StormyDarkness

Quick response: Your recharge and defenses seem nice atm, but there's a few things that are kinda nagging at me.

1) That seems like a hella lot of accuracy. I call about 120% alright and 140% more than alright and will try to go after other enhancements after that mark (if it keeps going up due to set bonuses, more power to it). I say this mostly due to post Sleet. It's a 30% Defense debuff on top of infridg which is another ST 31% defense debuff. Also, you got tactics too. Slotting for accuracy is very redundant at this point. Plus, if you're going to be storm crazy, they have a great accuracy already and thus don't need the accuracy to begin with.

2) The entire leadership pool isn't as amazing as one would hope. It's nice, but you don't need to build yourself specifically to it. Vengeance can be switched for Hover or CJ and you'll get the 7.5 still in there, plus another toggle towards defense, instead of your crazy accuracy already.

3) If you did Analyze Weakness for accuracy, as stated above, it's not needed. If it's for the 3% damage buff, I know a better and more effective way. If it's for the 10% regen, well... okay you'll win that. Undermind Defenses End/Rech and Rech will greatly lower your recharge for something you'll want up every mob. Then do either Touch of LG End/Rech OR Heel Def debuff/Rech and then for your 4th slot Heel proc. That way, it's doing -30% resist with 4 ticks (if they are in the sleet the entire time and get hit on the first tick of Sleet) worth of 20% chance for -20% resist, meaning there's 4 different 20% chance of 10 seconds worth of -50% resistance on the enemies. Times this by the innate defense debuff that mean that everyone will hit anyway, and poor, you're doing a crapton of resist to the enemy. Not to mention the mitigation factors. Also, with the slotting ideas above, that gives you 3.5% dmg along with a faster recharge Sleet.

4) Consider slotting stamina with Performance Shifter +end proc that's especially nice when you nuke and the shifter regular End one. This way, you'll have a 4% less recovery via stamina and a 20% chance for 10% endurance (so 10, or a bit higher if you're accoladed out). Also doing the shifter end mod will give you 5% movement speed. Why not get a boost of speed when you're slotting the same thing anyhow.

5) Consider putting a 5th slot in Infrigidate. Why? Shield Breaker 4 slotted (probably for recharge) and a Heel proc. This will give you extra AoE defense, plus recovery and status resistance.

6) Depending on what you're wanting Power Build Up to do, I may suggest choosing something else. It doesn't up your ally shields, not arctic air because of the resistances within it. It will up Maneuvers for... 12.5 seconds. Defense debuffs are meh, though the damage aspect is something to consider. Though you may find yourself finding a better epic to dip yourself into if that's the reason why you were thinking it.

7) I think if you sacrified a bit of damage (estimated 24 damage when teaming), you can lower ice storm from 36 to 25 seconds recharge. You can also slot it like blizzard (or slot it that way instead of blizzard and just switch them) to get yourself more recharge (and accuracy if you take off tactics/venge >.>).

8) I'd also, if you can find the slots for it, place 5 slots in Health (my preferred way to slot it). Numina Unique, Miracle Unique, Numina Heal, Miracle Heal, and Regen Tissue unique. This slotting offers 82% regen and 27.5% recovery. It's at least something to consider.


These are just some food for thought. Slotting for Positional defense on a Cold Dom is a good idea since (against my wants) Arctic Air only raises positional defense instead of all (like steamy mist). However, your defense looks nice and so does your recharge, but this'll at least give you a few more tricks to pull off even more Shenanigans!

Edit: I just failed at quick posting... time for me to go to bed so I can wake up in 3 hours to go to work. Thankfully I'll have the day off Tuesday to recoup.

Importance of empathy powers, as I see it:

1) Fortitude
2) Regen Aura
3) Recovery Aura
4) Adrenaline Boost
5) Clear Mind
6) Heal Other
7) Healing Aura
8) Absorb Pain
9) Rez

Why?

