In-Depth Guide to Empathy Defenders v2.0

A Look Back At 50 Levels Of Empathy-Version 2.0 (Updated for I3)

About the Authors
Introduction
What is a “Healer?”
Basic Overview of an Empathy Defender
Primary Powers
Secondary Powers and Descriptions
Pool Powers
Epic Power Pools
Dark Aura and Amera’s Respec Builds
Tips On Playing Your Empath
Final Thought

About the Authors:

Dark Aura is an Empathy/Dark Blast Defender on Virtue Server, who is level 50 at the time of this writing. I am updating this guide in response to a number of posts asking for help regarding the utility of various powers in the Empathy set, secondary power sets, Epic Power Pools and help with builds for Empathy Defenders. Version 2.0…new for 2k5

Amera is an Empathy/Psychic Blast Defender on Virtue Server who has been level 50 for some time and is in semi-retirement. Since she’s already blamed all previous guide problems on DA, it seems only fair that she continues to do so.

Introduction:
So you’re thinking about playing an Empathy Defender in City of Heroes, eh? Tired of Mass-Arresting enemies with insanely powered Nova Blasts and ready for some real excitement?

Some people laugh at the concept of a healer being exciting, but there is nothing like being in the middle of a CoH firefight and having multiple party members low on health, only to fire off a few well timed heals to turn the tide of battle. Well, if you’re ready for some real fun then come along for a romp through the ins and outs of being an Empathy Defender.

What is a “Healer?”
I’d like to put a common misconception to rest right now. Defender does not equal Healer. Let me repeat that. Defender DOES NOT equal Healer. This is not to say that other Defender Primary sets are bad. Not at all…they are just not Healers. They do not directly heal damage, they have other ways of preventing damage other than directly healing it. This does not make them better or worse than a Healer, just different. This is a very prominent misconception in CoH that you should be aware of, because it can sometimes generate animosity between different defender builds.

So then what is a healer? For our purposes, a Healer in CoH is a Defender with the Empathy Power set as its Primary or a Controller with the Empathy Power set as its Secondary. This guide will focus on Empathy Defenders, and will not touch on Controllers in any way. The reason being that Controllers have enough to worry about with locking down enemies; they will not have enough time to be a main “Healer” for their group as well. Time is a key factor for CoH support classes, but no class is as reliant on speedy power activation as Empathy Defenders. Time is your biggest enemy, speed is your greatest ally…keep that in mind.

Basic Overview of an Empathy Defender
Empathy Defenders are the combat medics on the team. They sit back and heal damage done to their teammates by enemies. This is the function they are best known for, however they can also effectively buff teammates, boosting their abilities and regeneration rates, and even throw in some attacks if they need to help in the damage dealing department. Of course, their damage output will be nowhere near that of a Blaster or Scrapper, but they hold their own if properly enhanced. That said, Empathy Defenders are great Team Members. They excel in teams, and are not solo artists. If you want to be a good solo player, this is not the class for you. Empathy defenders are, however, one of the best duo classes in the game. You know how the saying goes: Give a blaster a mob of whites, and he will level quickly. Give a blaster an Empathy Defender, and he will level quickly and have a longer lifetime. Ok…maybe we made that one up, but you get the idea.

Primary Powers

Healing Aura
Rating: Must Have
Slot: 6 Heals or 1 Recharge, 5 Heals
Boy do we love Healing Aura. A lot. This is a PBAoE Heal that will generate a Healing Aura (convenient eh?) around you, healing all heroes within the Aura’s AOE…including yourself. Of all the healing powers in your Primary set, this is the only one that will heal you, it’s worth taking just for that. Super useful for curing the back row of combatants, usually squishy Blasters or Controllers, and also useful for running up to someone and firing off a quick Healing Aura while you wait for your single target heals to refresh. A great power, pick it up.

Then again, you can always be like Amera and not pick up this power right away (though you probably should). Why would you not take this power immediately? Well, its only downside is a high End cost for essentially 50% or less the healing of Heal Other per target (26.5 End rather than 19).** Until you start getting Single Origin Enhancements (SOs), Healing Aura will seem like a really weak heal, and many low-level Empaths become overly dependent on it (it was the only heal Amera had in beta until level 15…what was I thinking???). It is a great, must-have power, just remember that before you get Recovery Aura endurance is a severe limiting factor for your healing—don’t waste it if you don’t have to.

** I have heard that in I3 the End cost of Healing Aura and the End cost of Heal Other are now the same. I haven’t been able to test this myself, and at the higher levels End really isn’t much of a factor (see below to find out why), so I haven’t noticed this personally. I will say that whatever the Endurance cost of HA compared to HO, HA will not serve as your only heal, and Endurance conservation is still a key. If the two powers have identical End costs now, consider it to be a bonus, not incentive to skimp on your Primary Power selections.

Heal Other
Rating: Must Have
Slot: 6 Heals or 1 Recharge, 5 Heals
This is the stuff right here. Your bread and butter. Heal Other is a single target ranged heal. It hits for roughly 2-3 times the amount of Healing Aura, and will be the main heal you use for Melee fighters or any Squishy types silly enough to move out of Aura Range. Heal Other is Line of Sight based, in other words, if you don’t have a clear LOS to your target you cannot heal them, and it also has a limited range (no healing across the map). As the name suggests, it is only good to heal others, you cannot use this power on yourself (yet another reason to snag Healing Aura). One of your most useful powers…and a no-brainer, get this one too.

Absorb Pain
Rating: Recommended
Slot: 3 Heals (more slots can be added if you so desire, I had 6 at one point)
A lot of people skip Absorb Pain, thinking that Heal Other is enough. This thinking is wrong IMO. I skipped it in Beta, and I kicked myself after I finally took it during release, as this power will save the lives of party members. Write that down, Absorb Pain saves lives. This is another Single Target ranged heal, very similar to Heal Other, but about 3 times more powerful, and it uses only one point of endurance. No, you cannot use it on yourself.

Sounds great, right? Why wouldn’t everyone take this power? Well, AP has three mitigating factors that keep it from being the equal of Heal Other. First, it damages you. The damage is pretty small, so this isn’t a big deal in and of itself. Second, after using AP you cannot be healed by any means for about 20 seconds. Healing Aura won’t work, nor will that cute ally’s Heal Other.** Don’t use this power if you currently have a lot of agro or you will get yourself killed. Finally, AP has an annoyingly long casting time. It isn’t actually that long, just longer than Heal Other, maybe 1-2 seconds at most. But when an ally is getting mobbed, sometimes that extra second can make the difference. This sometimes keeps AP from being a “red-saver” power. Generally it’s best use is for tankers, who have loads of hit points, or if you are waiting for your other powers to recharge. Despite these drawbacks, you should really take this power. Another heal can never be bad, and you will kick yourself if allies die because you didn’t take this power and your others were recharging. (DA kicked herself in Beta…a lot…)

**Regeneration powers are the only way to get HP back when under the debuff of AP. Regeneration Aura will help you here, more on that below.

Resurrect
Rating: Recommended
Slot: 1 Endurance Reduction
Resurrect sparks quite a bit of debate among Empathy defenders. On the one hand, it is a wonderful Rez power (only topped by Mutation now that it’s Disorient has been removed). It brings a fallen ally back to full Health and full Endurance, with no side effects at all, and does so almost instantly. Those are the pros. The cons are that you cannot Rez yourself, it has a huge Endurance Cost (73.5) and it takes forever and a day to refresh. We’re talking 3 minutes…and if you have multiple teammates down, that’s a long time to wait for each revival, when they could just as easily use a self Rez Inspiration or go to the Hospital and run back to your location. And no, before you ask, Rez does not lessen the debt you receive upon death (although maybe it should, but hey…that’s another topic altogether).

