The Dark/Dark Defender's Bible (Issue 5)
By
AlienOverlord,
Posted on: 2005-09-08 18:12 in Player Guides
Great guide. I have a level 49 Dark Psi, and still benefited from reading your take on some of the powers.
One minor comment about Power Sink. If it works like the blaster version, the more end drainers you put in it, the more endurance you get--the only power in the game that works that way i believe. End recovery enhancements are not that useful therefore. I also believe it is an auto-hit.
Try out my AE Arcs! (solo friendly, canon related, & some contest winners)
| #529832 Rularularian - Heroic - 41-54 | #515140 The Serpent Beyond the Horizon - Heroic - 46-52 | #183832 Save the Diver, Save the World - Vigilante - 25-30 | #245534 Condemning Croatoa - Villainous - 25-33 | #540585 Robolution - Villainous - 25-34 |
BN, can you go back and check on the dark servants version of DN? I have noticed on more than one occasion that it is NOT a single target variant as you suggest it is. I've seen more than once where it does effect other mobs in the area (IE - I let the DS open u pa battle. He opens with DN and all other mobs get teh debuff animations on them)
Pinnacle server
just another random dude
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Fearsome Stare (Level 12)
Slotting is more of an issue now, however. With perma-Hasten alone, it comes up every 23.5 seconds but thats not enough to make it stack. Adding a Recharge will drop it to every 20 seconds but it still would run out the second it came up again. My personal preference is 1 Accuracy, 1 Recharge, and 1 Fear Duration as it would give the power good accuracy, a 20 second recharge and a 26.6 duration, meaning self-stacking. More slots would make the power more useful but duration is all that should be slotted for as a recharge SO would only drop it another 3 seconds while Fear Duration ups it 6.6 seconds.
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Sorry if this is a really stupid question but according to the latest update of Joe Chotts CoH Planner, this now has a 12 sec recharge and 10 second duration in I5. Would this change have any effect on how you would slot this power?
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Fearsome Stare (Level 12)
Slotting is more of an issue now, however. With perma-Hasten alone, it comes up every 23.5 seconds but thats not enough to make it stack. Adding a Recharge will drop it to every 20 seconds but it still would run out the second it came up again. My personal preference is 1 Accuracy, 1 Recharge, and 1 Fear Duration as it would give the power good accuracy, a 20 second recharge and a 26.6 duration, meaning self-stacking. More slots would make the power more useful but duration is all that should be slotted for as a recharge SO would only drop it another 3 seconds while Fear Duration ups it 6.6 seconds.
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Sorry if this is a really stupid question but according to the latest update of Joe Chotts CoH Planner, this now has a 12 sec recharge and 10 second duration in I5. Would this change have any effect on how you would slot this power?
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Joe Chott's Planner has never been right on Fearsome Stare. Even before I5, it had a 12 second recharge and 35 second duration.
Now, it is a 40 second recharge, 20 second duration. That I know for sure.
I wish the CoH planner was more reliable for Defenders but it's not. Tanks/Scrappers seem to have pretty consistent numbers though.
D3 Bible I6/ED
Bots /FF Guide
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Fearsome Stare (Level 12)
Slotting is more of an issue now, however. With perma-Hasten alone, it comes up every 23.5 seconds but thats not enough to make it stack. Adding a Recharge will drop it to every 20 seconds but it still would run out the second it came up again. My personal preference is 1 Accuracy, 1 Recharge, and 1 Fear Duration as it would give the power good accuracy, a 20 second recharge and a 26.6 duration, meaning self-stacking. More slots would make the power more useful but duration is all that should be slotted for as a recharge SO would only drop it another 3 seconds while Fear Duration ups it 6.6 seconds.
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Sorry if this is a really stupid question but according to the latest update of Joe Chotts CoH Planner, this now has a 12 sec recharge and 10 second duration in I5. Would this change have any effect on how you would slot this power?
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Joe Chott's Planner has never been right on Fearsome Stare. Even before I5, it had a 12 second recharge and 35 second duration.
Now, it is a 40 second recharge, 20 second duration. That I know for sure.
I wish the CoH planner was more reliable for Defenders but it's not. Tanks/Scrappers seem to have pretty consistent numbers though.
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Cool, thanks for the info.
I just thought I'd pop in here and say, this is the Dark Defender guide that made me realize I didnt need to write one. BN does a great job here of providing more than a cookie-cutter approach to a power set combo, instead providing information on multiple strategies. I'll post my current build in here once I get CoHPlanner running again.
Heroes
Dysmal
Lumynous
Sam Steele
Pluck
Wile
Slagheap
Pressure Wave
Rhiannon Bel
Verified
Stellaric
Syd Mallorn
Villains
Jotunheim Skald
Saer Maen
Jen Corbae
Illuminance
Venator Arawn
Taiga Dryad
Tarranos
Excellent guide.
5 stars for you!