Fort- You don't need to heal or mez protect if everyone is not getting hit in the first place. Importance of targets: Tank that's getting hurt pretty badly, Scrapper/Blaster, Defender/Tanker that's not getting hit, Controllers. Modify as needed for lower leveled or underenhanced characters, as they will need both the defense and to-hit buff. Also, modify the list for people generally getting more damage on them than otherwise needed. So if a Controller is getting attacked often, bump them up on your importance list. It's fairly easy to get Fort on 4-5 people (of 7 since you can't buff yourself with it), so the science can be fairly liberal.

RAs/AB- If you're barely getting hit, the RAs and AB will get all your heals over time. If they are dropping from 100% to 95% health, don't sweat it, their natural regen and RAs/AB will take care of it. They'll also help any ally having endurance problems, so be mindful of both their blue and green bars. Though, I'm personally completely against calling out RAs. Just position yourself as center as you can hitting the most important people for sure. So Recovery Aura should typically be cast by the ranged if the melee is fine with endurance and melee if the ranged is fine. Both having problems? Just try to hit as many as you can and AB who you missed. This way, you don't have to have everyone abandon what they are focused on for you to do your support, since their job is their job.

They shouldn't have to worry about getting buffed, but then again with any PBAoE thing like that, the buff is helpful, but shouldn't cause a player to completely fall apart by missing it. They should be self-sufficient in their own right. A Granite Armor tanker should be able to manage without a Kin, so on, so forth. I mean, I don't want to stand around Manticore for an hour and a half so the tanker can get his precious speed boost that he'll yell about once it drops for 2 milliseconds. I mean, buffs are helpful, but shouldn't be the sole thing that makes their character actually work properly, and Regen and (especially) Recovery Aura should act the same logic as the SB example.

CM- I typically just lump this with Fort when toss it out. Sure, it's not perma on them, but I gots stuff to do! Also, depending enemy group and allies, modify your use to increase if need be.

Heals- People are bound to be hit, but look at the following list of healing: lots of minimal damage over the team, Healing Aura; a moderate damage on an ally, Heal Other; Tank is majorly hurt (or a scrapper, others will go from basically 1 to full with a use), Absorb Pain. Typically this isn't needed.

Rez- If everything fails, this is the "oh crap" button, especially on dead tanks. It's also good for when the blaster or whatnot accidentally (or not) gets himself killed. Saves wakies and people can hold onto their other inspirations.

Favored Blast power set: Psychic. Why? Psi Tornado + Psi Scream. Why these two in specific? The two can cap out enemy recharge, so when they whiff because of Fort or they don't do enough that RAs will cover it, they won't attack for a long while again. Why Psi Tornado? You can slot in Forced Feedback +Rech and get all your longer recharge powers up more often (RAs/AB/Fort) which are the most important powers of your primary. Not to mention it also has a knock up effect on the enemies. So you are providing both active mitigation (Knock up/Recharge debuffing), damage, and a buff to yourself, not to mention it is an AoE.

I did a MoLGTF attempt and we were doing fine til Hami (someone forgot to eat an EoE) and fine afterwards. One of the people were getting paranoid about me using Psi Tornado so much (especially on the Horsemen), so when we were going against the 3, I decided I'd just sit back and just play "healer". I healed two people. Both times, they were over 75% health and I did it because I was bored. After this, I did Psi Tornado as much as I could because I explained what had just happened. No one complained after that AND people said I was one of the best Empaths they've seen in a long while. Best thing? I wasn't even fully slotted with mostly generic IOs, just a few here and there.

It's true that a Defender's primary job is to do their support first, but this doesn't mean they shouldn't blast nor control (or both as the case may be), it just means to keep on top of your Fort/CM/RAs/AB and then you don't have to worry about whack-a-mole green bar. Thus allowing you to attack and utilize the tools in your secondary power set.

I read (almost) all of this one and everything looks good. Missed the appendix and anchor choosing, but I didn't see any problems with any of the other ones.

My only question for the proc is the following:

Since Repel is a toggle, do you have to hit an enemy exactly on the 10 second timers to get the +Rech proc or is it per enemy hit.

