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Syntax42

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  1. Syntax42

    wp/fire tanker

    POST-ACTION

    This forum does not move fast. Have patience.

    Your Fire/Cold defense is pretty high but you left S/L with almost none. Try and get to 32.5% on everything as mentioned above so you can soft-cap with a small purple.
  2. Syntax42
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rangle M. Down View Post
    About the only changes I'd make to Syntax42's template would be two slotting Active Defense and throwing Focused Accuracy in the dumpster. But that's mainly because I'm just NOT a big fan of Focused Accuracy on a tank. I would however throw the Gaussian's into Build-up. (Did I mention I generally don't like Focused Acc. on a tank? I did? Good. )

    Both changes are of course personal preferences. Either would probably suit you better then you're first Soft cap build, and give you greater flexibility.
    Focused Accuracy's set can go in a build-up or Rage. That template is just there to show that any Shield Tanker can use those sets to achieve the intended result of soft-capping as efficiently as possible.

    The alternative to Focused Accuracy is Conserve Power. That is a worthless power, in my opinion. If you take Energy Mastery, you will probably take Physical Perfection. With Stamina and Physical Perfection slotted as above, my Dark Armor Tanker takes several minutes of sustained combat to run out of endurance. I don't have the Miracle or Numina's uniques slotted on him yet, too. Endurance recovery can go high enough that you will NEVER gain any benefit from Conserve Power, but Focused Accuracy's to-hit bonus can always be useful against +4s if you're tanking in the new TFs.
  3. Syntax42
    Shield Defense is extremely easy to soft-cap on a Tanker. You don't need anywhere near as many sets as you have adding to defense. You should also enhance your resistance in your toggles as they are adding more layered mitigation. Get Active Defense down to a 60-second recharge and put it on auto-cast so you can have capped defense debuff resistance and literally ignore any defense debuffs thrown at you. Membranes may be necessary in Active Defense.

    Here is a build template I use for Shield Tankers. Add more global recharge (until you have perma-Hasten and 2x Active Defense), HPs, and regeneration to the build in that order.

    Code: 
    | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
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  4. Syntax42

    wp/fire tanker

    POST-ACTION

    First, get Mids' from www.cohplanner.com. That can help you look at builds and export them to the forums in a format that is much nicer to look at. It also does all of the math for you so you can get an idea of how well you character can potentially perform. In addition, data links and code blocks can make it easy for others to view your builds in their Mids'.

    The easiest way to reach high levels of survivability is to stack defense from sets and powers. Willpower includes a decent amount of defense, but reaching 45% is the key to excelling in the toughest fights. I suggest getting 32.5% defense so you can soft cap with a small purple and have set bonuses assist you in doing more damage through increased recharge rate.
  5. Syntax42
    You can aim for 32.5% defense to all positionals instead. A small purple inspiration can then soft-cap you. Alternatively, just about any decent outside buffs from teammates can soft-cap you.

    If you want to go for S/L/E/N defenses, look for builds posted in the "Dark Armor Sucks" thread which was started by Dechs Kaison.


    Here are two builds for Dark Armor that I made for my Dark/Fire Tanker. Maybe they can help you soft-cap positionals.
    Code: 
    | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
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    Code:
    | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
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  6. Syntax42
    Don't forget to add knockback protection.
  7. Syntax42

    Defender Power :D

    POST-ACTION

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by theduke24 View Post
    What is the highest damaging solo build for a defender?
    Kinetics will help you do the most damage with Fulcrum Shift. You can potentially damage-cap yourself. Don't expect to out-damage a Blaster or Scrapper though.

    The secondary powerset doesn't matter as much. Assault Rifle has more AoE powers than the other sets. Sonic debuffs resistances as you do damage. It just depends on if you want single-target or AoE damage, or a bit of both.

    Quote:
    Is there a defender build that can farm?
    Able to farm and able to farm efficiently are two different things. It is easier to soft-cap defenses on a Defender than it is on some other ATs, but damage will always be relatively low.

    Quote:
    what are the best PvP fenders (other than kin/elec and cold/dark)
    what is the best pvp blast set for fenders?
    I don't PvP, so I can't answer these.

    Quote:
    Best AOE blast set for defenders?
    Assault Rifle, if you get the AoE immobilize from the epic pool.



