Possibility

Ice/Thorns worked out to be a good combo for me. The shorter range attacks are nice with the Ice set, as you can pull them off relatively safely, and the -Def and Toxic DoTs are a pleasant bonus.

Given that you can do a lot in melee with Ice/ in relative safety, /Earth might be good too, if you have any interest in the set.

If you have time and a handy corner available, you can corner pull, if they're inconveniently scattered.

You can use caltrops either before or after they arrive to control where you want them. You can also use web grenade to pin any early arrivals down, and also slow their rate of attack. If they come in bits and bobs, just webnade them in succession and then throw down trops underneath them. Toe-trap them with poison when you've got a quorum.

I find it extremely rude when they fail to be nicely grouped up when I'm solo. The nerve!

50s
Black Currawong, Sonic/Sonic/Power
Panic Handle, Kin/Energy/Psi
Elthalas Sureshot, TA/A/Power

40s
Paral-Ice, Cold Dom/Psi
Eclypsis, Dark/Psi/Dark
Dr. Roentgenta, Rad/Rad

20s
Miss Katrina Watts, Storm/Elec
BubbleBot v2.0, FF/Energy

<20
Gaian Mind, Emp/Psi

My personal goal is to take a toon from every Defender Primary to 50. It's a long term goal Oh, and of course, as sets proliferate, I'll have new ones to create and level. I'm looking at you, Traps (yay!).

The Sonic/Sonic was the first I leveled to 50, but not my first defender, but certainly my most resilient (the first time I'd survived an Assasin Strike in the PvP zone was w/ her; I giggled and slaughtered the stalker). Started her when Sonics were first released, because I didn't see many around at the time, and I totally was amazed at how much they really rocked.

The TA/A was my third defender, also created when the TA/A sets were released. By far, my most favorite defender to play, and even was back in the "TA lol" days of yore. Also rolled because I didn't see many at the time. A comment I still remember getting on a team playing in Croatoa back in i5 or i6: "Wow, I've never seen someone play a TA so well! Come to think of it, I've never seen someone actually play a TA." I deliberately delayed getting this toon to 50, because I never wanted it to end. The new changes have given me new challenges with him. I originally had Medicine (because I caved into my lonliness), then switched to Leadership; then, post-time-changes, started having Endurance issues, so split-built it to try both, but still have endurance issues, unless I'm on a team. That I'm still determined to go stamina-less with it doesn't help matters. But this was also the first toon I'd run a TF with, Sister Psyche's, and with an 8 man team spawn of Freaks? This set is GOLDEN.

The Emp/Psi was technically my first defender, created 4+ years ago, and still at level 10. Dear lord, what a boring toon (for me). I may have to create a different Emp/? to reach my personal goal; I just hope I can stand it.

Other than the Emp/Psi, I love my other defenders, probably more than what's objectively healthy.

[blockquote]5) Grab a lieutenant from somewhere in a city zone and float him back to an area where lower level characters hang out. Let them beat up the +3 or +4 mob. When they kill it, pass out some inspirations, and tell them they got some candy from the pinata.[/blockquote]
Really, do you need any other reason than this?? Genius.

(On a serious note, if you took the ST hold from the pool as well, it and TK are a useful one-two lockdown of a boss. W/ Dark Miasma, you can also use this to Tar Patch a corner and TK spawns into it -- and keep them there.

I like the power on my Controllers/Dominators. It *is* an edurance hog (slot w/ an EndRed/Rech set IO or just an EndRed common IO) and it *does* take some practice, use, and failure. But you can do some nifty things with it. If you solo alot, you can play with it extensively, although Mass Hypnosis may be better for the dedicated solo-er.

In either case, enjoy.)

Your original questions was for a scramble, so #1 is my preferred, super-easy scramble that works as an omelete too. #2 and #3 are non-scrambled variations which are pretty easy.