Personally, I feel that every Empathy Defender should take Rez, and here is my reasoning. It is very true that a Revive Inspiration can bring fallen teammates back. However, it brings them back with a fraction of their Health, no Endurance at all, and usually disorients them upon revival so they stumble around like a Zombie for a bit. Prime candidates for another death…

Some people who think you could pass on Rez might say:

Well couldn’t they wait until the battle is over to use a Revive?
Yes, that is always an option, but your team is short a party member for the duration of the battle, and if the dead member is your Tank, or your only damage dealer, their death could easily mean the death of the entire team (especially at higher levels against Monsters and Arch Villains).

Well, couldn’t you let the fallen team member use a Revive and then fix them up on the spot, using Heals to refill their Health, Clear Mind (see below) to remove the Disorient, and Recovery Aura (see below) to refill their Endurance?
This is also possible, however, all of the above powers must be available for this tactic to be effective, which won’t be until at least level 18. Also this process uses more of your own Endurance than one Rez does, and it takes far more time to get the fallen teammate on their feet and back into the battle, time which you need to spend assisting the rest of your team. Clear Mind alone has a longer cast time than Rez does. As I stated earlier, time is your biggest enemy when playing an Empathy Defender, you want your team healed, buffed and full of Endurance, and you want this to be done as quickly as possible.

Well, if you’re doing your job properly, nobody should ever die so you don’t need Res.
This is probably the worst argument for skipping Rez I’ve ever heard, and it shows that some people have no idea how to play this game. The bottom line is this: Teammates of yours are going to die. Even if you are the best Healer in the world, you are going to lose some people. When a Boss one shots your Blaster that took too much agro, there is nothing you can do about it but get him back on his feet ASAP, and Rez enables you to do this. It is especially useful past 40 when you start to do Portal Missions, where it is common to have multiple groups of 12+ enemies agro you at once, or an AV or Monster on every Mission you do in a night. Rez is your friend, you don’t even have to slot it at all…take it.**

**I originally recommended slotting Rez with one Recharge Enhancer, but it was suggested that I put an End Redux in it instead and have found this to be a far better use of the slot. This enables you to fire off that Rez faster in battle, and makes it a better Combat Rez, as it takes less End to cast and allows you, the Empath, to re-enter the battle sooner.

Clear Mind
Rating: Must Have (if not right away)
Slot: 1 Recharge or 1 End Reducer (DA uses Recharge, Amera uses End…your call)
Yay, this is another great one to get. CM frees teammates from Disorients, Hold, Immobilizes and a number of other Negative status effects. I am sometimes amazed at how many things CM can do. Not only can it clear effects put on you by enemies, but it can also clear the dizzy effects a teammate gets after using a Rez Inspiration. The only drawback to this power is its ungodly long animation time. Not it’s refresh rate, but once you actually use the power it takes a long time for the animation to end. This can be problematic in hectic battles, so many Empaths (including myself) cast it before a battle begins. That’s right, not only does it clear states already on your teammates, but it also gives resistance to holds etc for a time after it is cast. Very useful to cast on the Tank before he goes into a group of enemies, as all a Tank’s toggle powers will switch off if they are Held, Stunned or Disoriented.

The only caveat to clear mind is that you might not need it right away. It won’t hurt, mind you (ignore the pun), but the most vicious enemies with status effects generally come later. Freakshow stun, Rikti stun and mez, DE choke, stun, and annoy, Malta do everything in spades, and so on. I would suggest having it at level 20 or so, no later than 25.

Naturally you cannot use CM on yourself. This means that against these status effect happy enemies, be very careful not to draw agro so you aren’t stumbling around like a drunken prom date the whole battle while your team is getting obliterated.

Fortitude
Rating: Highly Recommended
Slot: 1-6 depending on build (Accuracy Buff, Defense Buff or Recharge)
Another great power to pick up. Again, you can’t use it on yourself, but Fortitude will increase the Defense, Damage and Accuracy of the hero it is used on. It is best used on Scrappers or Blasters to really ramp up their damage output, but it is also a good choice for Tanks to boost Defense, Defenders to make their Blasts better (if there’s no Blaster/Scrapper around) or Controllers to boost their accuracy (Controllers can’t have enough Accuracy IMO). Just an all around good power to get. The buffs are noticeable once you get the power, and it can be enhanced to provide even better buffs if you wish, and it gives protection against Psychic damage, something very few characters have. There is really no reason not to get this power, although you could still be an effective Healer without it…but…why wouldn’t you take it…?

Whether or not to actually slot Fortitude is a constant debate. To the defender who wants to add a little offense to the mix, Fortitude is probably a decent choice to skip slots because you can’t slot damage into it (otherwise it would be a no-brainer). By higher level most teammates will hit almost every time anyway, especially if they have devices or any leadership going, so the accuracy boost isn’t quite as useful. Number crunch if you want for how to slot this power, but at the very least take it and cast it regularly.

Recovery Aura
Rating: Must Have++
Slot: 6 Attack Rate ASAP
Far and away the best power in the set IMO. Even when your team is taking 0 damage and they are standing around wondering why they have an XP sponge standing next to them, you can always call out for buffs, step in between them, and let loose some glorious blue light of goodness.

Recovery Aura will make your team a well oiled arresting machine, and you can use it on yourself (YAY!!). Recovery Aura emits a Recovery Aura (again, fitting) around you that will dramatically improve the Endurance Regeneration of nearby teammates. Be sure to call the entire group close to you before you use this power to maximize its effectiveness. Now your team can Blast away, Defend the realm, Tank it up, Scrap to your heart’s content, and be a Control freak without even looking at your Endurance bar. You hear all the time that End is not a factor at high levels, and this power is one of the big reason’s why. People will invite you to groups just for this power alone.

When you get this power at level 18 (please take it at 18…DA waited until 22 and those were 4 painful levels without it), you will immediately notice the *brutal* refresh time of 8:20. Yes, that is 8 minutes and 20 seconds. Recovery Aura only lasts for 90 seconds, so you will have a lot of downtime until you six slot it. Once you have 6 SO Recharges you will hardly ever worry about endurance again. From this point on you carry breaths just to make sure you have enough End to cast RA when it refreshes.

Another nice bonus that RA gives an Empath is that with the proper setup and the Hasten power, you can forego taking the Fitness power pool if you wish (discussed below). Fitness is a must have for all Archetypes in many people’s eyes, and the option to skip it altogether for an Empath is another nice bonus to this power.**

**EPPs combined with RA can make dropping Fitness even easier, more on this below.

Regeneration Aura
Rating: Optional
Slot: 6 Attack Rate
If you’re looking for a Primary power to skip, this is the one. The “other” RA. Dark Aura passed this one up on Live (though she has played around with it on Test quite a bit). Amera respec'd into it and isn't overly thrilled. We have also played with other healers that have it, and it is not very impressive. This is essentially Recovery Aura but for your Health. Sounds great, right? Your team should be invincible right? Wrong. The only use I’ve ever heard of for this power is that it can regen your health after you have used Absorb Pain, since it is not a direct heal, but a Regeneration boost. That sounds nice and all, but if you are using Absorb Pain so much that it is almost killing you on a regular basis, and you want Regeneration Aura to compensate, then you are doing something wrong. The power has the same 8:20 cool-down as Recovery Aura and yet is completely inferior. One power people will invite you to a group for, the other power people will barely notice.

If you are willing to invest 6 slots into it for increased attack speed, then maybe you should take it. It might save you needing to cast Healing Aura occasionally. But probably not. Skip it unless you want a pure Empathy build or are hoping for a patch to make this power better than it is.**

**Slotted with 6 Heals on Test the power wasn’t terrible, but not worth 6 slots by any stretch of the imagination. Especially considering that you only get 90 seconds of this regen every 8:20…no thanks.

Adrenaline Boost
Rating: Highly Recommended
Slot: 1-6 Recharge Depending on build

Oh man, those of you who read version 1.0 of this guide will remember how we blasted AB for being craptacular. Well, with I3 the Dev team made me do more work and rewrite this entire section. Thanks

No problem, I’ll rewrite this whole guide if I have to, because AB quite simply rocks!! I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that AB is the Best Single Target Buff In The Game!! Yep, I said it, write it down and quote it up if you want to.