    Have you looked into Dominators? They are all about control and damage.
  8. Syntax42
    Simple answer: Use logic.

    You want to do as much damage per second as possible, so your highest damage per activation (DPA) time attacks will be used as often as possible. The highest amount of recharge any Scrapper can reasonably achieve (unbuffed) is about 270% for perma-Hasten. Figure out your recharge for your highest DPA attack then squeeze as much damage in the recharge time as you can. Don't forget to include Arcanatime. Look it up on Paragon wiki if you need to know how to calculate it.

    Spreadsheets help a lot.
  9. Syntax42

    First tank

    POST-ACTION

    You went pretty far over the soft cap (45%) on S/L defense. Psionic defense from sets can get you high enough to not worry about switching out of Granite. When exemplaring below 27, a second build that focuses on the other toggles would be better for when you don't have Granite Armor. You can even put all of your slots into the powers you get before 32 to get more benefit out of them.


    Here is a template I made for Granite tanking. It has everything you need (soft capped defenses, run speed, psi defense) but has room to change the attack power set and add more bonuses.

    Code: 
    | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
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  10. Syntax42
    I would suggest waiting until 50 to worry about slotting invention sets. Continue slotting SOs if you want as you level. However, as mentioned above, common inventions can be used instead of SOs so that you don't have to replace them as you level.

    Get Mid's from the link mentioned above and play around with it. Look at other builds on the forums to get an idea of what people can do with their characters. The "totals" part of Mids' is the part you may want to focus on, as it describes overall bonuses a build can achieve. Don't forget that individual powers have slotting requirements to be useful or as effective as you may want them to be. For example, slotting Hasten with 3 recharges is fairly standard.
  11. Syntax42
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Scirion View Post
    In my opinion, unless you're honestly planning on PVP'ing regularly, you're putting way more money into this build than you need to. Keep in mind, even if you don't *try*, you have roughly a 90% chance of getting at least one buffer/healer of some sort on your team. When I run my Shield/Dark, I usually end up with at least 3 buffers/healers of some sort (on certain events I will mention later, I usually end up with two Kins, a Sonic/Ice/FF, and one "other", which is WAY MORE than enough to keep you alive on a normal team.)
    Your build wastes INF on sets you aren't getting much benefit out of. Going to 58% melee defense is overkill, even if you are planning for defense debuffs. On a Shield Tanker, defense debuff resistance is fairly easy to cap. See my skeleton build posted above and add more recharge to get perma Hasten and double-stacked Active Defense.
  12. Syntax42
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by all_hell View Post
    I am familiar with the explanation. What it doesn't take into account is opportunity costs.
    At a certain point the benefit to your toon's over all playability is less from another drop of defense than a drop of recharge, or damage or acc or hold or whatever. Where that point is is highly variable. But at some point enough is enough.
    I agree with that assessment. Before, you made it sound like defense was providing diminishing returns instead of the overall build providing diminishing returns. That's why I suggested going for 32.5% defense instead. I have two characters with 32.5% to all positions, and they both perform well in most content without additional buffs or purple inspirations. Sometimes, though, that isn't enough. Popping a small purple makes me go from being somewhat squishy against +4/x8's to nearly invincible.
  13. Syntax42
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by all_hell View Post
    Some people do every thing they can to up their def. There is a point of diminishing returns. You may or may not notice 1-2%. idk. But you might.
    There are no diminishing returns on defense. In fact, every point of defense becomes more valuable than the last, until you hit the soft cap. Here's why:

    Let's say a mob hits 50% of the time, which is typical for an even-level minion.

    A: You mess up your build and walk around with 35% defense. You mitigate 70% of the mob's damage and take 30% of what it otherwise would have done.

    B: You have 40% defense, so now he hits 10% of the time. You just mitigated 80% of its damage and take 20% of what it otherwise would have done.

    If you compare the damage TAKEN in scenario A to B, the person in B is taking TWO-THIRDS the damage of A, by increasing their defense by 5%.

    C: Now, you get 45% defense, so now it hits 5% of the time. You mitigated 90% of the mob's damage and take 10% of what it would have done.

