prefer not to team with them if they tend to stay in nova form. I have a friend with an Energy/Fire corrupter, who can't seem to keep his blasts under control when teaming with my brute. For S4, I was an Energy/Energy blaster for our team, he was deleted and is now making a comeback as an Ice/Energy blaster.

So maybe I should mention again that he's forcefield/energy. Yes, one of the worst powersets in the game, energy blast. Why did I choose it? Must have been in a drunken moment. I run around helping my team, and throw out a blast (because they seem to expect it), and immediately regret doing so. I only have a couple of the blasts, and can't figure out why I got any of them (apart from the mandatory one).

[/ QUOTE ]

As was said already, it seems like you only dislike your secondary, not the Defender AT as a whole. Just because you picked something you dislike as your blasts, doesn't mean that the whole AT is bad.

That said, FF is a fairly passive set too. You have bursts of having to cast 2 bubbles on 7 people (which is repetitive and a lot of people do find boring), followed by basically just standing there in the middle and watching them fight. I don't mind it, but it doesn't fit everyone's personality either. Maybe a more active set would fit your style more.

(And let me insist on that casting 2 bubbles on 7 people again: you must take care that the group is always bubbled. There are more than enough people already who just bubble once per mission and then never do it again, presumably because it's boring. You probably aren't one of those, but, you know, just a gentle reminder.)

It's also a fairly thankless set, because as you've noticed too, it's not obvious what it does and when it saved your bacon. People are swift to notice when a heal brings their health back up, but quick to assume that the bubble did nothing when their health doesn't go down to start with. So do prepare to be asked "R U A HEALR???" lots, or see people leave the group as protest that the leader invited a FF instead of a "healer", or... see some profuse thanks to someone who fired a whole 2 heals in the whole bloody mission or conversely someone who had Healing Aura set on Auto even though noone actually needed a heal, but noone thanking you for the bubbles that made even that unnecessary.

[/color]<blockquote><font class="small">Antwort zu::[/color]<hr />
Ok, my question is... Why a defender? In general, why roll a defender? I have several controllers, and they are awesome. I never feel like I'm leeching, or not pulling my weight (unless I am purposely doing so, but that doesn't tend to happen) with my trollers. With Dark Bubble, I do. Is there really a good reason to take a defender over a controller with that defenders primary as a secondary?

[/ QUOTE ]

Because a Defender is a lot better than a Controller at their primary. There's some subtle hint in there in that for one it's a primary and for the other it's a secondary. Defender bubbles offer more defense han Controller bubbles, Defender heals restore more HP than Controller heals, Defender Kinetics effects do more than the same powers used by a Controller, Defender debuffs do debuff more than Controller debuffs, etc. Heck, even Leadership has more effect on a Defender than on a Controller.

So basically, I don't know, that seems reason enough to roll a Defender _if_ that's what you see yourself as using _primarily_. It's not a main damage dealer, yes, and it doesn't have much in the way of crowd control, so, yes, if you see those as your primary activity, then indeed you're better off rolling a Controller instead.

As for leeching... ugh... no offense, but that's the kind of thinking that got us all stuck with the "R U A HEALR???" mentality. It may not be obvious that those bubbles do something, but when I and 7 blasters stand for example on that that ramp in the "prevent takeover of Salamanca by Croatoa" (sorry, I don't remember the exact name) mission on Invincible and repell wave after wave of redcaps, and noone gets hurt -- well, except for the occasional brave guy who forgets and charges out of the big bubble to blap, but that's what I have Aid Other for -- it's pretty darn hard to argue with a straight face that I'm not pulling my weight in that group. I'd like to see them do the same without me, if anyone thinks I'm leeching xp there.

Of course, it takes some educating people first. Blasters are used to keeping their distance and running away, and have some 30-40 levels that hammered that into their head. Getting them to accept "dude, stay glued to me even if they melee you" or "no, if you're hurt come _to_ me, don't run away" can take a while to sink in. They've already been conditioned to the point of reflex to throw a web grenade and back off, so just staying there is very unnatural. But most do learn.