That's pretty my major concern with procing it. There's little use (unless you're cornering them and even then you'll blow through endurance) for the proc if you have to hit and enemy at the exact right time to have a chance for the proc to go off. If it is a per target hit proc chance, that's actually quite a via option. You could also 3 slot Explosive Strike for a damage buff and ranged defense set bonuses. It'll also enhance your knock back slightly (to 9.8 Mag KB versus the 6.2 it normally offers). However, the procing of this power really does boil down to if it's a chance to proc per target or chance to proc if targets are hit at a very certain time. If it's the latter, just the two KB IOs will suffice; otherwise it's something to consider, assuming you have slots left over.

It's definitely something for my Kin/AR Defender to consider on his solo build (since I've currently got it quasi-spliced team/solo and thus have speed boost). I mean, it's already fun to knock around everything with my AR as it is, might as well add a bit of a more "you *are* being knocked around" with Repel.

In fact it's plausible for all Kins that like my "KB then dash the enemy, then transference/transfusion them from "safety" to melee attacks" to do so, since Repel has a radius of 9 and those two have a radius of 20 around the enemy. After enough experimentation, Siphon -> Repel -> Heal/End would be a decent combination to keep melee at bay, or with enough positioning prowess, even ranged enemies. This opens a whole new box for my Kin/AR and his KBing enemies as a Kin.

Here would be my suggestion of a build for you.

Instead of focusing on positional defense (which granted, is nice), you're giving up a lot in my eyes. Most importantly, damage. Not saying damage is the most important thing for a Storm/Psi, but I always find actually being able to kick someone's behind a good thing.

I still got you 32-33% Smash/Lethal/Energy/Neg defense, which means the other 4 typed powers will be slightly less (positional is still in the upper 20s for Melee/Ranged and still better than Psi's defense for AoE). However, I got you with slightly higher recharge, higher recovery, less endo/sec, higher recharge (significantly), along with actually being able to do a higher amount of damage with your powers. Also, Hurricane and World of Confusion is a bit counteractive. I think you need to take either one or the other for use. I understand using it as a set mule, but I think you can get a better power selection with something else (like telekinesis? >.>).

As a note, Freezing Rain, Snow Storm, Psychic Scream, and Psi Tornado (among other psi powers) is giving you a hefty recharge debuff for your enemies; however, -75% is the lowest you can get, which is auto capped with Psychic Scream and and of the other powers, plus it's a damage power. This is why I'd suggest taking Psychic Scream instead of Snow Storm, though you could easily do it with an ideology for taking snow storm (no reapplying, it's a toggle) instead of Psychic Scream.

The biggest two things I'd suggest is slot Tornado for damage, because it's great for AVs to have a blender. Freezing Rain should do plenty of defense debuff that you'll need, especially with the build I have made since most of the accuracy of your powers are 140% or more. Secondly, I'd suggest instead of 6 slotting Ragnarok (which is hella expensive), go with a 5 slot of it (or if you wanna be cheaper, Posi's Blast) and make the 6th slot Force Feedback's +Rech proc. Every enemy you hit with Psi tornado will have a -37.5% recharge, knockup chance, and give you a 10% chance of getting more recharge. What could be better? Note: The plus side of Posi's blast is you get a damage proc instead of more KB proc.


Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.704
http://www.cohplanner.com/