    Scenario C's defense means you take HALF the damage of scenario B by increasing your defense by the same 5%. This is why people chase down every last bit of defense.


    Consider aiming for 32.5% defense instead of 45% with builds that are just too hard to boost defense on. A small purple can then put you at the soft cap. The defense bonus from the Alpha boost is minimal, and other Alphas, like recharge/healing can benefit a Willpower Tanker more.
  14. Syntax42
    I plan to slot the recharge Alpha boost on my Cold/Sonic Defender. Getting Benumb and Heat Loss perma'd without the recharge Alpha boost seems to be very difficult, if not impossible.
  15. Syntax42
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Smiling_Joe View Post
    Oh that's right. It can be taken into the negatives, can't it? Nonetheless, if I just apply a 20% damage buff to both the smashing and negative portions of the damage and then apply that damage to the tank's resistances I come out with roughly 99 dps of actual damage done, vise the 87.6 dps if I follow the equations.

    You know what? I hate math. My original point was that including Shadow Punch in the attack chain would be a good idea for tankers, possibly even surpassing what is clearly the ideal attack chain for the other DM/ archetypes (not surpassing those other archetypes, mind you - just surpassing that attack chain on a tanker), and bending my brain over what amounts to 2-3 points difference in dps is doing nothing but muddying the waters.

    Bah. This is why I should just stay out of the formulas and math. Stupid Joe.
    Yes, it can be taken into negatives. That's why the formula is this simple: Power's damage after damage modifiers * (1 - target's resistance) * (1 + total debuffs). There are caps on debuff amounts but a solo Tanker doesn't have any tools to come close to those caps.

    I think you misunderstood my proposed attack chain. It would be SP >> MG >> Sm >> SL >> Sm >> MG >> Sm >> SL. That would ensure the debuff is on for the entire attack chain. It requires 244% total recharge bonus to get MG down to a 4.36s recharge.

    I did the calculations on this with unenhanced powers. Sm >> MG >> Sm >> SL does 48.64 DPS. SP >> MG >> Sm >> SL >> Sm >> MG >> Sm >> SL does 54.62 DPS because of the 20% debuff. That's a conservative calculation. It could be higher if the game applies debuffs at the end of a power animation, calculates damage at the beginning of animations, and the debuff lasts longer than 10.03s due to arcanatime.
  16. Syntax42
    Don't worry about Dispersion Bubble not covering the team. Your main bubbles give so much defense that any decent melee should be beyond the soft cap from those alone. Stand near the other squishies to keep them soft capped. If the melees are dying too quickly, then you probably don't have a very good team.
  17. Syntax42
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sailboat View Post
    Don't take this personally, as this is my own rant about something I encounter all the time in posted builds these days: why won't you six-slot your attacks?
    This line of thinking was the norm when SOs were the best anyone could slot. Now, powers can be enhanced far beyond anything you could do with SOs when you use IO sets, and with fewer slots. With inherent Fitness, builds are even tighter on slots than before I19. If a few individual powers are underslotted for endurance reduction, that is made up for by slotting Miracle and Numina's uniques in a power like Health, saving slots in every power. Generally, you don't need to max every power's recharge bonus to run an attack chain. Global recharge may be expensive, but it is more efficient than slotting a recharge IO in every attack. When people have tons of INF to burn through, they don't care how expensive a build will be. They only care about how it will perform better than the person who couldn't afford the set bonuses.


    Some suggestions for improving this build:
    Shield Wall and all PvP sets will be expensive for the benefit they provide. The few HPs gained may not be worth it.

    The HamiO's in Soul Drain are not providing much benefit to you. It is basically a build-up and only needs recharge to perform well. Gaussian's would go well there for the set bonus, though.

    Hasten would be much better than Air Superiority. Flying enemies are almost never a problem.

    You won't be having endurance problems with Physical Perfection, the two unique IOs, and Dark Consumption.


    Here is an unfinished build that hits the soft cap as efficiently as possible and has room to change things around. I hope it helps you plan your build better.