AB dramatically improves your Recharge Rate, Endurance Recovery and Health Recovery. Thinkof it as Hasten, RA and RecA all rolled into one, but with even better End and Health boosts. It makes one party member darn near unkillable until it wears off, and with one Recharge and Perma-Hasten you can have it always up on one party member (no you can’t cast it on yourself). The only reason I don’t rate this power as a Must Have, is because you don’t need it to do your job, but it makes things sooooo much easier, and, like Fortitude, why on earth wouldn’t you want it?!?!

Secondary Power sets:
This is a tricky decision to make. It really depends on your play style. Do you want to be a dedicated healer? If so, then your secondary choice doesn’t matter so much. Do you want to use your blasts to debuff the enemies and help your teammates? Well, then you should choose your secondary based on the additional effects of the power set. Do you want to be an effective solo character for when you cannot find a group? Well, then you picked the wrong class to play. Just kidding…Empathy Defenders can be decent solo characters, but will never be as good at solo play as Scrappers or Blasters. There are a few basic choices to make when you build your empathy:

The "Pure" Empath: It is something of a mystery why people advertise themselves as pure Empaths in broadcast channels, but it happens. In this sense, though, it probably means that you are totally focused upon your primary power set and upon getting power pools with various buffs. In this case you care little about attacks and plan on slotting nearly all your empathy powers to the maximum. Some people consider this a far more useful Empathy build. That is certainly debatable, but it is a perfectly legitimate choice for Empaths. Pure Empaths are total party players—don’t bother to solo with them. They excel in large parties rather than small ones. Dark Blast and Radiation Blast are probably your secondary sets of choice for their debuff potential.

The "Balanced" Empath: The balanced Empath is the character who knows she or he is a healer, but also wishes to either be able to solo some or just wishes to contribute some damage on her or his own. Contrary to what some people might tell you, this is a perfectly viable Empath build. It just takes time. Balanced Empaths will pick up a number of their best attack powers and slot them for effectiveness. The trade-off is powers like Fortitude probably won’t receive any slot attention. This build only varies greatly from Pure Empaths in the later stages of the game (30+) when you can afford all your SOs and you get a bunch more slots to dump into your powers. Balanced Empaths are great in smaller teams where their damage contribution is more noticeable, or for characters who enjoy soloing the occasional mission. Psychic Blast and Energy Blast are your best choices here.

The "Offensive" Empath: Some people will insist it is possible to play an Offensive Empath. It isn’t. You are not a D&D cleric; most of your powers do not work on you. If they did, this build might have more viability, but still probably not. Don’t skimp on your heals for attacks. If you really want to do this, build a blaster, or at least don’t advertise yourself as a healer. Empaths can deal plenty of damage in the right situations, but they are not blasters, nor are they likely to ever be.

Personally, I would recommend taking Rad, Dark or Psi. These three have Debuffs that stick in one shot, and are resisted less often than the Energy damage type of Electric and Energy. In the end though, the choice is yours. Some things to consider:

Dark Blast
This is the Secondary Power set wielded by the Daring Dark Aura. You get a Sniper attack relatively early on, and a good number of Cone attacks. Plus you get a level 38 Big Bang attack (Black Star) and an AOE Disorient. Don’t forget about the Tentacles either (Cone Immobilize) as many people consider it to be the best Defender Blast of all (debatable, but it is easily the best Dark Blast power). Negative Energy attacks are not resisted by many enemies, so you will be doing good damage for a Defender, however, this damage is not front loaded, and MANY of your attacks are Damage Over Time…so you will have to wait for the many damage tics to go off before an enemy finally lets you arrest him. The additional effect of your attacks is an Accuracy Debuff, which makes you harder to hit, preventing additional damage you take. This accuracy debuff can also be improved through enhancements. You know all those black range attacks Murk Eidolons use, and the Skulls Bone Daddies throw…that’s this power set. I really like this power set, and even though I sometimes wish I had gone Psychic Blast…I’m very happy with Dark.

Dark is best suited to Empaths who want to primarily debuff enemies rather than rail them with damage. The offensive powers are very party friendly, and they look cool to boot. You can choose between slotting for damage or slotting for debuffs depending on what you want to accomplish.

Psychic Blast
Psychic blast is still a solid set, but since the level cap was adjusted and level 40-50 enemies were added, man, many more enemies now resist psychic damage. Many of the praetorian villain groups have heavy psychic resistance, as do Malta mechs, some carnies, and some Rikti. Nevertheless, the set does boast some very impressive powers and the best “nova” in the defender arsenal, Psychic Wail (in Amera’s opinion).

The first two powers in the set are horrible, but you can get your snipe at level 4. Psionic Lance is the longest range sniper attack in the game, which makes it great for pulling. Telekinetic Blast and Will Domination deal great single-target damage. Psychic Scream is a great cone attack that deals decent damage and debuffs in a *huge* area. Tornado looks cool but is very weak- skip it. Amera used to think Scramble Thoughts was horrible, but in the right situation it is a decent power. Once you combine it with epic power sets (especially psychic), it will make your defender as close to a controller as you can get, giving you two single-target lockdowns AND an AoE sleep. Psychic Wail, the jewel of the set, does great damage once it is fully slotted and disorients all enemies it doesn’t kill for quite a while. Like all novas, it drains all your endurance upon casting.

Many complain about the long animation times of the psychic powers, but that is generally only the case with the bad powers you won’t be taking anyway.

Radiation Blast
This is another good one. Doesn’t do very much damage by itself, but each blast has the additional effect of lowering a target’s defense, allowing your party to do more damage. It also has an inherent accuracy bonus as you seem to miss more with other power sets than with this one. You don’t get a snipe until later than some other power sets…but boy do those attacks refresh fast. This is by far the fastest recharging Blast set. You will almost constantly be shooting, which makes up for the reduced damage per blast as opposed to the other power sets. Rad also has Aim for a self Damage and Accuracy buff (very nice). Oh, and did I mention you can shoot frikkin’ laser beams out of your eyes? Yep…all you Cyclops wannabes rejoice…this is the power set for you. You also get a Big Bang attack at 38, but I have never seen it used unfortunately. If it is anything like the Dark And Psychic ones though, once you slot it out it will be golden. Luminous Eidolons use this set on you early in the game.

Radiation is another great choice for a Pure Empath build who wants to debuff enemies rather than blitz them with damage. It is also a set that makes it tough to get bored, since you can constantly be firing something due to the miniscule refresh rates on the powers.

Electrical Blast
Exactly the same at the Blaster Power set, but with reduced damage since this is a Defender secondary. Additional effect is that it drains a target’s Endurance. Amera picked this set in Beta, and it was a terrible choice. This is the worst Defender secondary. Sorry, it’s just really bad. Someone will probably insist that they had a time when they drained a boss of their End and rendered the boss useless for their team to mop up. That’s fantastic, good for you, but how many blasts did it take to get the End down that low? How much of your own End did you waste doing that? End which you should be saving for Heals in case things take a bad turn. You are much better off using your Blasts to either Deal Damage, or to debuff (which only takes one hit to stick, multiple hits to stack). Electric does bad damage over time compared to the other sets, and its secondary effect isn’t very good, and is essentially useless at high levels when Blasters can defeat packs of enemies in seconds, you won’t even have enough time to drain their End…but you will have time to debuff with one blast. **

**Ok, Ok, maybe Electric Blast isn’t all that terrible. I mean it does get Aim for a self Damage/Accuracy buff, and the End Drain can be nice if you slot for it. It also has some limited AOE potential as well. I guess it’s a tie with Energy Blast. Neither are all that great for Empaths, though other Defender sets they are great with (Kin, Rad and Dark come to mind immediately).

