Rooney

Im very new to defenders but have a kin/elec at lvl 27 at the moment.
I agree entriely that this type of defenders excels in melee range, providing heals, end replenishing(transference) and damage buffs.
I use short circuit and lightning ball extensively, and now with the addition of transference i can keep a herded mob extremely low on end, if not empty.

I do not need stamina at all now i have transference, I have no travel power, multiple stacked siphon speeds and inertial reduction are more than enough.
get hasten it makes everything even faster.

I also run tactics for accuracy and use hover to minimise knockback problems.( stacked siphon speeds and hover=fly speed approx with no supression or drift)

i will say that pre SO's, tactics and inertial reduction, travelling was a pain if siphon speed missed, it was quite hairy trying to siphon a + 3 if he was the only mob around, and I frequently ended up in hospital !

This toon has a frantic playstyle as is one I almost exclusively play in teams.

It is great fun, enjoy !

On the way to reaching 50 with my scrapper, I played around with an ill/emp troller (lvl 33 now).
Didnt really got on with the support role and as such never tried a defender, until recently.
I currently have a lvl 27 kin/elec and its loads of fun and really effective in a team.

However I find its not the healing at all thats makes the difference, its the end drain properties of my secondary and transference that prevent the mobs from hitting ppl at all.
Add to that speed boost, siphon power and the soon (hopefully) to be attained FS, and you get a toon that almost doesnt need the heal except for himself as he spends all his time in melee range.

I certainly dont see a defenders role as simply a healer, but maybe did before I rolled one myself.

Logged my mm last night for the first time since I7 (hoping by now the bugs are fixed), and i can confirm my mercs have sj also

LVL 32 mercs/ff mm signing in here.

you are right tho i hardly ever see another mercs mm.

Seems mainly to be bots/ninja pets i see.

This might sound a bit contradictory, but I agree with almost all sides of the argument.

As most players who were playing COH when COV came out I spent my time playing COV, started a MM, got fed up of the set up times. started a corruptor, and then got a craving to return to the right side of the law.

Since then its been mainly coh as i like the atmosphere, centralised meeting points, and general feel of COH more than cov.

However recently has seen a balance of play between the 2, mainly because of the way the sg's im in operate.

Events are now organised on both games and th result is that i am beginning to enjoy cov more and more. Hell I've even taken my MM from lvl 19 to 29 and plan to get to 40 hopefully before I7.

I almost never have teaming issues, although being in a great sg with excellent global friends does help a lot.

The point I think is that both games have merit, for me COH wins out but probably because ive been playing it longer and know my way around better.

Big grats nit on your lvl 50 tank.

Always a pleasure teaming up.

I dont think its stupid at all.

It is my opinion, and i would rather pick a more useful offensive/defensive power, than one i would hardly ever use.

If i need revive regularly, IMHO i am playing the game wrong !!

But that is just my opinion after 50 lvls of being a regen scrapper.

Ok, revive seems to work better than described.

However i still have the opinion that any power which requires you to die before you can use it is a waste of a power slot (the exception might be rise of the phoenix for fire tanks, where you knockback and disorient foes when you rez)
But thats just my opinion.

I orginally took dark mastery leaving out torrent and taking the other 3.

Loved pet gaze and TT, was so so about dark blast.

I respecced into weapons because i hated being slowed by caltrops, but havent played it much. Not sure i like tho.

Still hve 2 respecs to use and i am tempted to respec back into dark for the holds.

Although being new to tanking, i didnt take taunt until lvl 22.
Not because i didnt want to BE a proper tank, i felt i was too squishy.

Now i have SO's i have taken taunt, and full intend to be everything ppl expect from a tank.

[ QUOTE ]
Revive brings you back with around 2/3 hps and 1/2 endurance.

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I dont want to labour the point, but after having looked in both the coh manual and hero planner the following is described.

'If you fall in battle you return with half hit points and no endurance'.

Oh and i forgot to add - you will be disoriented and unable to recover endurance for a while (from the coh planner explanation)

[ QUOTE ]
Revive and resilence can't be replaced with a bf and awaken.

[/ QUOTE ]

OK let me rephrase what i said, awakens and break frees can do a similar job to revive and resilience. Hows that ?

I think you will find that the general consensus of opinion leans towards revive and resilience being a waste of 2 power slots.

Plus if you team a lot, more often than not there will be a def or troller who can rez you with full health and end !

[ QUOTE ]
The speed bonus you get from SS isn't much

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Not quite sure how you arrive at this conclusion SS is IIRC is second only to tp in straight line speed !