Just out of curiosity on the tactics build... is this meant as a from lvl one on up build or is it when I hit 50 i should respec and try it... I'm basically a 21st lvl and noticed that Tar was taken late in game... for me tar was really grp friendly earlier...I don't solo all the time and would like to be semi grp viable, and yet efficiently solo. I guess I want my cake and be able to eat it too...
Any revisions planned because of the new defender inherent power?
Great guide, btw.
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Just out of curiosity on the tactics build... is this meant as a from lvl one on up build or is it when I hit 50 i should respec and try it... I'm basically a 21st lvl and noticed that Tar was taken late in game... for me tar was really grp friendly earlier...I don't solo all the time and would like to be semi grp viable, and yet efficiently solo. I guess I want my cake and be able to eat it too...
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Yes, the tactics build is an incredibly un-thought out build that I respec'd into at 50. Don't use it unless you're already at 50. That build would be completely unviable to play through 1-50.
As for Vigilence:
I'm not going to depend on it. As a power that will only come into play when either your small team is getting hammered or your big team is getting pressed, I don't think it's necessary to write a Guide in the context of this new inherent. 6-Slot Stamina and be careful with your Endurance because Vigilence isn't going to save you from poor power management. Likewise, think of Vigilence more as a safety net then a bullet-proof vest when it comes to endurance. If you're team starts getting hurt then it will "pad" your ability to attack or buff/debuff, it won't save it. Recharge rates and AoE caps are still going to prevent you from doing everything you need to most of the time.
Anyway, thanks for all the support thus far. I appreciate it!
D3 Bible I6/ED
Bots /FF Guide
I noticed Cuppa has organized and added Issue Ratings for the Defender Guides! And this is the so far the *ONLY* DDD guide for I5 listed.
I don't know if this is the place to ask this but can I get people's thoughts on adding a Range Increase to Howling Twilight? It seems I have to practically standing on top of the corpse for this to activate, so it doesn't really serve as a group heal unless you have a nice neat stack o' bodies.
Will this be helped if I add a Range Enhancer or should I just not bother and deal with the fact I'll really only be able to rez one teammate most of the time?
I think the range enhancer will only affect the range to the enemy that is the debuff target.
The range of the rez never really bothered me, because I either TP them to me, or stand on one and TP the other to me. Only had three people die simultaniously once, and they were considerate enough to all die close together.
That blue thing running around saying "Cookies are sometimes food" is Praetorian Cookie Monster!
Shoot on sight, please.
Indeed, I should have mentioned that Howling Twilight's rez range is on smallish side. No, range enhancers won't increase the range of the rez but you might be surprised at how much further you can hit an enemy with the power in order to rez them if you add one.
What I'm saying is this: the downside of this power is that you need an enemy to fuel it. Sometimes it's not that there aren't enemies, they're just out of range and pulling them could be tricky. Instead, if you pop a couple Ranges in the rez, you might be able to get that same mob in range without worrying about aggro.
It's a stretch, I know but that's one way of getting more mileage out of Howling Twilight.
Cheers!
D3 Bible I6/ED
Bots /FF Guide
Hey Dysmal any chance we will see your build
I am curious to see what other options people take with the D3
and BN thank you for making it easy to come back to COH by having a guide that is so well presented and understandable
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Thanks for all the replies! I love how people come on to this Guide and share how they use their D3. I'm pretty stubborn when it comes to being "efficient" and I drop or don't take a lot of powers in the name of Efficiency.
Player_101 (didn't you go by a different name awhile back?) had some good points about Blackstar and that my "reasoning" for taking it is as mature as a 5 year olds. I just feel that if a Defender doesn't take their nuke then they are submitting to the "Defenders are weak" mentality. When a Defender can drop 16 guys at once, it shows the other ATs we have some meat to our bones. It's more psychological than practical.
I tried dropping Blackstar on Test for a Hover/Tactics build and while the build was great, not having Blackstar for certain times was "de-flating" I guess. Kind of like, dang, I couldn't take them all out with one shot. Anyway, thanks for the support...
Carry on!
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I have to agree with you on the nuke I also took mine (Thunderous Blast) and had it six slotted and just loved what it did to the spawn I was attacking, the animation was always good for a laugh and you are right about the ego boosting effect.
However player_101 is right the endurance regeneration suppression just makes it too dangerous to use a nuke as a defender any more.
(Sigh) I know have to respec but I dont have the heart.
Thank you for the great guide I found the information very useful.
Xanthor Defender 50 Empathy/Electricity/Power,
Arctic Heat 42 Tanker Fire/Ice/Pyre Guardian
Xanthor Blaster 50 Fire/Electricity/Electric
Dr Victor Fury MM 50 Robo/Dark/Mace Freedom
Support Big Red Balls
My main toon was a Spines/Regen/Dark mastery scrapper that I got to level 50. I enjoyed the very few dark powers I had so much on that toon I made an alt on a different server to goof around with. I enjoyed that so much I deleted a toon and made a dark/dark on my main server that may be my next level 50 project.
Since I decided to get serious, I came looking for a guide and lo and behold, I find this VERY excellent, quality, well explained and thorough guide. I just wanted to thank you for taking the time not only to write the guide but to also answer questions as well as ask for constructive criticism. My hat is off to you. All guides should be this good. Thank you.