Anyway, "pulling your weight" is a very broad concept. It's not measured just in damage directly done. If I can make 7 blasters able to blast non-stop with impunity, just that cutting down the downtime alone raises the group's total DPS by more than an 8'th blaster would. And if they know they can nuke at any time and never faceplant because the survivors shot faster than a healer can react, I'll say I'm clearly raising the XP they got out of that mission, rather than leeching anything.

And I can do that. Small shields + big shield + Leadership floor any enemy in I7, AVs included. And the DB also offers mez protection, which will become _the_ major cause of downtime later.

[/color]<blockquote><font class="small">Antwort zu::[/color]<hr />
Maybe it's the level. I think that most of my slots are red, or contain trainings waiting for that magical 22-SO level.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, it partially is the level, as all your bubbles help a lot less on DOs. Still, if you don't like the gameplay, nothing will change fundamentally there.

[/color]<blockquote><font class="small">Antwort zu::[/color]<hr />
I have a free respec, DB has been out for a good while now, and has one from I6/ED I think. I think I will have to use it, respec in more bubble powers, no blasts (bar the 'big one'), stamina, fly, etc, and see if it makes anything better.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm... No offense, but what I highlighted there may well be one reason you're not doing that great, and one reason that gets people to play safe and get a "healer" instead. Just, say, Deflection Shield and Dispersion Bubble are definitely not enough even in relatively tame Council or Sky Raider missions. (E.g., the respec trial) The moment they start shooting flametrowers, the Deflection Shield suddenly doesn't do anything at all.

And I've even seen people who thought they're a FF Defender with just the Dispersion Bubble. Which, sad to say, just doesn't cut it in any form or shape. It's like being an Empath with just the Healing Aura. In fact, worse than that.

Not accusing you of anything, and I haven't even seen your build, so I can't pass judgment. But just saying that such mistaken builds do exist.

As I was saying, being a Defender means looking first and foremost at your _primary_ powers and asking yourself "which of _these_ do I need to help the _group_". Your own blasting or even survival are the last concern. (E.g., I never took PFF on any of my characters. If I have to drop DB and Leadership to activate that, then I'm not doing my job to protect the group.)

[/color]<blockquote><font class="small">Antwort zu::[/color]<hr />
Is an 'Offensive Defender' really a 'wannabe corrupter'? Do they work well? When I see a defender blasting, it seems to me that they should have taken a blaster, especially when they only have minimum primaries (like say, an Empath with only Healing Aura and Rez - bad sign? prob not possible).

[/ QUOTE ]

There are some Offender builds that actually work, but, sad to say, there are also a lot that don't. A good Offender build is a debuffer, and helps the group that way. It's still a group-oriented build, and it still primarily uses its primaries, just incidentally it can also solo well. It's _not_ just a Blaster with self-heal.

On the other hand, an Empath with just Healing Aura and Rez is just a gimped Blaster with a heal. They don't even have anything to boost their own blasts, so they'll be for ever doing about 2/3 of the damage of a Blaster. And at higher levels, it's the buff powers that help the group more than Healing Aura does, so it pretty quickly becomes something that's bordering on useless in a group. (In fact, the common Empathy complaint is being only asked to buff at higher levels and not having much to heal.)

E.g., at levels 40+, if you can't give the party members Clear Mind or Recovery Aura, the Sappers will eat them for breakfast. Just healing a bunch of held and end-drained blasters won't really help the group's xp/sec much. Or fighting Carnies is another poster child for Recovery Aura, since every single killed Carnie fires a 10ft PBAO end-drain as it dies, and then there are the Ring Mistresses which drain with every attack. You wouldn't believe how fast the party's tank can hit zero and gets detoggled if they're not protected from it by either end-drain resistance, regen boost, or just giving them enough defense for that PBAOE to miss.

Mez effects will also become increasingly common in the 20's, so unless you can give Blasters Clear Mind, Accelerate Metabolism or have a Dispersion Bubble (preferrably coupled with small bubles too, so the attack will miss completely), the Blasters may spend half the mission mezzed. Sure, you can heal them with Healing Aura, but they're still not doing any damage in that time.

So, seriously, if anyone just takes a Defender because it has blasts and a healing aura, IMHO they'd be better off just rolling a Blaster and taking Aid Self. With 3 interrupt reductions and something like 2 heal, 1 recharge, it will heal them just as well, and they'll do more damage with their blasts too.

