Thanks you Lady Mage for the guide and info, hmmmm Heal Other and Healing Aura have the same end cost where I have heard that before 
Very good information here...
I love your guide 5 stars for you! 
Great Guide LadyMage. I would 5 star you for it (and the great encouraging posts about me), but I had already 5 starred you long ago.
Just got to post my official Dark Miasma and the Kinetic 4.0 guide this week and we'll have half the defender sets covered. Just get a few more people to do the leg work on the last 3 (although I can probably get a rad one done if I set my mind to it.)
Thanks. Great guide. I wish we could have these kinds of hard numbers for all the power sets!
Nice work Lady. Always a fan of your posts and work. 5 stars.
Cheers!
I must agree with the others who have commented on the quality of the post. Thanks for the information.
thank you Lady mage this post answered a lot of questions i had. 5 stars
OMG
minus 50 cool points for me.
The info on Adrenaline Boost was new to me ;] (thought it was just end)
yeah thats right lvl 50 fire/emp cont, lvl 44 emp/rad def.
100% embarrased.
Thank you LadyMage for this great, informative, and best of all, open guide. You provided the basic information and left the decisions to those reading it. I appreciate that.
I do have one question about Absorb Pain. You shared:
[ QUOTE ]
Damage(self): This also scales with level, from 30 at second, to 108 at 50th.
[/ QUOTE ]
How much health does a defender have at 50? At low levels, when we have 109 health at 2nd level, 30 points is a lot! My highest defender is at 17th and he has 358 health. So looking at the 109 health loss at 50th, I am thinking the ratio gets better and better. I never took this power before because of the health hits, but the way you presented it here has me rethinking my EMP defenders. Even with my free respec, I doubt I will pick this up before 20, but it is definitely in my "must have" list.
Thanks again... What a great guide 
I believe a 50th level squishie (def, troll, blas) has right around 1000hp at level 50. So yeah this ratio is much better at the higher levels. (30% as opposed to 10%)
I have 1000 HP even at 46, with no accolades to skew the total.
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I have 1000 HP even at 46, with no accolades to skew the total.
[/ QUOTE ]
heh I was close then. You get very few HP in the last few levels. Got home and checked my old Heal test numbers. If my Heal/HP chart is correct (back from all my testing for heal ratios) then a 50 has anywhere from about 1020-1060 HP...
Forgive me for butchering your text, but as a newb I have a question...
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Heal Aura
Healing effect: The healing effect scales with level, from 13 at 1st level to 134 at 50th level. This translates to a 13%
ratio of healing to caster hit points.
Endurance Cost: 19
Heal Other (Level 1) - Heal Other is a single target heal power that requires line of sight to use. With Heal aura, these
are your two staple heals as an empath.
Healing Effect: The healing effect scales with level, from 27 at second level to 262 at 50th level. This translates to a
26% ratio of healing to caster's hit points.
Endurance Cost: 19
[/ QUOTE ]
Okay, I've just started playing, and I'm looking at rolling an Empathy Defender. The question I have is whether the heal value on Healing Aura is the total combined value of the heal, or if this is the value applied to each Hero within the AoE?
I will likely be playing in small groups (group of friends), and it sounds like Healing Aura would be the most effective route--given my particular circumstances--as a single cast costs the same as Heal Other, but I will likely be healing at least two other teammates at any given time. Granted, the roughly halved healing amount will make healing two Heroes at a time a wash with Heal Other, but, as we all know, things don't always go right, and when that happens it appears that Healing Aura provides the best bang-for-your-buck value.
Am I on the right track here?
Yeah, the healing amount listed is the amount EACH hero in the area of effect will be healed for.
In reality you are going to want both of these powers. Healing Aura is highly innefficient if there is only 1 person needing healed or if someone has taken alot of damage. Heal Other will be your primary tool then to keep them alive.
[ QUOTE ]
How much health does a defender have at 50? At low levels, when we have 109 health at 2nd level, 30 points is a lot! My highest defender is at 17th and he has 358 health. So looking at the 109 health loss at 50th, I am thinking the ratio gets better and better. I never took this power before because of the health hits, but the way you presented it here has me rethinking my EMP defenders. Even with my free respec, I doubt I will pick this up before 20, but it is definitely in my "must have" list.
