Empathy / Psychic Blast - A Defenders Guide
By
Aeoleon,
Posted on: 2005-09-06 01:50 in Player Guides
WOOT! You are right! I will put clear mind back in ASAP.
@MarvelatMee and @COL Burn
24 - 50s
Too many ALTs
wow, Great guide. I started a emp/psy a few months ago as a concept character and not seeing any around. At, lvl 18 I am all about the healing right now and only have 2 attacks, Mental Blast which you have to take and subdue. I found subdue useful at lower levels in the case of getting aggro from a melee only attacker to run away from so he can get killed by the rest of the team. I have never understood why people play Defenders as blasters from levels 1 - 20. Now that I am getting close to all of the healing powers, your guide is ver useful in reading about the attacks avilable.
Very good info from all, even those in disagreement. My Emp/Psy defender sees a fair amount of action, mostly on teams, rarely running solo. When it comes to teaming, however, on thing your guide points to I would emphasize above all else ...
Binds! Build them, use them, love them. No matter how you structure your empath, your effectiveness is magnified a hundred times with keybinds. No hunting about with a mouse pointer and hoping that you don't get lag-fragged. Being able to drop a heal on a hurting teammate with one (two at the most) keystroke(s) is a life-saver ... period.
Random FX
aka Jon Random; Aracknight (Champion)
aka Pandemonia; Daemonica (Victory)
aka Ultra Supreme; Mr. Eos (Infinity)
I have a 50 emp/psi and this was a very interesting guide to read. Although I disagree with some of your slotting and game strategy, I love seeing another playing the exact sets I have. Kudos and more power to you. 
@Tax E - RIP CoH 2012
Great build, but why would you want to 6slot heal other with the same enhancments due to ED. I rather 3 slot it heal or maybe for and sabe the slots for another power.
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Great build, but why would you want to 6slot heal other with the same enhancments due to ED. I rather 3 slot it heal or maybe for and sabe the slots for another power.
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This guide seems to have been ressurected by recent comments, and is well over a year old (Pre-ED). Due to this I'm revising it now taking into consideration some of the comments, and adding some actual numbers from the hero planner. I hope to make it a bit more generic and less "this is how you should do it". Also planning to add in Epic power pools and actual keybinds for illustration.
-H
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The numbers behind this just dont seem to add up to the effect it gives. When I first had this power, I was expecting a health version of Recovery Aura, but it wasn't. In fact I could discern no actual benefit to the health of the team in a fight.
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The more I play my Empath (under a variety of different respecs) the more I have changed my mind about this power. In fact this guide (written pre-ED) points towards quite a heavily team focussed defender. I have tried many combinations of attack powers to allow soloing (and now PvP'ing) and have found Regen aura to be very useful in those situations where you are busy with something other than buffing.
As stated above, this power is very useful solo, and a six slotted Regen aura (3 recharge, 3 heal) helps a lone Empath work a good deal better. Unfortunately, being an Empath doesn't make good soloing, (six of your nine powers are useless) so if you plan to spend much time alone, then I would heartily reccommend this.
On the flipside, if you are a team focussed buffer (heals, fort & AB) you may find that it doesn't really make much of a difference. In reality, those aforementioned buffs are probably making it seem as though Regen Aura is not doing much.
With the build on my toon now, I have the slots and power choices to spare. I do solo a fair bit (as well as team) but the people I do solo with I know well and they don't need as much Empath work. Toss up both auras, a couple of Forts, then that's it for the rest of the fight, allowing me to focus more on arresting. Try it for yourself, resisting the urge to stab out a heal the moment someone takes damage and see what effect it has. If it's not good for you, then drop it next respec.
I have seen Empath builds with this power and without. In both cases the Empath managed team defending well. I think it's down to personal choice.
-H