1) Pseudo pesto w/ tomato. In the dry pan, toast up some pine nuts over med-high heat. When they get fragrant, remove from heat and set aside. Heat your oil/fat (olive oil works for this one, or butter) up over medium, press in 1-2 cloves of garlic, but don't let get crispy or dark brown. Add in the eggs. Scramble until they just start to firm. Add diced tomato (tip: salt the tomato after you dice it). Firm eggs all the way. Add mozzerella (fresh for preference) and mix and melt. Add lots of torn fresh basil and cut the heat and mix in well. Top w/ the pine nuts and black pepper to season.

2) Leek and Asparagus Frittata .

3) Asparagus, Gruyere, and Tarragon Souffleed Omelet

[ QUOTE ]
Why does redside become forced to have very specialized teams, while blueside can bring whatever

[/ QUOTE ]
Just FYI, did the blue-side TF last night on a small team of four, the minimum the TF allows. We are all veterans of the game, one of whom has been playing since BEFORE general release. We're no strangers to the game, nor the TFs/Trials.

The team consisted of a broadsword/regen scrapper, invulnerability/super strength tank, mind/empathy controller, and sonic/sonic defender.

Everything up to Reichsman in the last mission was a breeze. Steamrollered, with occsional speed bumps. Schadenfreude was an enjoyable fight, and all of the "villains" leading up to him ("Sardonic" made me laugh). We were playing on Tenacious and didn't really notice. I turned it down before the last mission, though.

We could not dent Reichsman.

"I think he took some damage!"
"Really?"
"Oh, it's gone now."

We never got more than 2% damage off of him for 30 minutes straight. We couldn't even get him to the point where he'd release an AV.

We were perfectly safe, though. We could have pounded at him until the cows came home and still not dented him sufficiently to move things forward. Between the sonic shields and debuffs and the /empath buffing whenever available and occasionally healing when a squishy one of us got desperate and close enough to try a melee epic power (to no effect), it would have been an hours-long stalemate into the wee late night.

We brought "whatever" and couldn't finish the TF.

Objective: Three missions is the limit for the number of arcs you publish, unless you get a slot freed up with a special recognition from the devs. According to Positron's follow-up post, there are 20,000 published missions at any given time.

Subjective: Three slots isn't enough, and the odds of having it dev's choice-marked are rather daunting, to say the least. May I suggest an additional reward, ticket-purchaseable and suitably expensive, that would allow you to add an additional slot?

Positron and Devs, et al,

You did good. Real good. Thank you.

As long as you create and polish stuff like this, you've got my full attention and support.

-Possibility

It's here!
[ QUOTE ]
You have been waiting patiently and now the time has come! City of Heroes® content Update Issue 14: Architect has now officially begun its Open Beta phase.

[/ QUOTE ]
I have to protest this.

No. No, I have not been waiting patiently.

"Ex Libris
Issue 14: Release Notes March 17th, 2009!
03/17/2009 18:17"

Yes, it's in the digest. It's either a very, very cruel joke or . . . .

Heroes of the "City of" world have a weird idea of R &amp; R.

Hero A : Hey! Let's take a break from our day-to-day world of villains, crimes, seedy underworlds, and mortal peril and try out this device that lets us create whole new worlds!
Hero B: Wow, that sounds great! What should we put in it? Exotic locales? Different historical time periods? Beaches populated with scantily-clad and pliant young ladies/gentlemen? And margaritas?
Hero A: Uh . . . I was thinking villains, crimes, seedy underworlds and, um, mortal peril.
Hero B: . . .
Hero A: Okay, forget it let's go to the Arena.
Hero B: So . . . instead of smashing villains over the head . . . we can smash . . . each other over the head . . .
Hero A: Yeah! Sounds fun, right?
Hero B: . . .
Hero A: Gosh, now that I come to tell someone like that . . .
Hero B: I'm going to Pocket D and getting margaritas.

When all you have is a fist, every problem begins to look like villany's face.

Good primer!

You left out one kind of control: the Confuse/Deceive. I think it falls under your definition of binary (if I understood it properly), in that, it's either on or off completely*. While under the effects of a Confuse/Deceive, a PvE mob will only attack other NPCs (excluding NPC hostages and fleeing civilians). Though I've not seen this in PvP, my understanding is that player heroes/villains under the effects of a Confuse/Deceive will not be able to target their enemies.