Again i believe you will find that most ppl think ss together with a vertical travel power is an excellent way of getting around, added to that the pool is already opened by taking hasten (another popular power)
And BTW i did say i got ss at somewhere over lvl 40, it may even have been at lvl 49, so i just used super jump all that time with no problems.

I would take hack instead of slash, it will be you 3rd most powerful single target atrtack throughout the game, after headsplitter and disembowel.
Integration is a must have, as is dull pain with reconstruction not far behind IMHO.
Resilience and revive are a waste of powers slots, they can be replaced by an awaken and break free.

My scrapper has the fitness pool because BS is end heavy, particularly as i run hasten also.

Instant healing is still a good power IMHO, and MOG ive just got after a respec and am undecided about.

BS/regen is good straight forward set with only 1 toggle (integ) to really worry about.

travel is provided by super jump coupled with super speed (added at lvl 40 +) and its great for just about anything.

Scrappers are fun to play, but now mine is lvl 50, he is semi retired.

I dont know much about tankers, mine is only lvl 22, but he is fire/ice.

The reason for the combo is that ice doesnt do much aoe damage whereas fire primary does with burn and blazing aura.

I got ice patch at lvl 20 and the difference it made was amazing.

It was always my intention to use the burn/ice patch combo and i am not disappointed, Finally i feel like a tank in that ice patch prevents mobs from hitting me most of the time, and with only 1 recharge is pretty much ready to fire when the last one has melted.

I would agree, take ice patch ASAP, it is the best power in the ice melee set IMHO.

My pb is currently lvl 36, and i only have shining shield.

I never really thought the other shields would be useful until about now when i am beginning to play more in human form.

Up to lvl 30 nova was used for both team and solo, switching to human for buffs, heals and incandescent strike and radiant strike. I didnt have enough powers in human to form a chain.
I still dont really, but have since added photon seekers and dawn strike, so human form becomes more useful as nova form beomes a little bit too squishy.

The main problem with human form IMHO is high end use and mezzing mobs. Conserve energy helps a lot, but i agree that if the fitness route is taken, something has to give and it could be the shields.

PB

Ive got to admit my suprise at how easy this was considering the team make up.

Just goes to show good players make good teams almost no matter what the AT's are.

Great fun, and great xp, make for a wicked combination.

Shame about the wandering, squishy tanker requiring my constant attention.

If you need a ill/emp troller, i have one at lvl 26 who hasnt been out in a while.

Could try to make it for 8pm.

I generally agree with everything said here, with a few additions.

My pb is tri-form, if you go this way note that some human form powers duplicate nova/dwarf powers.
Also human form is end heavy, although conserve energy helps, if you plan on fighting in human most of the time IMHO stamina is a must.

Remember toggles dont transfer to forms, but some click powers like hasten and build up do.

Personally at lvl 36 currently i have most of the good human powers, dont have a great deal of slotting problems, and really enjoy the tri-form being very versatile.

If you see me in game your welcome to ask me about my build.

Thanks a lot guys for the advice and information.

The general opinion seems to suggest what I thought, a fire/fire is a good offensive unit with less crowd control options, sort of like a tough scrapper.
Whereas a fire/ice has less offensive options, but still able to deal damage, whilst having reasonable crowd control options like a very tough, damage dealing controller.

My preference is for the latter option because i think it offers a slightly more varied approach and has a more team orientated flavour.

Once again thanks for the info.

I have just started a fire/ice tanker currently at lvl 6.

Been reading the forums and even tho ive started my tank, im still not sure which combo will give me more pleasure / be a better tank.

I dont want to devote anymore time to fire/ice if the general opinion is fire/fire is better.

BTW i picked fire/ because of its more offensive nature.

Any comments appreciated.

Ill try and be there with roonstar lvl35(soon to be 36) PB.

I have to disagree with the 'they suck' and 'not a worthwhile reward for reaching lvl 50' comments.

My PB is lvl 35 ATM and i thoroughly enjoying playing him.

To me he does feel epic and a decent reward for reaching 50.

That said, I entirely agree that there should BE reasons to be 50 apart from a reward, like extra content etc.

I imagine my lvl 50 toon is much the same as a lot of lvl 50 toons, played infrequently to help high lvl 40 somethings and to generate influence for my other toons.

Cheers. sounds good to me, teaming with my PB is much harder than with my scrapper outside of the SG.
I normally have to wait for everyone to go to bed before i can do a tf.

RL permitting i will be there at 10-10.30.

Wouldnt mind joining this one with roonstar (currently lvl 32).

What time on Friday were you thinking ?