    Code:
    | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
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  18. Syntax42
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Smiling_Joe View Post
    Since bruising provides a 20% resistable and non-stackable damage resistance debuff, then you're effectively doing more damage to the enemy. It's unlikely that you'll do 20% more damage, because not only is the debuff resistable, but it's also dependent upon how much your enemy resists your damage in the first place.
    You make it sound way more complicated than it really is. Read this paragonwiki page if you really want to understand the math behind resistance debuffs. The summary is that a 20% resistance debuff will make you do 20% more damage than you were doing previously to an un-debuffed target.

    If you are on a team, including Shadow Punch in your attack chain is a good idea because your team can benefit from the debuff as well. Perhaps use Shadow Punch every other attack chain in place of Smite.
  19. Syntax42
    The soft cap is 45% defense and you went way past it. The only time going past the soft cap helps is if you get debuffed or if the enemies have to-hit buffs. Shield Defense has the potential to reach high enough defense debuff resistance that it can ignore debuffs. Critter to-hit buffs are generally so large that no amount of defense can make a worthwhile difference in mitigation. Don't go so far past 45%.

    Your build could be optimized in many ways. Improving the global recharge speed would be one benefit of reducing your defense to the soft cap. Take a look at other Shield Defense builds to see how they may have done things.

    As far as the Alpha slot goes, get what you think will benefit your character the most. Only you can decide that by playing the character. Crunching numbers in Mids' does not show what is the best Alpha boost, in most cases. You can always craft the other boosts if you want to try different ones out.
  20. Syntax42
    The top attack chain for Dark Melee is Smite >> Midnight Grasp >> Smite >> Siphon Life. I doubt you will have the recharge to run that attack chain on an Invulnerability Tanker. It requires perma-Hasten worth of global recharge. However, that can help you form an attack chain for your build and optimize what attacks to take.
  21. Syntax42

    attachments?

    POST-ACTION

    I forgot to mention that after you hit the export button, you PASTE it in the forum post by hitting Ctrl+V. I thought that would be common sense after the popup box from Mids' tells you the build is in the clipboard, but I guess not everyone knows what the clipboard is.
  22. Syntax42
    Gift of the Ancients is not a good set to use. Regular IOs would be better in Weave. It isn't a big deal in Scorpion Shield because you are way over the soft cap on S/L anyways. Getting ranged defense to 45% might be tricky, but you can get close with a few adjustments to this build. Swap Enfeebled Operation set for Trap of the Hunter and fix Weave's slotting to get to 44.8% ranged defense.

    Some other adjustments I would make may not improve survivability much, but will help overall. Scorpion Shield does not need recharge. Slot it like you have Maneuvers slotted. That saves you a slot for something else. Twilight Grasp needs more accuracy if you plan on doing +4s or the new I19 content. Put Numina's in Health instead and take a slot from Scorpion Shield, Darkest Night, and Fearsome Stare for slotting Twilight Grasp. Leave Fearsome Stare slotted with one regular accuracy IO. Darkest Night should have 2 End Reductions. That gives you 4 slots for your heal. Touch of the Nictus without the proc or heal IOs will work.

    Here you go:

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  23. Syntax42

    attachments?

    POST-ACTION

    In Mids' (assuming that is what you are using) at the top click Import/Export, then Short Forum Export. Include the data chunk as well as the link in case your link doesn't work.
  24. Syntax42
    You don't need to go past 45% on Melee and AoE defense. Try and get your ranged defense up to 45%. Also, I would suggest picking up Grant Cover so you can cap defense debuff resistance. You don't need as many attacks as you picked up. End-game attack chains use 3 attacks, usually. I would probably drop Cleave because it is the lowest DPS attack of your non-AoEs and the arc on it will make it hard to hit more than one target unless you get them lined up. Leveling up, you may need 4, but can get by with a temporary power or two. Conserve Power's long recharge makes it difficult to justify in builds. Focused Accuracy gives to-hit and adds a place to put Gaussian's set for the 6-slot bonus and proc chance every 10 seconds, but don't run FA if you don't need the to-hit bonus.

    Here is what I would do to your build. It isn't finished, but you can slot the rest of the attacks with recharge or HPs. Go for recharge first so you can get Active Defense double-stacked for capped DDR, and Hasten on permanently. Put Active Defense on auto-cast and use Hasten when it comes up. Feel free to rearrange powers as you need.

    Code: 
    | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
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  25. Syntax42
    Your build links don't work. Could you post the data chunk?