It uses magnitude just like the other controls. A Mind Controller, for example, can sneakily lay a Confuse on a boss, and then lay another down again. While the two effects overlap, that boss is confused. A Confuse on a boss and then a Mass Confusion on the whole spawn that the boss is in also might overcome magnitude -- assuming both Confuses hit, of course, since both require a hit check. When the first Confuse reaches the end of duration, the boss is no longer confused. However, a controller can keep spamming Confuses on the boss so that when the first duration has ended, a third one will maintain the stacking. With sufficient accuracy, recharge, and confusion enhancements, it's actually possible to keep a boss chain-confused.

* Errr, isn't there a power, Arctic Air or something, that has a chance to confuse a mob in its area of effect? Like, there's a chance the enemy mob will turn around and smack another mob? In that case, it's sort of less binary, in that it's unreliably random in terms of effect.

Awww, good job and sound advice. No chance in heck I'll follow it, but sound advice nonetheless.

-Possibility
Shameless Altoholic

The above 74' is incorrect. I think I meant between 14' and 17'. And I'm still not certain that's correct. I'm not sure my friend was checking in any meaningful way, i.e. using target marks.

So forget the number for now. However, she did mention that I didn't have to go far to disappear out of sight.

Flash pros: if you have two or more close spawns and you don't want to aggro all of them, flash one, pull the other. You can do this relatively safely. Also, flashing trolls is just like pulling. If you can do it, fire at the closest one just as you're going around a corner. And then simply wait for the tank to grab aggro. The only times I've ever flash-n-aggro'd is when I overshot my mark with super speed and they saw me.

Entangle pros: Flying Freaks. Flying Raiders. Flying anything. Plus, the minor recharge slow should stack with the other powers that do recharge slows.

There are cons to both powers that have been well-illustrated, so I won't bother. I use both and am reasonably satisfied with their functionality.

PvP: Did this for the first time with a friend, and it was very interesting, since I don't play PvP and don't have builds meant for PvP. The opposing trio had a flying rad defender who I rarely saw. Suddenly, I'd be hit with lingering radiation or RI or heaven knows what.

I finally wised up, sighted them, and brought them down to earth with Entangle arrow. Goodbye Defender. You won't immobilize scrappers or tankers with status protections against holds and immob, but anyone else seems to be fair game.

I went one-on-one with a scrapper friend and I didn't expect for a minute to scratch her. I didn't, of course. But I learned something very interesting. Ice, entangle, glue, and oil? That scrapper is coming to get you, make no mistake. Only, they're doing it very...very...slow...ly. Keep hitting them with defense-draining acid arrows, and their resistance to the slows erodes significantly.

With Flash and Super Speed, per my friend, I would disappear from sight at around 74 feet. Lesson learned: You can be very, very fast, and you can make your opponents very, very slow. Keep them regularly flashed, and they'll hardly ever even see you.

Good luck!

As I've been only playing a year, I've yet to start repeating myself in terms of primary/secondary selections by AT. And as such, I make it a point to take *every* power in the primary set, no matter how "useless" it might seem.

Do some get used more than others? You bet. Some are highly situational powers that, if you have a specific build in mind, or there's something you really want elsewhere and you have to sacrifice a primary power to do it, you could skip that power and be none the worse for it. No argument here.

But that's speaking less to the merits of the power and more to your chosen playstyle or theme.

Because, I've *used* Black Hole. It lasts just long enough to rest and get my endurance back.

Sonic Cage? If I'm soloing with my wee defender and I've got one more minion that I can handle, or a Sorcerer that heals faster than I can damage, or one of those Sky Raider Force Field Generators that bubbles the Raiders, I can take it out of the picture until I'm ready to deal with it.

Rain of Fire with a completely held or immobilized spawn so they can't flee is a sight to cheer any hero.