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Level 50 Natural Defender
Primary Power Set: Storm Summoning
Secondary Power Set: Psychic Blast
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Psychic Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Gale -- Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Mental Blast -- Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5)
Level 2: O2 Boost -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(36), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(37), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Dct'dW-Heal(50)
Level 4: Subdue -- Enf'dOp-EndRdx/Immob(A), Enf'dOp-Acc/EndRdx(5), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob/Rchg(48), Enf'dOp-Acc/Rchg(48)
Level 6: Steamy Mist -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(7), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(7), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(11), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(13), RctvArm-ResDam(13)
Level 8: Freezing Rain -- UndDef-Rchg/EndRdx(A), UndDef-Rchg(9), LdyGrey-Rchg/EndRdx(9), Achilles-ResDeb%(11)
Level 10: Psychic Scream -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(23), Posi-Dmg/Rng(25), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27), Posi-Dam%(27)
Level 12: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 14: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Numna-Heal(15), Mrcl-Rcvry+(15), Mrcl-Heal(19), RgnTis-Regen+(21)
Level 16: Hurricane -- DarkWD-ToHitDeb(A), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(17), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(17), DarkWD-Rchg/EndRdx(19)
Level 18: Telekinetic Blast -- Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(A), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(43), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(21), EndMod-I(23)
Level 22: Will Domination -- Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(40)
Level 24: Kick -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(25), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(46), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 26: Tornado -- S'bndAl-Dmg/EndRdx(A), S'bndAl-Dmg/Rchg(40), S'bndAl-Dmg(40), Achilles-ResDeb%(43)
Level 28: Psionic Tornado -- Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg(A), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29), Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg(29), Ragnrk-Dmg/EndRdx(31), Ragnrk-Knock%(31), FrcFbk-Rechg%(31)
Level 30: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), S'fstPrt-ResKB(33), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(33), Aegis-ResDam(33), Aegis-Psi/Status(34)
Level 32: Lightning Storm -- Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(A), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34)
Level 35: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(36), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(36)
Level 38: Hover -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(39), Zephyr-ResKB(39)
Level 41: Mass Hypnosis -- LgcRps-Acc/Rchg(A), LgcRps-EndRdx/Sleep(42), LgcRps-Acc/Sleep/Rchg(42), LgcRps-Sleep/Rng(42)
Level 44: Mind Over Body -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(45), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(45), RctvArm-ResDam(45)
Level 47: Telekinesis -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(48)
Level 49: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50), RechRdx-I(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
Level 6: Ninja Run

The plans for this character is on GR to make it a blue side stalker.

I'm shooting for soft-capped positional defense with recharge (for LR mostly) and damage. Without hide considered, I got myself up to 46.9% Melee/Ranged and 41.9% AoE. My resists are trash, but I'm hoping that it won't matter too much with soft-cap. I like my regen number and my being only about 25 HP away from HP cap. I'm not sold on my epic and as such am open minded on that front.

The goal would be able to do some solo type work on TFs on non-defeat alls as I don't want to bother with taking the stalker stealth/tp; however, if I had to choose between a "team" build and a "solo" build, I'm looking for the team side of things.

Also, this is not particularly leveling up order, but I just wanted to make sure I had everything in semi-right order. If you have suggestions for leveling up and what not, I'll gladly take a listen. I'm all up for hearing how to make my trip from 1-50 easier.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.704
http://www.cohplanner.com/

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Yellow Danger Ranger: Level 50 Magic Stalker
Primary Power Set: Electrical Melee
Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Medicine
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Leviathan Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Havoc Punch -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(9), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Mako-Dam%(40)
Level 1: Hide -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(3), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(40)
Level 2: Focused Fighting -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(3), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(5), RedFtn-Def(43), RedFtn-EndRdx(43), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 4: Focused Senses -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(5), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(7), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(48), RedFtn-Def(48), RedFtn-EndRdx(48)
Level 6: Assassin's Shock -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(11), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(13), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(13), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), T'Death-Dam%(15)
Level 8: Build Up -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(17), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(17), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(37), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(39), GSFC-Build%(39)
Level 10: Agile -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(11), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(40)
Level 12: Placate -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 14: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 16: Practiced Brawler -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 18: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Numna-Heal(19), Mrcl-Rcvry+(19), Mrcl-Heal(23), RgnTis-Regen+(37)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(21), EndMod-I(21)
Level 22: Dodge -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(23), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(43)
Level 24: Chain Induction -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(25), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(25), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), T'Death-Dam%(33)
Level 26: Thunder Strike -- Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(A), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(27), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(27), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(29), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(29), FrcFbk-Rechg%(31)
Level 28: Quickness -- Run-I(A)
Level 30: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(36), RechRdx-I(37)
Level 32: Lightning Rod -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(33), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), Oblit-%Dam(34)
Level 35: Evasion -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(36), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(36), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(42), RedFtn-Def(50), RedFtn-EndRdx(50)
Level 38: Stimulant -- IntRdx-I(A)
Level 41: Aid Self -- Numna-Heal/Rchg(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Numna-Heal(42)
Level 44: Water Spout -- Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(A), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(45), Posi-Dmg/Rng(45), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), Posi-Dam%(46), Achilles-ResDeb%(46)
Level 47: Hibernate -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 49: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Assassination
Level 6: Ninja Run