Energy Blast
Exactly the same as the Blaster Power set, but with reduced damage since this is a Defender secondary. Energy is a solid choice, I suppose. Anyone who has seen an Energy Blaster knows what they are getting into. Energy is a good choice for a Balanced Defender who wants to deal some damage or maybe solo occasionally. You can’t get your snipe until level 16, but your Nova is a neat power that sends enemies sprawling. Energy is useful for single-targeting enemies and knocking them down. It has limited AoE potential, Aim and knock back for some added defense (when it works)

The biggest downside to Energy is that the knock back can be annoying for some melee characters. Tanks and Scrappers tend to not like chasing enemies around, and the last thing you want as an Empath is your party running all over the place and out of range of your heals. Energy has no debuff potential, so it is a poor choice for Pure Empaths.


Power pools
Now we come to the Power pool powers. In this section I will detail which Power pool powers are helpful and why. This is not going to be build specific, We’ll get into some specific builds in the next section. This is simply a guide for those of you debating taking certain power pool powers, and why they may be useful to an Empath. Remember, you only get to choose powers from 4 Different power pools. The first two powers unlock at level 6, the third unlocks at level 14, but you must have one of the first two to select the third, and the fourth one unlocks at level 20 and you must have any two of the first three powers to choose the fourth. If that is confusing (which it probably was) please refer to the CoH manual for a better explanation.

For most builds, a good choice of power pools is Speed (Hasten), Flight (Hover, Fly), Concealment (Stealth, Grant Invisibility), Leadership (Maneuvers, Tactics), or Teleport (Recall Friend). These are five good sets to choose from for the Empath. Take your pick, and read why below.

Concealment
Concealment is an often overlooked line that is so useful to an Empath it is silly. I took my first Concealment power as a “what the heck” kind of thing and now I cannot imagine making an Empath without it.

Stealth
Rating: Recommended
Slot: 1 Defense
Stealth is a toggle power that allows you to stealth yourself, making you hard for enemies to detect. They won’t agro you unless you attack or get rather close to them. It also gives a defense boost for when you do get attacked. It does have a movement penalty though, which slows you down quite a bit and can get annoying. Movement powers help offset this, as do any movement buffs. Very useful for avoiding surprise agro and moving through dangerous zones, although some Snipers can see through Stealth, so be careful.

Grant Invisibility
Rating: Recommended
Slot: 1 Defense (More if you can spare them)
Allows you to make targeted teammates Invisible. Again, good for avoiding surprise agro and adds, also gives a defense boost to teammates who are attacked. You’re a Defender, defense is good. Unlike Stealth, this power does an excellent job of hiding teammates, and has no movement penalty. Although, it is rather tedious to Invis a group of more than 4, as this is a single target power. Great for Blasters with Big Bang attacks like Inferno or Nova. The defense boost of Grant Invisibility is considerable, and many defenders will slot it out to make their team very hard to hit

Invisibility
Rating: Skip
Slot: I said Skip it
Self Toggle that makes you Invisible. Enemies will not see you even if you run up to them, unfortunately, you cannot do anything to them or your teammates either. While this power is on, you can only do use self target powers…and no, your Auras wont work on group members with this on…I already thought of that. This does give a Defensive buff though in case someone does happen to see you, as no Invis is perfect…but this is darn close, or you turn it on after being attacked. Sorry, no potshots and vanishing to avoid agro. I would skip it and go for Stealth instead. You cant heal your teammates when this is on, nor can you attack…taking you right out of fights, and Stealth is good enough for safe travel in most instances.

Phase Shift
Rating: Optional by Build
Slot: 1 End Reducer
This is a godly power if used right. I can’t say enough good things about Phase Shift. This power makes you intangible, which allows you to be unaffected by enemies in any way. You are invincible then this toggle is on. However, just like they can’t hurt you, you can’t hurt them either. You can only use Self Powers if you will, but you aren’t quite as Invisible as Invisible, you are harder to see, but you don’t disappear entirely. This is a good one to draw a group’s attention while your team mops up another group, its good for when you’re about to die from AP damage (or any damage really), and it’s also good for a Big Bang attack. Stealth, run in, nuke, pop an End inspiration and Phase Shift. Then laugh and laugh as the enemies try to hit you and your group tears what’s left of them to pieces. Just like Invisible, you cannot use any Heals or attacks when this power is on. Very situational power…but boy is it ever useful.

Fighting
This is an interesting choice. Definitely an option, though Leadership and the EPPs make it a bit less desirable considering the cost, but for min/maxers this is a good way to go. Fighting pool powers may also be useful choices if you want to respect them out later. Still, primarily useful for Defenders who need to be close to their enemies to have full effect (not so much us).

Boxing
Rating: Pre-Requisite
Slot: 1 Accuracy
You are only using this to get Tough and or Weave. See Jump Kick and Flurry.

Kick
Rating: Pre-Requisite
Slot: 1 Accuracy
You are only using this to get Tough and or Weave. See Jump Kick and Flurry.

Tough
Rating: Optional by Build
Slot: 1-6 Damage Resistance
Tough is a decent choice to cap your Smash/Lethal resistance (two most common types of damage in the game). It is also a good choice if you want some extra defense on your character but are deciding not to take an EPP, though, why on earth aren’t you taking one…?

Weave
Rating: Optional by Build
Slot: 1-6 Defense Buff
Weave is another good choice to increase your defenses. Though Stealth and Maneuvers offer higher base Defense percentage for a Defender, Weave is a good choice if you have already decided to go for Tough, or if you are simply looking to get as much Defense as possible through Pools.

Fitness
End is always in short supply for Defenders. So why not take the Fitness pool? A good set for any character to take, but especially good for Empaths with our costly Heals. All the powers in this set are innate, or always on, and don’t require a toggle or any End to use…nice bonus. The downside is that the only really good one in the set is Stamina, and you have to take a total of three powers to get it. Stamina is probably the biggest must-have power in the game other than Hasten for almost all archetypes. Fortunately, Empaths are one of the few exceptions. Stamina is great if you plan on running Leadership buffs or a bunch of other toggles, but once you get Recovery Aura end will be far less of a problem for you. Your choice.

Swift
Rating: Prerequisite
Slot: 1 Run Speed
Makes you run faster. That’s it. You have to take either this or Hurdle to get Stamina. Helpful if you use powers with Movement Penalties like Stealth, but that’s about it.

Hurdle
Rating: Prerequisite
Slot: 1 Jump
Makes you jump higher. Yep, that’s it. Again, it’s either this or Swift to get Stamina. This is a good one if you took Super speed as a movement power as it gives you some Z axis mobility, but if you Fly or Teleport…go with Swift I guess. Neither one is that great.

Health
Rating: Prerequisite
Slot: 1 Heal
Yeargh, another stinker. This power increases your Health regeneration rate. I have this power, and even with an SO in it I notice no difference at all…maybe if you had it 6 slotted with Heals it would be good, but I wouldn’t bother…just use it as a means to an End. (get it…?)

Stamina
Rating: Optional by Build
Slot: 6 End Recovery
The money power of the set. Depending on your build and number of toggles, Stamina is either a lifesaver or a waste of time for an Empath.


Flight
Extremely useful power set and just plain cool to use. It may be the slowest of all the travel powers, but there’s nothing like flying around the city patrolling for villains. It will keep you safe from ambushes, and you don’t even have to hit buttons to move yourself around…just fly to a safe altitude and hit “auto-run.” The lazy person’s travel power. I have it

Hover
Rating: Recommended
Slot: 1-6 Flight Speed (yes, I said 6)
As an Empath I would strongly recommend that you at least take Hover. This is one of the most useful, and underrated, powers in the entire game. It allows you to hover, and although you don’t move very fast it allows you to get away from a number of bad situations. Many enemy traps later on in the game will not affect you if you can Hover (you can just float over the Caltrops, or earthquake pit etc.), it gives a defense bonus (Defense is always nice), if you jump and them switch on Hover at the apex of your jump you can get out of enemy melee range, but still stay close enough to the team to heal effectively. You can also use Hover to solo if you have enough room, Hovering above enemies and blasting them from afar. Also, many areas in the game seem to be designed assuming people can fly…if you can’t, even slowly, it can really be annoying. Oranbega and the Shard come to mind immediately…

On slotting, well, a 6 Slotted Hover is actually faster than a 2 slotted Fly. Throw in a much reduced End cost, Defense bonus (5% is better than nothing) and no accuracy penalty and you have something to think about, don’t you?