Yesterday, in fact, I used Mass Hypnosis against Crey with a team. Do you know how happy the Blaster who Nova'd was that she could waltz into their clumped midst completely aggro-free??

And when she wasn't Nova-ing, and we had no tank, the scrappers could pick and choose their targets without drawing aggro from everything else?

Part of the challenge to the game, for me (your mileage may vary), is to come up with interesting ways to use all the nifty powers we're given, no matter how "useless" they seem.

On the other hand, I think you've picked a fairly representative list of powers that take a bit of thought, communication, and tactical consideration to employ well. Because . . . ill-used, they *can* mess things up or cause frustration or be pointless.

But what I think the list fails to consider is the synergy that powers have on teams, when you've got thinking players coming up with tactics to best leverage a team's strengths. It can take experimentation, communication, and, above all, patience to work this out, and understandably, not every group you're in will be willing to indulge you. You'll have to adjust your playstyle, and that too is part of the challenge.

Just as I wouldn't prescribe that every player take every primary power, I'd be equally wary of someone who told me not to take a power because it's "useless." Ironically, I've rolled up two defenders with the specific sets you didn't want to address, Sonic Defense and Trick Arrow, specifically because I wanted to see if I could make them work since I didn't see many of them around. Answer: they work fantastically.

Great guide! I can only add:

Walkies, I: You will eventually learn "safer" routes through the Hollows, though no way is safe unless you're high, high above it.

* If heading south from Atlas, sticking to close to the wall is generally best.

* If crossing Cherry Hills, with your zoomed out camera (as the original poster wisely suggested) you should be able to give wide berth to most any spawn, although be careful running into mobs chasing another hero who may be fleeing them. Running atop the viaducts is also a good idea. Beware Outcast/Troll gang wars, because they *will* stop what they're doing just to harrass you.

* Skirting the edge of Grendel's Gulch can be surprisingly safe -- but only if you are confident in your control over your hero's movement. Falling in and landing on Pumicites is pretty darn hair-raising, but if you can manage to jump cracks without slipping down, much of the western side of the Gulch has those handy fences around it, through which you rarely are spotted or attacked

* Do everything in your power to avoid Circle of Thorns at your lower security levels unless you have mind protection or are in groups. Madness mages hang out all through the south and west, way into Eastgate Hills, and they like nothing more than turning the brains of young heroes into tapioca.

* Those explosive kegs at Red River dam that the Trolls are setting up? Resist the temptation to blow them up unless a) you can do it in one or two shots unnoticed or b) you can get away very, very quickly and outrun hurled boulders (hint: if they're conning orange and above, you can't).

* Speaking of the Red River, travelling in the middle of it is quite safe until you approach the dam Trolls (heh). I don't believe you're penalized for terrain, and swimming and running speeds are identical (or not noticeably different), although it appears that most of the River is shallow enough to run on in any case.

Walkies, II: "Bisecting" the mobs. With your wide view, you can eye the midpoint between two spawns that are reasonably apart from each other. You'll find that you can usually angle towards that point in safety and tack around groups and landscape features. You'll eventually get the feel for how far they can see you (as the author also mentioned, you'll have to check the limits of their perception and the effect of any debuffs you might have on it (e.g. Shadowfall, Flash Arrow)). Your route from A to B will seldom be a straight line anyway (even with a travel power later on, you'll have to go around or over buildings, unless you're teleporting and can see around them), so you may as well spend the seconds and take the safe route.

To the poster who inquired about Stamina: I'm one of those who didn't take it for my TA/A. As a rule, I really hate taking it for a Defender, and since I exclusively team, between the Vigilance discount and the fact that others are doing the damage and I only have to blast sporadically, I don't miss it.

If I am forced to solo, I groan and grab Catch a Breaths. Or rest. A lot.

Since hitting 38 with my TA, and getting Rain of Arrows, I'm finding life has gotten much nicer in terms of damage output, and soloing "Defeat X of Y" missions have gotten tolerable without Stamina.