Admittedly, I only fully read the "How not to use Gale" section and skimming the rest, I'd suggest moving that section to the bottom of the strategy section.

I'm aware of your bias against it (since as already stated, you say it a lot), but to seem fair to the power, you should mention the benefits of how the powers work and how they *should* be using it before giving specifics of how *not* to use it. If they plan on taking Gale, they will, and they should know how to properly use it with consideration of when not to use it versus saying when they shouldn't with consideration on how they should. I'd consider it a topic of "Things to keep in mind before clicking Gale" because sometimes Gale can be useful for a melee character who happens to have too much over their heads, knocking part of the mob that the melee character was soloing into the rest of the mob for blaster and controller AoEs along with knocking them into your freezing rain.

You're right on it's a situational power and it's really up to the Stormer on whether they see the value in it or another power choice. However, it's a good idea to present possible scenarios that Gale could be more problematic than not to hopefully give the learning Stormer some tips. However, with how you currently have it positioned in topics, you're doing a "This is really crummy because of X, Y, and Z. Oh and if you wanna know the detailed benefit, keep reading." Let people know what it does; then let them know the concerns of the power; then let them be the judge after knowing both sides of the coin.

Just my thought on that bit.

To know my stance: I dislike Snow Storm more than Gale and dislike Moonbeam more than Snow Storm. As such Gale, O2, Gloom, and Dark Blast were my 1, 2, and 4 choices. I've come to respect Gale and use it at those situational times because of it.

It's good to see another one joining the fold.

However, it's starting to make me think... what's with all these people joining the Defender fold after a 30% buff while solo, 20% duo, 10% trio and not too much before? I mean, there were some before but it seems odd that there's a lot of people coming out of the woodworks now.

I got odd looks and a slight talking to from one of my global friends when we were doing a MoLGTF. Evidently if I'm playing my Emp/Psi, I'm not supposed to Psi Tornado everything to have my +rech proc go off so I can RA/AB/Fort quicker to make me have to heal less, not to mention the soft control of Knock Up. I stop them from attacking, deal damage, buff quicker. Who needs heals?

Needless to say, after mission 2 (when we were doing the 3 horsemen, I didn't attack to ensure everyone was fine... I used 2 heals, both times the person was over 75% health...). No one really complained after that. The Mo attempt was lost however at Hami when the Brute forgot to use his EoE and got Hami Goo'd to death. Otherwise the Mind dom plus my TK and Dom from Psi Mastery and the Fortunata Widow's holds and whatnot, we did beat him with the 50 mag hold on the greens. But yeah, everyone had great respect for my attacking empath after that.

Okay, this wouldn't be exactly what I'd personally do (I think), but it'll hopefully give you a launching point. If I missed any points or it seems a bit non-logical on my approach. I'm sorry. I'm trying to figure out what's going on this even as it looks like I'm going to be going out on a date-esk thingy. However, at the time I had already started it up, so I figured I'd finish my post before running about to get ready for it.