[/ QUOTE ]
Absorb Pain is absolutely a must have power. At lvl 43 I have about 1300 hp, after Portal Jockey and Freedom Phalanx Reserve bonuses, and i take a hit of about 120 hp from Absorb Pain. However i also heal 1200 hp with it which fills up just about anyone, not to mention it costs basically no endurance. I have also heard, but have yet to try it out, that if you slot AP with end reducers it will lessen the hp hit. I will try it out and let everyone know if this is true or not.
Any questions or comments/harassments may be sent to damanar@paragonmercenaries.com
I was getting frustrated reading all the outdated and wrong Empathy "guides" out there and then I found yours I was looking for some hard numbers and you have provided them. As an Emp defender myself, I use all the powers in the pool depending on the situation. Used correctly this pool can transform your team into an unstopable juggernaut
Emapths are defenitely powerful characters. I had a lvl 48-49 group and we took out the eintire Praetorian atory arc in three nights 4 hours a night. Not to mention the very few deaths, the sidkicked lvl 33 fire tank, and I the empath being unsked 44.
We never stopped to rest, only for bios. we went through most of the AV missions in under 30 minutes, and the clear all villians missions in an hour or less.
This was one of the most thrilling experiences I have had on CoH.
Thanks to my team.
This guide is absolutely great, and LadyMage has made a number of other posts that I have found extremely helpful as well. I have used LadyMage's guide and tips to create a very well-balanced defender that is simply a lot of fun to play as part of a team or in solo missions.
J-Force - empathy/energy - 22 - Freedom
Thanks for this post. I was reading some of the other empath guides which described regen aura and adrenaline boost as a waste of time. Your description has renewed my optimism that empathy is a good line to emphasize all the way to lvl 50.
Personally, I love being a healer for the team and want to be the best I can be at supporting the team in that capacity. I realize that I should have picked up dark as a secondary powerset instead of my one unused electricity. But so be it.
Anyway, five stars for you and thanks!
There is some concern that the numbers I have here may no longer be correct. Specifically, the defense numbers for fortitude may be lower than my initial testing indicated. Once issue 4 comes out, I will be doing another battery of testing to see what, if anything, has changed, and when that happens I will post version 2 of the guide.
Regen Aura + Absorb Pain = hella healing without killing yourself.
Great Post! Can't wait for the numbers from I4!
-Udder
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Regen Aura + Absorb Pain = hella healing without killing yourself.
[/ QUOTE ]
To my knowledge, Absorb Pain makes it so that you cannot heal "by any circumstances". Meaning, Regen Aura would do nothing.
You can't heal yourself or get healed when using Absorb Pain.
These things don't work:
Healing Inspirations.
Healing Aura.
Other heroes healing you.
Regen Aura and Adrenaline Boost are 'technically' not heals.
They are Regen buffs. Because of that, they work.
Things that can heal you:
Regeneration Aura
Another Empath's Adrenaline Boost
Fitness/Health
Your 'natural' health regen
This guide was inspired largely by Ladioss_Sopp's Kinetics Guide, and the template, with permission, was borrowed from it.
There are several guides for empaths out there, but I prefer a more objective approach, as there are at least a half dozen
ways to play any power set, and none of them are wrong.
Like the kinetics guide, these numbers are the BASE UNENHANCED numbers.
These numbers are based on the defender powers. Controllers versions will be at a percentage of their strength(commonly thought to be 80-85%).
Empathy - A Defender's Guide - Version 1.0
-------------------------------------------
Heal Aura (Level 1) - Heal Aura is a PbAoE heal power that radiates from the empath. The radius seems slightly larger than the animation shows. This is the only heal in the set that also heals the empath.
Stats:
Healing effect: The healing effect scales with level, from 13 at 1st level to 134 at 50th level. This translates to a 13%
ratio of healing to caster hit points.
Endurance Cost: 19
Activation: 2 sec
Recharge: 10 sec
Range: PBAoE
Duration: Instant
Enhancers Available: +heal, -REC, -END
Heal Other (Level 1) - Heal Other is a single target heal power that requires line of sight to use. With Heal aura, these
are your two staple heals as an empath.
Stats:
Healing Effect: The healing effect scales with level, from 27 at second level to 262 at 50th level. This translates to a
26% ratio of healing to caster's hit points.
Endurance Cost: 19
Activation: 2 sec
Recharge: 6 sec
Range: 80'
Duration: Instant
Enhancers Available: +heal, -REC, -END, +range
Absorb Pain (Level 2) - Absorb Pain is a single target heal power that requires line of sight to use. It is the single
largest heal in the game, but comes with a price. The heal causes damage to the empath, and places them in a short duration buffer where they cannot be healed.