P.S. I only recently had to put Fitness/Stamina on a Defender for the first time: my sonic/sonic defender who just hit level 23. Between the toggles and the fact that there's not much to do after you shield your allies, I blast a LOT more with her, and I got myself into End crunches constantly. Not only have I taken Stamina, but I have nearly every power slotted with a single End Redux DO and toggles with an End Redux SO. Life is a lot nicer these days.

But, again, every other defender I have survives fine without it in teams, only mildly less so solo.

Yes, you can stack TK with Mass/Dominate and hit a boss. I used this tactic to my unfettered delight just recently when facing the Envoy of Shadow. Yes, you heard me correctly, the Envoy . Hit with TK, Dominate, Mass Dominate, Confuse something else, Dominate, Levitate something else, Dominate, Confuse something else, Dominate, etc. I had RA to keep the endurance going, had a perfect corner-trap to keep the Envoy from drifting out of range, and ate lots of yellows. I was able to spam enough Dominates on it that it was clutching its head in pain most of the time. It was by far the most successful use of this tactic to date for me and impressed the heck out of both my teammates and myself.

And, yes, as far as I know, TK will still hold no more than 10 at once (was that the limit you meant?).

Since I've recently started using this tactic with decent success (haven't played ATs that can pull with ranged attacks, or have generally let a blaster do the pulling), I'm not sure if this is a change of mob behavior or simply this particular faction or what.

I was duoing a mission with a scrapper friend, playing a Rad/Rad defender. We were up against groups of 3 or more orange-conning Clockwork. We weren't in "I see you" range of the clockwork, so we decided to grab the first orange alone and even the odds before I laid down RI and EF.

All I had was neutrino bolt, but they were close enough that I had the range. I zapped the first one -- like I said, I've gotten very good at this technique: you can actually fire from behind a corner if you're timing is good and you activate the power while moving. The bolt will go off and hit the target, but you're not really even in its LoS.

My scrapper friend was patiently waiting with me. Neither of us were in LoS. The bolt hits (I can see the health bar nudge down a tiny bit). And we wait. And wait. And...wait?

The little oscillator never runs toward us. I try again, and again, I'm very quick. I don't even have to step from around the corner for more than a moment to do this.

And . . . it never comes a-running. Against all sanity, I step around the corner and pause so it sees me. *Then* it comes a-running. I don't even fire a bolt!

So, my question is, what's the deal? Is this new behavior, that if an attacker is out of the LoS and doesn't see the attack coming, the mob stands there going, "Duh?" Is this typical of the clockwork or do others do this as well? Is it pulling with neutrino bolt? Are they healing the minor damage too fast? (Although the minor defense debuff should still be active for a moment after the attack)

I've pulled using this technique with a Sonic defender, and the Outcasts and Trolls don't like it just fine. They come a-running without much provocation on my part.

Anyone noticed anything like this recently?

Thank you! I loved your le Breton Bowman page. He iz, 'ow you say, magnifique !

The next version/update to the guide will have a section for additional links, including the previously referenced thread regarding Flash Arrow, and I will have to inlcude le Bowman as well.

(Does he know how to make a good krampouezh?)

A great guide! Thank you for the time and effort -- and I7 timeliness. I can't help but echo your sentiments about STAYING OUT OF MELEE, and that the Medicine pool is a good choice, for all kinds of reasons, for non-healing defender sets.

Another fantastic breakout by Enantiodromos.

I've recently started an Earth/Rad controller, and something tells me that this is going to be a particularly effective combination. I created him to team with some new player friends of mine, and I went for maximum support, since they were playing a scrapper and a tanker. I chose to take all of the Rad powers up to AM before taking any further Earth powers. Now I will refrain from taking any more Radiation powers and build up the control side. Stone Cages + RI is a fantastic blend, a fairly early AoE combo that is incredibly defense-enhancing for a team. As you pointed out, keeping critters within the enemy debuff anchor range is paramount to protection and maximizing effectiveness of the debuffs, and keeping the anchor from aggroing other groups is an added bonus. Very good synergy.

I heart tanks!

Glad to hear that you've befriended a TA defender and have some good synergy going on. Mazel tov!