Differences:
- You've got (a ton) more ranged defense, however, I think this might give you a few things to consider on other facets. As for the heal, that's the hopes of recovering when you do get hit (since it'll be a lot more with my build, depending your aggression level) but your cones and whatnot will still be doing THD, thus making your need for the heal only a spot most of the time.
- You've got a ton more powers set to Pacing of the Turtle. It's great for the ranged defense bonus, but other than the proc, fairly useless in most cases. I mean, imo, -speed is only so useful as there is a cap to it that they can still move around with.
- Tentacles will get more mileage with either damage (some can debate that) or Clouded Senses. You actually get more ranged defense if you 6 slot Clouded than with the immobilize, the proc of neg in CS is less resisted than any other type of damage type in the game (compared to imm's lethal which tons of enemies have resistance to). Plus, CS has the 6.25% recharge, which is always nice in my book.
- I think you'd get more mileage out of Flash than Entangle and I'd highly suggest putting Disruption Arrow in there somewhere. I mean, Disruption has -20% and if it does make an accuracy check, it has decent accuracy since I always see my enemies with the debuff on them when around the set point.
- With your current accuracy on Acid Arrow, you're pretty low. As an added bonus, with a moderate amount of accuracy, you can toss in a Heel proc in there and do an extra -20% resist to some of the enemies.
- Not sure how attached you are to placing the run IO in SS, but I'd suggest moving the winter's gift over to SS and make SJ 4 slotted with Zephyr.
- On Force of Nature, I'd suggest dropping the Resist/End Aegis and place in a generic Recharge IO. This will lower your FoN to less than 1% of hard-capped resistances for what it gives and it'll drastically reduce your recharge speed on it so you can have it up a mob to a mob and a half earlier. With the low endurance cost of FoN, you really don't need the endurance so much.
- Your Power Build Up needs more recharge more than it needs THB. Just saying >.>
- Oil Slick Arrow could use more damage, I mean, that's what most everyone uses OSA for anyhow.
- Oh yes, pick either Swift or Hurdle, the chances you need both is slim to nil, which will open you to a new power slot. Like a Disruption Arrow with a Recharge generic in it? Just an idea.

General statements:
- Get Disruption, consider Life Drain, Flash Arrow, and maybe Blackstar. There's nothing like Power Build Up then Blackstar. It gives -124% THD without a single THD slotted in it, plus it increases the damage of your nuke. So those that don't survive should be only working on the 5% given chance to hit you after using it. The only problem being that it'll drop your toggles and you'll not be able to do anything for a while, but who says you can PBU, EMP Arrow, then Blackstar for ultra crash!
- Go a bit more for recharge if you can, and if you can alter your slow enhancements to be something else and get about the same benefit, go that route, you'll get better luck with it imo. I'm a personal fan of damage is good even for Defenders. That and with the DoTs, I feel like I'm doing more damage than I am, which makes me happy. Slows are a bit less helpful than most everything else in the game imo.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.704
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Defender
Primary Power Set: Trick Arrow
Secondary Power Set: Dark Blast
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Power Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Flash Arrow -- Cloud-Acc/Rchg(A), Cloud-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(3), Cloud-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(3), Cloud-ToHitDeb(5)
Level 1: Dark Blast -- Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(A), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(40), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 2: Glue Arrow -- TmpRdns-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(A), P'ngTtl-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(46)
Level 4: Gloom -- Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(A), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(5), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7)
Level 6: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 8: Poison Gas Arrow -- FtnHyp-Sleep/Rchg(A), FtnHyp-Acc/Sleep/Rchg(9), FtnHyp-Acc/Rchg(9), FtnHyp-Sleep/EndRdx(15), FtnHyp-Plct%(15), CSndmn-Heal%(17)
Level 10: Dark Pit -- Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(11), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(11), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(13), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(13)
Level 12: Acid Arrow -- ShldBrk-Acc/Rchg(A), ShldBrk-DefDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(17), ShldBrk-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(19), ShldBrk-%Dam(33), Achilles-ResDeb%(33)
Level 14: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Numna-Heal(39), Mrcl-Rcvry+(39), Mrcl-Heal(40), RgnTis-Regen+(40)
Level 16: Tenebrous Tentacles -- Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(A), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(34), Posi-Dmg/Rng(34), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), Posi-Dam%(36)
Level 18: Disruption Arrow -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(19)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(21), EndMod-I(21)
Level 22: Night Fall -- Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(A), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(23), Posi-Dmg/Rng(23), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(25), Posi-Dam%(33)
Level 24: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(25)
Level 26: Oil Slick Arrow -- Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(A), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(27), Posi-Dmg/Rng(27), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31), Posi-Dam%(31), RechRdx-I(31)
Level 28: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(29), RechRdx-I(29)
Level 30: Super Speed -- Winter-ResSlow(A)
Level 32: EMP Arrow -- BasGaze-Acc/Rchg(A), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold(36), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(36), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(37)
Level 35: Life Drain -- Nictus-Heal/HP/Regen/Rchg(A), Nictus-Heal(37), Nictus-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 38: Blackstar -- Erad-Dmg/Rchg(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 41: Power Build Up -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(42), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(42), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(42), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(43), GSFC-Build%(43)
Level 44: Temp Invulnerability -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), S'fstPrt-ResKB(45), Aegis-ResDam(45), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(45), Aegis-Psi/Status(46)
Level 47: Force of Nature -- Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(48), Aegis-ResDam(48), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 49: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(50), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(50)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
Level 6: Ninja Run