Air Superiority
Rating: Skip
Slot: I said Skip it
This Power knocks airborne enemies out of the sky and down to the ground. Don’t waste your time with this one. Take Hover. You have blasts to take down airborne enemies.**

**The only caveat to this is that in PvP, this power may prove invaluable to some builds. Since we don’t know all the details of this yet, it is difficult to make a decision.

Flight
Rating: Recommended
Slot: 1-4 Fly Speed, or an End Reducer
This is it…you can fly!! What else can I say. Flight is a hefty Endurance drain toggle, so you may want to throw an End Reducer into it when you first get it. It gives no Defense boost like Hover does, and actually gives you an accuracy penalty if you try to attack. Heals never miss however, so this is a good one for zipping over to that Blaster that is on the second story of an office mission, healing him, and returning to the group. 4 Flight speed caps you, so slot as you see fit.

Group Fly
Rating: Is anyone happy with this power?
Slot: Who cares?
This power essentially makes everyone around you able to fly. Avoid this one like Grandpa Mel’s Chicken. HUGE end drain, slow as molasses, and many group members will get mad at you for forcing a fly toggle on them. Plus it gives anyone affected an Accuracy penalty, and the more people you affect with Group fly, the more End it costs to maintain. Oh, and if a group member gets too far away from you…their Group Fly wears off. No thanks. Awful, awful power.**

**I3 supposedly fixed this power up a bit, making the End cost less, and the group mates flight speed faster so your group can fly as a unit more easily. May be useful in the Shard, but that’s too situational to warrant three powers. I’d stay away.


Leadership
This is a good, useful power pool, especially for Defenders. Every archetype gets a certain percentage buff for their group when they activate a Leadership power. Defenders get the largest base buff. The only mitigating factor is the End drain, which can really be annoying if you don’t have Stamina. Leadership is pretty great.

Assault
Rating: Skip
Slot: You wish, don’t you?
Well, except this one. Assault is the sick joke the Devs played on Dark Aura at level 35 in release, and on Amera in Beta. Assault is horrible. Well, Assault could be good if you could slot it with Damage Buff enhancements…unfortunately, those type of enhancements do not exist at the time of this writing. This means that Assault is awful. How awful you ask? Well let’s put it this way…DA used her Dark Blast attack and hit a white Minion for 83 damage. Then she activated Assault and hit another White Minion from the same group for…86 points of damage. An Endurance draining toggle that has buffs that cannot be improved, that only boost my damage output by 3 points. I think I’ll pass…thank goodness for respec.

Maneuvers
Rating: Optional
Slot: 1-6 Defense
Here’s a keeper. Maneuvers is a toggle that boosts defense, and can be slotted with Defense buff enhancements. The number of them you put in is optional…the gain is relatively minimal even with SOs, though if you have a few spare slots, go for it. You will probably take Maneuvers just to qualify for Tactics if nothing else.

Tactics
Rating: Optional
Slot: 1-6 Accuracy
Another good one. Toggle that improves the party’s accuracy, and can be slotted with accuracy buff enhancements. This gives the team better damage per second since they hit more often, which opens the jail cells faster. Enemies in jail cannot hurt you or your team. This is also a good choice if you plan on soloing, since Tactics 6 slotted with SOs gives a better bang for your buck than putting an accuracy SO in each of your attacks.

Vengeance
Rating: Skip
Slot: —
Controversial at best. Personally I don't care what kind of bonuses this power gives, I don’t want any power where someone has to be dead to use it. Unless you play in a party that drops like sacks of wet cement, save your power choice for something else. Actually, just save your power choice regardless. A poorly devised power.

Leaping
I’ve never taken Leaping on a Healer, although I do have a Tanker and a Blaster with this pool…however it could be very useful to a Healer…

Jump Kick
Rating: Skip
Slot: Who cares?
No thanks. You aren’t a melee fighter, don’t try to be one.

Combat Jumping
Rating: Optional
Slot: 1 Defense
Toggle power that gives you good defense, and lets you jump a good height and distance. Higher mobility than Hover with comparable defense boost and End drain…but you should still go with Hover since you don’t have to touch the ground, and can permanently stay out of melee range without constantly jumping all over.

Super Jump
Rating: Optional
Slot: 1 Jump
Very cool power, and way faster than you think it is. This lets you get around in a hurry, and leap long distances. Good for scouting for enemies, and just plain fun.

Acrobatics
Rating: Optional
Slot: I’ll let you know
This power is a toggle that gives defense against knockdown, knock back and holds. For tanks it is almost essential. For Empaths…probably less so. Still, Empaths have no resistance to any of these effects normally (no CM on self). It is one of our major weaknesses. Depending upon how you play, this power might be helpful to you if you choose the SJ route for traveling. Amera and DA have not tried it yet. I hear DA making an alt right now…**

**Don’t bother with Leaping if your only goal is Acrobatics. Hover will protect you from Knock back just as well and provide better utility overall with less power choices. You will lose the Hold resistance, but that’s a small price to pay, especially with the new inspirations I3 brought us.

Medicine
This guide is not going to get into the Medicine line at all because you don’t need it. Period. The heals are redundant with the ones you have, are slow to activate, have a short range and are interruptible. All things you do not want and/or need. The only reason I even bring it up is because many people think they need extra heals, or that this pool complements Empathy well. Sorry, but Medicine is a waste of your 4 power pools, and unnecessary for an Empathy Defender. Other Defenders may want to pick it up, but Empaths don’t need it.

Presence
No, don’t even think about this one. If you want to scare enemies do it through your scary teammates beating the snot out of them. If you want to taunt enemies you are playing the wrong AT.

Speed
Time is your enemy…speed is your friend. Tempus Fugit, hero.

Flurry
Rating: Skip
Slot: Who cares?
You’re not a Melee fighter. See Jump Kick above.

Hasten
Rating: Recommended
Slot: 5-6 Attack Rate
This power is so useful it’s almost not fair. This reduces the recharge rate for all your powers, and then takes a bit of an End hit when the effect wears off. This causes you to burn through End very quickly, but it is great when the battle is taking a bad turn. Having your heals almost instantly recharge is a thing of beauty. Also, if you 6 slot this power, you get a Perma-Hasten effect, so you can pretty much always have Hasten active. It can’t be stressed how amazing this is.

The main boon for Empaths is that with 6 slotted Hasten AND 6 slotted Recovery Aura with Attack Rate SOs, you can have Hasten always on and Recovery Aura will only have a downtime of about 30-45 seconds (that is you will only have to wait about 30 seconds from the time RA wears off to the time you can re use it.). This means you may not need to take the Fitness line, freeing up a bunch of new power slots. I don’t need to tell you how useful Hasten is…I’m sure you already know. Take this power, but probably not until *after* you have Recovery Aura up to snuff unless you want to burn through End like an SUV.

Super Speed
Rating: Optional
Slot: 1-2 Run Speed
Very fast, very fun travel power. Gives a bit of a Stealth buff, so if combined with the Concealment power pool, you can stand in the middle of packs of enemies with Stealth on and not get attacked. Useful for travel, retreat or Big Bang powers. Plus its fun.

Whirlwind
Rating: Skip
Slot: Something useful
Enemy Knock up, with an enormous Endurance Drain. A fun power to play around with, but it’s not very useful for an Empath. Nice to turn on before you do a Costume Change though…like Jim Carrey in the Mask. Clever Empaths who use this power in combination with Recovery Aura can essentially keep an enemy locked down indefinitely, though this can be very dangerous against higher level opponents.