Hmm... while an annoying amount of high level damage is psy and rad and whatnot, I've run into a whole lot of S/L damage at all levels.

E.g., Malta are mostly Lethal, except for the Sappers and the Titans' energy shots. E.g., almost all Nemesis attacks are either entirely lethal (the machinegun bursts, or the small robots' blades), or smash/fire (the explosive shots), or smash (Fake Nemeis staff, for example). E.g., a whole lot Carnies seem to be either entirely Smashing (the Strongmen) or have some Lethal component (Fencers, for example.)

Even the Pretorians arc has such lovely gangs as, what are they called, Marauders? Can't really remember. At any rate, they're Martial Artists with SMGs. Since MA is a high-damage single-target Smash set, I appreciated having some protection from that. Their boss also was basically an Inv/SS tank IIRC, at any rate Smash. Then there's Shadowhunter and his wolfies which are basically the same deal with different skins.

And another useful thing about having S/L defense and DR is that you can always pop a couple of Lucks and damage resistance inspirations and it will stack.

Well, if you're on the last sliver of health, yeah, probably even IH won't pull you out of trouble. On the other hand, if you realize fast enough that you're not gonna make it on Integration, IH can easily save the day. It can also be combined with other stuff that can bridge over that 1-sliver-of-health moment, such as hitting DP first (it does heal about the same amount it adds), hitting reconstruction, or popping a green inspiration.

In a sense it _is_ a panic button, like Elude or Unstoppable, except it recharges a lot more often. At any rate, it's what keeps you alive when something goes awfully other than planned, like when the defender goes down and the tanker follows soon thereafter.

On the other hand, it does recharge in a few minutes, which makes it possible to plan a mission around it.

E.g., when soloing, sure, you don't need IH on heroic, but then you wouldn't need it all the time on higher difficulties either. What kills you on higher difficulties are the occasional overlapping groups with bosses, and/or adds. So having a 90 second (demi)god mode may be all you need to deal with those.

E.g., when you get some hunt mision in a hazard area, and you're at the minimum level for that area, you can pretty much plan to need IH if you want to solo that. E.g., hunting Crey in CF later comes to mind. If you pick one of those missions early, you're pretty much guaranteed that they'll be large groups with bosses, and will probably be higher level too. IH recharges often enough to be feasible to sit and wait for it before you dive into a group. (By comparison, if you sat and waited for Elude, eh, I hope you have lots of patience)

Basically, yeah, it's a power you'll be using less than 10% of the time on a well built character, but then that's ok because it will be up more often than that. And because those 10% are enough to get you in debt without it.

IH

AFAIK, TK and CAK have the same DPS (Damage Per Second), and generally damage-wise, TK is CAK split into two portions. CAK does do roughly twice the damage, but... it also comes with proportionally higher recharge and animation times. I.e., your chain will have the same DPS with either of them.

So it's IMHO largely a matter of preference if you want to give someone one big portion of hurt, or two portions in the same time. Personally I've actually preferred the two small portions, because (A) in a group it's less likely that someone else killed the enemy before CAK finished animating, (B) often you only need half a portion of hurt to "arrest" someone, and can give the second half to someone else.

Plus, the thing I liked about MA anyway was the fast and furious combat, so many short attacks were more fun than one slow attack. But that again is just a matter of personal preference.

There's also a matter of secondary effects. TK occasionally disorients, which in PVE is actually quite useful. CAK immobilizes, applies -Fly and applies a _slight_ slow effect. The Slow is barely noticeable, though, so don't set your hopes too high.

Personally I already had Air Sup from the flight pool for the -Fly and I found the knock-down effect on it to be just as good for stopping runners and actually better for keeping people from attacking. (Excellent pool attack, btw. I'd recommend it wholeheartedly if you don't mind flight.) So being that I already had something for a vague approximation of CAK's effects, was all the more reason to go for TK.

So IMHO there's no need to use a respec just to swap them. Maybe if you were going to respec anyway, and decided you really like one animation more than the other, sure, go for it, but I wouldn't waste a respec just for that. IMHO.