The plus side of Explosive Arrow is the Force Feedback +Rech proc. Your mileage of it may vary, but my Archery/Sonic gets a lot out of it to get RoA up more. Also, in outdoor or tall ceiling maps, you can hover above the enemies and it'll KB them into the ground (or into your OSA), plus they'll mob up in OSA (ideally) to be right below you, thus getting more out of OSA too. Granted, that doesn't help much on the indoor low ceiling maps.

As for the build itself, I got a couple of pointers:

Glue Arrow- I'd say you only need the end/rech/slow of Tempered Readiness. I'd match that up with the same from Pacing of the Turtle and call that good, giving you 3 slots to work elsewhere in your build. The slows in the set are alright, but it's only effecting run speed, which means the rest is fairly out of the box good. There's no accuracy for it (to my knowledge), so that just means for set bonuses, which you can get better set bonuses elsewhere.

Combat Jumping/Hover- Honestly, I'd say pick one, go with it (and its corresponding travel power and fitness build up) and then take leadership if you're really wanting more defense. It offers more defense anyhow and with just a slot more, you can do 7.5, def, and def/end which is all you really need for Maneuvers imo.

Stamina- Do Performance Shifter End instead of a generic, it makes you 5% faster movement without any sort of decrease to what you're already doing! Just a tiny, tiny thing.

Poison Gas Arrow- May I suggest three different slotting (which I consider for all my sleep oriented powers). A) 4 (maybe 5) slot Lethargic Repose for added defense. B) 5 slot Call of the Sandman for added recharge and a possible self heal. C) 5 slot Fortunana Hypnosis for even better recharge from sets, better recharge from actual IOs (since it has 3 Recharge oriented IOs vs. 2 for the other two), it's a cheap purple set, and you can proc it with Fortunata and if you want a 6th slot it, Call of the Sandman Heal proc too! This would mostly depends on if you're running low on slots between CotS and Fort or if you're really wanting the heal proc.

EMP Arrow- I'd give the suggestion of 4 slotting Basi's Gaze for the 7.5% recharge. That alone will probably trump your 3% dmg as a defender and the 2.5% hold increase when it's just that power alone. You can always consider doing Lockdown +2 mag hold for an added chance to get bosses held, but to each their own.

Temp Invulnerability- I'd suggest dropping the Impervium armor IO for the Aegis Res/End/Rech as it'll lower your resist by a whole .5% and it'll give you some AoE, Fire, and Cold defense.

Rain of Arrows- You seem way too overslotted on accuracy for that power. I'd suggest dumping the Detonation for one of the three remaining Posi's. In fact, I'd suggest taking out one of the generic recharges for one of the other Posi's as well. It lowers your recharge by about 3-4 seconds without Hasten on because you'll be increasing your recharge to all your powers by having the 5 slotted Posi. I'd personally be wild enough to say go with the dmg/range or proc before the acc/dmg Posi even. I mean, then you can stand waaaay far back and mini nuke them and then go from there (waaaay far back meaning 104 versus 90 ft. away). Then again, if you can flash arrow them without being seen, the range would be a bit redundant like the accuracy *shrugs*.