Teleportation
Fastest Travel Power around…also the biggest End hog. People debate about TP as a travel power on speed versus end drain, and on laziness versus having to keep clicking to move. Amera chose teleport because she wanted recall friend…to date it has killed her at least three times and probably saved her from death once or twice. It isn’t a horrible choice as a travel power, but Amera will definitely respec it out.

Recall Friend
Rating: Optional
Slot: 1 End Reducer or Reduce Interrupt Time
This is a nice one to have. Good for teleporting an fallen teammate’s corpse to a safe place for a Rez, pulling those gung-ho Blasters back to safety, teleporting lost, lazy, or slowpoke teammate around the map, watching a teammate jump off a building and trying to Recall them before they hit the ground…the uses are endless. You really can't understand how useful this power is until you use it. The only issue is whether you want to use a precious power pool slot for it. Amera has it now, DA had it in Beta, everyone agrees it is helpful…too bad the rest of the pool isn’t that great.

Teleport Foe
Rating: Skip
Slot: It doesn’t matter
This is a good one for someone else on your team to have. This power is not supposed to agro an entire mob if you use it on Minions…but every time I used it in Beta and early release it agroed everything, and they all ran at me. It is useful when it works, but I wouldn’t suggest an Empath getting it.

Teleport
Rating: Optional
Slot: 2 End Reducers or Range Enhancers
Good for getting out of Dodge in a hurry. Unfortunately, you can get out of Dodge and get into even more trouble with this power. Although it is the fastest travel power around, you can easily Teleport yourself into a group of angry enemies by mistake and end up dead. It is also rather dependent upon Hover to work well, so it’s a pretty significant power investment as well. Teleport is great for escape and sometimes for scaring the Bejesus out of your teammates. Its imprecision and End cost are its downfall. Fun for awhile, annoying by the time you’ve logged in a few hundred hours.

Team Teleport
Rating: Skip
Slot: 1 Interrupt Time
Only useful in the rarest of instances. When you know everyone is about to die and needs to bug out fast, this is the one you use. You probably won’t have enough End to make 2 jumps though, as it uses a lot, and it’s probably better to just Teleport somewhere and Recall Friend everyone one at a time. Just skip it – like most level 20s in the travel area this one is lacking.

Epic Power Pools
Ok, here comes the fun stuff. Remember what we said earlier about Empaths being poor solo characters, and not having much defense for themselves etc? Well, these Epic Pools fill in the gaps in our defenses very nicely, and improve your survivability quite a bit. They won’t make you a Blaster or a Scrapper (they get their own EPPs), but a Defender with Epics will be more powerful than one without in most cases (if not all). I recommend every Defender dip into their EPPs, regardless of their goals. So useful it’s ridiculous.

Epic Power Pools become available at level 41, and do not count as a power pool choice. You can take powers from 4 Power Pools, and from your Epic Power Pool. No you cannot substitute a 5th Standard Power Pool for your Epic Power Pool, though why would you want to? Same rules apply here as in other pools, must take one of the first 2 powers to unlock the third, and must have any 2 of the first three to unlock the 4th. Take the Epics, they’re amazingly great for Defenders!!

Dark Mastery
This is a good one, my favorite of the four overall. A good mix of Buff, Control and Defense. A very solid choice for Empaths, especially if you are going the Balanced Empath road. It is rather dangerous to use however, as it is essentially a collection of Scrapper powers, and as such you must be close to enemies to use it. Still, I feel the risk is well worth it, and absolutely love this set.

Oppressive Gloom
Rating: Recommended
Slot: 1 Accuracy, 2 Disorient Duration.
Identical to the Scrapper power. PBAOE aura that disorients any Minions around you if it hits. Pulses every 3 seconds I believe and you can Disorient Lts and even Bosses if you can stack it with other Disorient attacks. It does take away some health when it is used, but not much, though Regen Aura may have another use now. You will mow down Minions in safety with this power, I love it.

Dark Consumption
Rating: Optional
Slot: Accuracy and Recharge as you see fit.
PBAOE Scrapper power. Drains enemies of Health and adds to your Endurance. Not really needed for an Empath as we have RA, but not a bad choice, who doesn’t need more End? I passed on it, but take it if you want.

Dark Embrace
Rating: Highly Recommended
Slot: 6 Damage Resistance
Scrapper power again. Reduces the damage you take from Smashing, Lethal, Negative Energy and Toxic attacks. If you don’t take anything else in your Epic’s, at least take the armor, it’s worth it.

Soul Drain
Rating: Optional by build
Slot: 1 Accuracy, 2 Recharge
The highlight of the Dark Melee set, is available to Defenders. Soul Drain is a PBAOE attack that hits all nearby enemies for paltry damage, but boosts your Damage and Accuracy for every enemy you hit. Think of it as our own PBAOE Fulcrum Shift. Works wonders when combined with OG, you will tear through Minions like they aren’t even there. The self damage buff Empaths have always wanted, I love this power.

Electricity Mastery
Well, these are powers taken from the Elec Blasters plus a shield. Probably the worst of the pools for an Empath. Might be good for other Defenders focusing on End drain, but not too good for us. Read on to find out why…

Electric Fence
Rating: Optional at best
Slot: 1 Accuracy
Single Target Immobilize with some End drain. So I get to level 41 to unlock a single target immobilize? Like the one a Psi Blast user gets to unlock at level 2 but with a faster activation time and less damage? Heh, no thank you

Thunderstrike
Rating: Optional
Slot: 1 Accuracy, 1-5 damage and/or End Drain
Not a bad attack really, but you need to slot it out if you want to hurt anyone with it. PBAOE Damage with some knock back and End Drain. Not terrible, but I feel the other pools offer better powers than this one.

Charged Armor
Rating: Highly Recommended
Slot: 6 Damage Resistance
All the armors are highly recommended. This one is no different. Best power in this set IMO, and since every set has an armor, go with another set. Simple, simple. One advantage this armor has over the other though is it protects against Smashing, Lethal, and Energy, which are the three most common forms of damage in the game. That’s something to think about, but overall I don’t feel it’s enough to warrant taking this pool over the others. It is the best looking armor of the four IMO. You “style over substance” types may want to check it out.

Power Sink
Rating: Optional by build
Slot: 1 accuracy, 2 End Drain
Drains End from Enemies and adds to your own Endurance. Gives more End per enemy than Dark Consumption, but also has a smaller AOE. Again, this might be nice for other Defenders or for an End Drain build but we have RA, and can get a very similar power to this in other EPPs.

Power Mastery
A very well balanced set, giving Energy Blaster powers to us with a shield. I had to test a lot of builds out before I decided on Dark over Power, and it was a tough choice. Very good EPP to pick up.

Conserve Power
Rating Highly Recommended
Slot: 6 Recharge (or as many as you can afford)
This power is fantastic. It dramatically reduces the end cost of all your powers for 90 seconds. Perfect to use during RAs downtime so you have close to limitless End. Passing up on Stamina is also even easier to do if you have this power and Perma-Hasten + 6 Slot RA, though I would still recommend taking Stamina if you are toggle heavy. Like RA for yourself, awesome.

Power Build Up
Rating: Highly Recommended
Slot: 6 Recharge (or as many as you can afford)
Like a combination of Build Up and Power Boost, this guy will increase your Damage and the secondary effects of all your powers (accuracy debuff, defense debuff, defense buff, damage buff, even your heals). I can’t say enough good things about this power, wow. Try using this and Aim (if you have Elec, Rad or Energy Blast) and see how much damage you can Snipe for. So so nice…not enough slots in this game, I swear.

Temporary Invulnerability
Rating: Highly Recommended
Slot: 6 Damage Resistance
Smashing/Lethal Resistance. Same one Inv Scrappers get. Do I really need to explain why you want this again…?

Total Focus
Rating: Optional by build
Slot: 1 Accuracy, 2 Damage
Extreme damage Melee attack with a high Mag Disorient. Hits for about as much or more as a Snipe with no interrupt. Very nice if you don’t mind Meleeing a bit, skip it if you do mind.