Stats:
Healing Effect: The healing effect scales with level, from 69 at second level to 669 at 50th level. This translates to a
67% ratio of healing to the caster's hit points.
Damage(self): This also scales with level, from 30 at second, to 108 at 50th.
Buffer: There is a 20 second buffer in which the empath cannot be healed. Neither self heals, outside heals, nor green
inspirations will work to heal the empath. Natural regeneration will work as normal, as will buffs and autopowers that increase that regeneration. The duration of this buffer is marked by the Absorb Pain icon in your buff bar.
Endurance Cost: 1
Activation: 3 Sec
Recharge: 18 sec
Range: 80'
Duration: Heal - instant, non healing buffer - 20 sec
Enhancers Available: +heal, -REC, -END, +range
Resurrect (Level 6) - A power to bring a single hero back from defeat.
Stats:
Revive Buff: This power revives a single hero back to full health and endurance
Endurance Cost: 74
Activation: 4s
Recharge: 3 min
Range: 15'
Duration: Instant
Enhancers Available: -END, +Range, -REC
Clear Mind (Level 8) - The most complete grantable status protection in the game. This power is a single target buff that requires line of sight to use, and is often called for in teams, especially in the higher levels.
Stats:
Effects Buff: Clear Mind provides a strong buff against Sleep, Disorient, Hold, and Immobilization effects. It also frees the target from these effects if they are active when hit with this power.
Endurance Cost: 7
Activation: 4 sec
Recharge: 8 sec
Range: 70'
Duration: 90 sec
Enhancers Available: -END, +Range, -REC
Fortitude (Level 12) - The second single target buff in the empathy line. This buff is single target, requires line of sight to use, and greatly buffs damage, accuracy and defense. This can be stacked with another Empath's fortitude, but not with your own.
Stats:
Damage buff: Fortitude increases the target's base damage by 30%.
Defense buff: The increase to the target's defense is 30%.
Accuracy buff: Fortitude increases the target's base accuracy by 30%.
Endurance Cost: 15
Activation: 2 Sec
Recharge: 60 sec
Range: 80'
Duration: 120 sec
Enhancers Available: -REC, -END, +Range, +def, +tohit
Recovery Aura (Level 18) - The jewel of the Empathy line and the first of the set's PBAoE buffs. It greatly increases the endurance recovery of anyone within it's area effect at time of casting. Recovery aura is among the most called for buffs in the empathy set.
Stats:
Recovery Buff: Recovery Aura increases the base endurance recovery of anyone within the area of effect by 100%. For reference, the base end recovery rate is 1.66 END/sec.
Endurance Cost: 38
Activation: 3 sec
Recharge: 8min 20sec
Range: PBAoE
Duration: 90 sec
Enhancers Available: -REC, -END, +Recovery
Regeneration Aura (Level 26) - The second PBAoE buff in the empathy set. It greatly increases the health regeneration of anyone within it's area effect at time of casting.
Stats:
Regeneration Buff: This power increases the base health regeneration of anyone within the area of effect by 500%
Endurance Cost: 38
Activation: 3 sec
Recharge: 8min 20sec
Range: PBAoE
Duration: 90sec
Enhancers Available: -REC, -END, +heal
Adrenalin Boost (Level 32) - The third single target buff in the set. This power requires line of sight to use, and has been on the receiving end of a lot of love since issue 2. It now greatly increases endurance recovery, health regeneration, and reduces the recharge rate of the target's powers. Further, it also stacks with the other buffs in the line. Paired with other buffs in the set, it can make the target into a singularily powerful force.
Stats:
Recovery Buff: This power increases the base endurance recovery of the target by 200%.
Regeneration Buff: This power gives the target an increase in health regeneration that equals regeneration aura, a 500% increase.
Recharge Buff: Adrenalin boost decreases the recharge rate of the target's powers by 50%.
Endurance Cost: 15
Activation: 2 sec
Recharge: 5min 20 sec
Range: 80'
Duration: 90 sec
Enhancers Available: -REC, -END, +heal, +Recovery, +range
-----------------------
Please feel free to post comments and help me improve this guide.
Thanks to all those who posted on the Beta version, and special thanks to Relentless, who was kind enough to take the time to test the healing numbers at level 50. Also, thanks to Ladioss_Sopp, who not only let me use the template, but encouraged and inspired me to do this.