Stunning Shot- personal preference, but I thought I'd point it out. 6.25% recharge if you go with the 5 slot Stupefy.

Acid Arrow- personal preference, but I thought I'd point it out. 2.5% AoE and 1.25% Fire/Cold defense sit just a slight reslotting away.

Just a bit of food for thought.

As for your viable question, the people who were the say alls of TA about 6 months to a year ago made comments about switching from TA/Archery to TA/Dark and liking it a lot more than the archery blast. As for your build and whatnot, I'm uncertain and am currently being lazy on checking it out. I wanna play on my characters right now instead of building/critiquing.

There's a reason I personally enjoy my Dark/Mace. Not docking either Energy Melee nor Axe, but it gives me a fine median of both forms of mitigation, stuns and knockdown (for equal or higher and kb for lower). This way, if there's a stubborn anti-kb enemy (such as an AV or whatnot), I have my stuns I can fall back on. On the other hand, some enemy groups (*cough*Council*cough*) have sher numbers and thus having AoE knockdown cones are quite useful to me.

That and I have to say jumping into a mob with an AV in it or jumping into a GM, having OG tick, then doing Clobber for a total of 5 mag stun, it can actually get some AVs and GMs at your mercy. Granted, if you Diabolique and can endure the 5 mag stun, her mag of knockback was killer. On the entire Praetorian arc, she was *the* hardest AV for me to tank. Infernal makes me laugh as he was the first AV that I stunned before my tanker was even 50. It was at that point when I saw my calling to stun GMs and AVs.

My character's build is near "complete", but I'll probably be editing it some to get better S/L defense. There's nothing like doing the Ab Sewer Trial and having the easiest of all the enemies be the head, followed by the hatched. Go figure, right?

Unlike mentioned before, I would suggest the redraw power sets. My corruptor (Archery/Sonic) gets to run about and attack between buffs. Also, since it is a toggle heavy set for the best powers of the set (Disruption Field and Sonic Dispersion), DP, AR, and Archery allow for you to go and T9 everything every mob to every other mob.

I have found (which will be more useful for the Sonic Defenders after GR) that Disruption Field does not cause any aggro, which means a Stalker can head up to the boss, debuffing the entire mob while you're doing the animation for RoA. Click a target in the center of the mob and click Exploding Arrow (which should have Forced Feedback +Rech IO in it). Exploding Arrow will go off before the three ticks of RoA can kill everyone giving you basically 4 ticks and a 10% chance (per target of a mob) for a short duration massive recharge increase, thus bringing RoA up faster and allowing you to do this combo again. The stalker while you're doing all this animation is up next to the heavy hitter and doing their animation for AS, giving your RoA, Exploding Arrow, and their AS a -30% resistance debuff. Suddenly, everything is dead.

Note: If you take something like Dark Mastery, the exploding arrow strategy will greatly increase your recharge of Dark Consumption (Sonic Res is an endurance hog), Soul Drain (dmg buff to you while your melee friend is lowing their res for even greater dmg), and Soul Transfer if you somehow manage to die a lot. You can apply this concept to other slow recharge epic pool powers (mostly power and hey look! Conserve Power and Force of Nature) and liquefy (since the long recharge is one the major complaints about Sonic's T9).

However, AR and DP has a lot of similar tricks. Sure you'll have to redraw every so often after buffing, but really the only two reasons after buffs and toggles applied that you should need to redraw is Sonic Siphon (which is T1 so you'll be used to that recharge quickly) and Liquefy (Which has a long recharge so it won't be a problem often). Sonic Cage has its uses, especially solo, but *shrugs* on team you won't use it often. I just like the prospect of T9ing every mob.