Psychic Mastery
Psi Mastery gives you skills from the Mind Controller set, giving you a lot more control over minions and who is harming your teammates. A good set to pick up for the shield alone. Trying to stay in character, Amera ended up respeccing into this set to compliment her base psi-powers. The debuffs aren’t as great as dark and the damage isn’t as good as power, but you will gain the best control powers available for a Defender. Tough to use, but if employed well can be as devastating as any other combo.

Dominate
Rating: Recommended
Slot: 1 Acc, 2 Hold Duration (Damage or more Hold Duration if you want)
Nice single target hold. The damage isn’t great unless you slot it. Combined with Scramble Thoughts this gives you two single target holds – not too shabby.

Mass Hypnosis
Rating: Optional by build
Slot: 1 Acc, 2 Sleep duration (more Acc and or Recharge if you use it often)
AOE Sleep. Very nice if your group isn’t AOE happy, and even better for soloing. Also helpful to take care of adds…go go Def-troller!!

Mind Over Body
Rating: Highly Recommended
Slot: 6 Damage Resistance
Smash, Lethal and PSIONIC damage Resistance. This shield alone is enough to sell this EPP. Psi damage is the least resisted type in the game (by far) and it is seen often in the 40+ world. What would you say if I told you that this power will let you take less damage than an Inv Tank against the Clockwork King? Yeah, awesome isn’t it? Oh yeah, and you get a cool pink glow. Who wouldn't want a pink glowy hero on their team?

Telekinesis
Rating: Optional by build
Slot: 3 End Redux
Hold that pushes enemies away from you, and grabs more as it bumps into them. It can’t miss and is an End Pig. Situational and VERY useful once you learn how to use it. Slap those End reducers into it fast and use it often. This one takes practice.

Dark Aura’s Respec Build
So I guess you’re wondering…what build I would go with if I were allowed to do it all over again…well, here it is, enjoy:

Primary Power: Empathy
Healing Aura: 5x Heal
Heal Other: 5x Heal
Absorb Pain: 3x Heal
Resurrect: 1x End Redux
Clear Mind: 1x Recharge
Fortitude 1x Recharge
Recovery Aura: 6x Recharge
Adrenaline Boost: 1x Recharge

Secondary Power: Dark Blast
Dark Blast: 1x Accuracy, 4x Damage
Gloom: 1x Accuracy, 4x Damage
Dark Pit: 2x Accuracy, 1x Recharge
Tenebrous Tentacles: 1x Accuracy, 4x Damage
Night Fall: 1x Accuracy, 4x Damage
Black Star: 6x Damage

Power Pools: Fitness, Speed, Concealment, Flight
Swift: 1x Run
Health: 1x Heal
Stamina: 6x End Recovery
Hasten: 6x Recharge
Super Speed: 1x Run
Stealth: 6x Def Buff
Hover: 6x Fly

Epic Power Pool: Dark Mastery
Oppressive Gloom: 1x Accuracy, 3x Disorient Duration
Dark Embrace: 6x Damage Resistance
Soul Drain: 1x Accuracy, 1x Recharge

This build makes me a Scrappy Def-Troller. PBAOE Disorient with OG, plus Dark Pit to stack on Bosses and Lts. Soul Drain to boost Damage and Accuracy if I need it and Accuracy Debuffing attacks. Plenty of Defense through Stealth, Hover, and Perma-Hasten, plus Stamina and RA with a 30 second downtime to power it all. Damage Resistance to Smashing, Lethal, Negative Energy and Toxic to round it all out. Plus I can Fly fast enough to get around the Shard if I absolutely HAVE to, z-axis movement to go with Super speed, and Stealth to give me Invisibility when SS is up so I can get in close and start my toggles. Only real weakness is no status defense at all, so if I get Mezzed it’s all over.

I’m very happy with this build, and can mow down Minions like nobody’s business…quite a feat for an Empathy Defender (one of the worst solo classes in the game). I do generate some agro from Bosses though, so my build can be dangerous at times, but I like it that way. Certainly not your typical healer, and not for those who like to sit in back and watch. I get in melee almost constantly, unless I need to break off for heals and support. This build lets me do a little bit of everything, and is not for the faint of heart. For my play style though, it’s perfect.

Amera’s Respec Build
This is the build chosen by Amera a week or two ago. In general, it gives her good single-target offensive power, a couple nice AEs, and superb controller abilities. This is not a great character to solo with, but she basically brings two classes to one group.

Primary Power: Empathy
Healing Aura: 6x Heal
Heal Other: 6x Heal
Absorb Pain: 5x Heal
Resurrect: 1x End Redux
Clear Mind: 1x End Redux
Fortitude 1x Recharge, 2x ToHitBuff
Recovery Aura: 6x Recharge
Regeneration Aura: 6x Recharge
Adrenaline Boost: 3x Recharge

Secondary Power: Psychic Blast
Mental Blast: Who Cares?
Telekinetic Blast: 1x Accuracy, 5x Damage
Psychic Scream: 1x Accuracy, 5x Damage
Will Domination: 1x Accuracy, 5x Damage
Scramble Thoughts: 1x Accuracy, 1x Disorient Duration
Psychic Wail: 6x Damage

Power Pools: Flight, Speed, Teleport
Hover: 1x Fly
Fly: 4x Fly, 1x EndRedux
Hasten: 6x Recharge
Super Speed: 1x Run
Recall Friend: 1x Interrupt

Epic Power Pool: Psychic Mastery
Dominate: 2x Accuracy, 1x Damage
Mind over Body: 6x Damage Resistance
Mass Hypnosis: 2x Accuracy, 1x Sleep
Telekinesis: 1x EndRedux

This is a tri-build in the sense that it offers team support, controller abilities, and some damage. It is not a close-range build even with the damage shield, and soloing large numbers of mobs is not really possible given the lack of AEs. You will note the lack of a 4th power pool. Picking up another one is fine, but I felt I had all I needed with three. Super speed gives me the speed and stealth I generally need, and slotted AB and Fortitude provide great team buffs without suffering through the end drain of leadership. If you wanted to pick up additional powers, I would recommend dropping Regen Aura and Scramble Thoughts first depending upon what you want.

Tips On Playing Your Empath
OK, so we’ve gone through all the good powers, and some of the stinkers, and you’ve got an uber-healer template of your own now right? You didn’t just copy ours did you? Good. Now a few pointers on how to play as an Empath.

1.) You are a Defender. This means you defend your team, that is your main focus. Don’t sit there blasting away and forgetting that you are a support class. The only time you should be shooting is if everyone is doing well on health, is buffed and you are assisting another teammate or dealing a knockout blow. The last thing you want is for mobs to agro you.

On the flip side, don’t just sit there waiting for someone to get hurt either. Use your blasts, that’s what you have them for. Slot your blasts, for debuffs if not for damage. It drives me crazy when I see an Empath just standing around on a team because nobody is hurt. This is acceptable early on (before SOs, Stamina and RA) when End is a big issue, but after around level 30 or so you will have little Endurance worries and should always be doing something to contribute. Don’t be a sponge!! Defenders can always help their team, make sure you are doing so and not giving the rest of us a bad name.

2.) Good communication is the key. Be sure your group understands that you need Line of sight (LOS) for your heals to hit. Also, be sure that they stay within Healing Aura range if they can so that you can heal the entire team more effectively. Your ideal setup will be melee fighters engaging a mob, and the rest of the group away from the melees in a group around you. This way you can AOE the rearguard, and use more potent single target heals on the Melees.

3.) Try to go into battles buffed. Time is of the essence in many CoH encounters, and you won’t have time to buff everyone in the middle of a fight. Concealment is good for this as you can Invis everyone and avoid a lot of agro, starting battles on your terms.

4.) Do everything you can to avoid Holds/Stuns/Disorients. Empathy Defenders have little to no resistance against status effects. These effects will almost always work on you (unless you are getting protection from another Defender).

5.) In regards to slotting, I went from 1-49 with 6 Heals in HA, HO and AP with no Hasten. Yes, it can be done, and no you don’t have to have Hasten to be effective. You need to be aware of your teammates health at all times and be quick on the trigger to activate powers. Good empaths can anticipate when a teammate will be hit, or which teammates get hit the most, and have heals ready for them. This will come with experience, and is much easier if you have a good SG to play with.

That said: I recommend all heals in your big 3: HA, HO, and AP. However, many, people have written that they find that 5 Heals and 1 Recharge works better for them, or 4 Heals 1 Recharge, 1 End Redux. That’s great. Try all three and see which one you like the best. What works for me may not work for you, so do what works. The most important thing is that you keep your team going, not how your character is slotted. If 1 Heal and 5 Range works for you, then go with it. My recommendations are simply what I feel, through experience, is best overall. However, if your experience tells you differently, then don’t listen to me. It is your character after all.

For Toggles, I’d recommend putting an End Reducer in all of them if you are running 3 or more. Yes the Defense etc per toggle will be lower by slotting in End Reducers, but the flipside is running out of End and not having any defense at all. Again, it’s your call, but running out of End is crippling for Empaths, avoid it at all costs.

6.) Don’t expect to save everyone. People will die. It’s going to happen, deal with it. Don’t blame yourself or get down (even if it was your fault). Learn from what happened, and don’t make the same mistake again. If you know it wasn’t your fault, tell the dead one what they did wrong while they lay there waiting to get a Rez from you. You’d be surprised how receptive those gung-ho Blasters can be to friendly advice while they’re tasting asphalt.

7.) Debt is a great teacher. Sometimes, when all else fails, you just need to let someone fall to teach them a lesson. I do not in any way advocate doing this to everyone…but sometimes you get a guy who just will not stop agroing everything, who runs from the group and pulls more mobs, who runs into melee range when they have no business being there. I’m not saying let them die on purpose, but don’t go out of your way to save this type of person and endanger the rest of the group. I make it perfectly clear to pickup groups that I will not under any circumstances leave the Tanker/Scrapper behind. If my Tank is taking hits, I’m not leaving him to save some reckless cowboy. Sorry, but I’m not. If the tank goes down, the rest of the group is in jeopardy. A few trips to Crown Memorial are a cruel but sometimes necessary teacher in CoH…especially during the lowbie levels.

8.) Always use the Team target window for healing. Shift-X works ok, but you can get hung up if you press the number for your spot on the team. I usually put my left hand on number keys 2,3,and 4 (Heal Other, Healing Aura and Absorb Pain respectively) and use my right hand to click on teammates with the mouse to heal. Seems to be the fastest for me. As I’ve said before, speed is your friend.

9.) The above builds and power suggestions are just that…suggestions. Many, many different combinations are viable for Empaths. Find a combination that works for you and stick with it. You may have to respec a few times before you find a good combo for your play style, just stick with it. It’s very hard to utterly gimp a character in CoH. Test Center and the Character Copy tool are great to fine tune your build if you need to.

10.) Most important of all, have fun, this is just a game after all…sit back, relax, and enjoy it for what it is.

Final Thought
Empathy Defenders are exciting characters to play in CoH. No other class, with the possible exception of a Provoking Tanker in a group, relies on timely power activation like we do. In many cases, decisions an Empathy Defender makes can turn the outcome of a battle. I hope the above guide helps you make decisions on what power sets, and powers to take, and most importantly, I hope you enjoy playing your Healer as much as I enjoy playing mine. Take care of yourselves...and each other.


Thanks to all the great players on Virtue who have provided information to make this guide possible.

Dark Aura, Amera, Lasandra, Rouge, Energon, Golden Scarab, Darrien, Luie, Heaven Light, Cheena, Krunk, Celtic Knot, Zeakial Johnson, The Promethian Factor, and anyone else we may have forgotten.


Version 2.0 - Written 1-26-05

Perma AB with 1 Recharge if you have perma hasten? This a issue 3 change? Previous post on AB claim 4 min, 5 for overlap. If its really 1, thats great but seems impossible mathematically.

I remember the first version of this guide and used it as a backdrop when I first rolled my Empath. For numbers I would go with Lady Mage's guide.

I like this guide for the power discriptions. Nice write up. I have slotted differently than you and some different powers but to each his own.

Nice work again.

Cheers!

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Perma AB with 1 Recharge if you have perma hasten? This a issue 3 change? Previous post on AB claim 4 min, 5 for overlap. If its really 1, thats great but seems impossible mathematically.

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Anecdotally:
Miss T (Lvl 50-Grav/Emp) has perma-hasten, one-slotted AB (recharge) and can perma-AB, though the overlap is not long.

-M

I'll retest, but I have 5 slots in AB and permahasten, and only now am I able to keep it perma. It has a 5 minute timer, I really don't think that you can perma it with less than 4 slots.

I finally managed to hook up with a respec TF and tested AB on Test with perma Hasten. 1 recharge does NOT make it perma. 3 recharge does not make it perma. 4 recharge using fresh +3 SOs gives a 5 secs gap. So AB is like hasten, 4 to near perma with Fresh SOs, 5 for those Painful levels. Fresh being levels 37, 42, 47, 49. Painful levels would be 36, 41, 46.

Since I'm 37 I'll respec to 5 hasten, 4 AB and finish 6/5 by 41 Rinse and repeat at 42. Its only 2 slots but that's 2 more slots elsewhere.

wow this is one of the only guides that really address the psy aspect. Thanx much I really needed the help.

I would LOVE to see an i5 update to this guide. Its helped me soo much in the past. Any possiblility of this happening?

I suppose I could work on a new version for I5. I haven't logged Dark Aura in in a long time though, and Amera doesn't even have an active CoH account anymore, so it'll probably take a while while I check some powers out.

Didn't know people liked this thing so much.

I'd get down on my knees and beg if it helped! :P

This guild has been a staple for me since it was first posted a long long time ago (in a galaxy far far away?).

I missed out on i3 and i4, just having reactivated my account with i5. A lot of things have changed and its hard to get solid info from one or two guides anymore. This one has always been the best and most informative; a trusted source IMHO.

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I'd get down on my knees and beg if it helped! :P

This guild has been a staple for me since it was first posted a long long time ago (in a galaxy far far away?).

I missed out on i3 and i4, just having reactivated my account with i5. A lot of things have changed and its hard to get solid info from one or two guides anymore. This one has always been the best and most informative; a trusted source IMHO.

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Knees heck! I have your first born, or all your kids, raisem, get em decent jobs making a ton of dough and turn em back over to you to support you in your dotage.

I'm new to CoH and ive been running a fab Emp/Elec defender, and while i havent had too many problems, i've found your guide to be a gift that keeps on giving. Please do update if you can find the time, I5 seems to have alot of changes, and a few are a bit confusing.

Wanna do the best i can to keep heros alive and kicking!


Walliesmith BS/Inv Scrapper
Bazoonga Emp/Elec Defender
Futurist Ranger AW/Gizmos Blaster

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Didn't know people liked this thing so much.

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This is why people should give feedback more often, and I'm sorry I haven't done so!

Your guide is a good complement to LadyMage's.

Just want to let people know that an I6/ED version should be here by the end of next week. Just need to pry myself away from CoV long enough to type it all out and format.

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Just want to let people know that an I6/ED version should be here by the end of next week. Just need to pry myself away from CoV long enough to type it all out and format.

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Cool. I found your guide one of the most valuable Emp guides out there and appreciate hearing your ideas on I6.

(I'm frustrated and hoping someone has insight on how to improve Emp solo capability.)

any word on the ED update to this guide?

Man it would be awesome if this guide was updated!

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Man it would be awesome if this guide was updated!

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I would agree. I Was just looking for a guide for my defender and this one looks great, but things are vastly different now.