I just realized how much time you have saved me and the frustration i am avoiding by not gettnig powers I want to respec out of the second I try them out the first time... I need to buy you a drink sometime =)
I wish to thank you for this, as a newbie with a Dark streak my first was a dark/dark def and seemed to be having problems with the whole thing. This has helped very much, with descriptions of powers for further planning...only dif with mine was I did not know how to plan the slots.
Is it possible to change where the slots are once they have been set?
You can change which powers you have chosen (and in what order) as well as where you have put all your slots with a respec. You can either earn one in-game (the Terra Volta trial) at certain levels, or you can wait for a new issue of CoH -- they usually give out a free respec with new issues (since they keep screwing around with powers). You might already have a free respec and not know it. To use it, type /respec.
Thanks for this guide, BN! Very informative! My main is a 36 dark/psi and the information in this guide will certainly help me make a more informed decision about my ancillary pools...still can't decide, but at least now I really know what I'm choosing between.
I am very impressed with the breadth and depth of this guide, since you touched on the power pools and ancillary power pools as well as the primary and secondary, and how they might all work together. Extremely helpful and informative.
Great guide! Thanks again! 
Tam Lyn Carter, Ialuine, Propitious Puma, Seraf Berylwing, Snowsprite, Damian Newmoon
Chibi Dark Tam, Mr. MacStabbity, Turlin, Frostsprite
And many many more across all servers.
I recently had Fluffy cast DN on a mob, then miss him with TT. The mob ran and aggroed another group because of DN! Man, was that annoying! I was yelling "turn it off, idiot!" at poor Fluffy, but my only recourse was to quickly get over there and lock down/take out the runner. That has only happened once. I had assumed Fluffy's DN was not aggroing others...but maybe that only seemed to be true because they were usually stuck in TT...
Anyway, something to watch out for. It'd be a very mixed blessing if Fluffy's DN was AoE and this wasn't a bug...
Tam Lyn Carter, Ialuine, Propitious Puma, Seraf Berylwing, Snowsprite, Damian Newmoon
Chibi Dark Tam, Mr. MacStabbity, Turlin, Frostsprite
And many many more across all servers.
As I have learned personally and as others have told me, yes, Fluffy's Darkest Night is identical to the Dark Miasma version and not a single-target only debuff.
Now, Issue 4's version of Fluffy did not have this. I guess there was a stealth buff to Fluffy in I5 and we just couldn't really notice it. However, while my Fluffy is a debuff bot, I can't guarantee when and who he'll use it on so I keep my Darkesnt Night well slotted, just to be sure that everyone is debuffed.
So yeah, slotting for Debuff is the way to go now.
Cheers!
D3 Bible I6/ED
Bots /FF Guide
Fluffy's always had Darkest Night. I got him way back in issue #2. He used his Darkest Night a lot more stupidly back then. He'd put it up and then NEVER turn it off! Oh gods, did that get me killed a lot.
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Fluffy's always had Darkest Night. I got him way back in issue #2. He used his Darkest Night a lot more stupidly back then. He'd put it up and then NEVER turn it off! Oh gods, did that get me killed a lot.
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Hehe, I'm not saying that Fluffy didn't have DN before I5 but that his version of DN pre-I5 was a single-target Debuff and not the AoE version a Dark/* Defender has.
Thought I'd clear that up. At least I don't think it was AoE...man, it's been awhile since I remember those days. 3 Fluffies...all spamming stuff...it was beautiful...
D3 Bible I6/ED
Bots /FF Guide
Wow, this guide is incredible. Thanks so much. I can't wait till my dark/dark defender starts hitting higher levels (right now hes8 
) Anyways yeah I'll keep checking back at this every other level and stuff to make a perfect build for him.
Thanks again!
Lord...what ED has done to Blackest Night...
It's a doozy...
Re-vamping this guide for ED is a massive undertaking and while I love the game...I don't know if I have the time or energy to do so.
We'll see. So much to change...tactics will change so much. Slotting is going to be so much more numbers intensive...
Ugh.
For the record, I'm flat out against ED and my current un-respec'd toon is roughly 1/3 as effective as Issue 5, which was about 1/2 as effective as Issue 4. Thus...over the last few months, Blackest Night is now about 1/6 of what he was. He really is a shadow of his former self. It's incredibly disappointing to watch a character that you've played for over 700 hours to become so gutted that he's not fun to play anymore. There was a point in Issue 4 where I knew that this was going to be the height of his power and I felt really bad because it was so bittersweet. I knew he was going to get nerfed into oblivion and I realized that it was going to be downhill from there. I wish I wasn't right but I was.
Dark Miasma/Dark Blast is also now on the Corruptor in CoV and I'd have to say, it probably should have started there to begin with. Dark/Dark Corruptors (DDCs) far and away do more damage and can operate at a much more offensive level than the best Offender D3s. They sacrifice some safety to do so but all in all, it's a very managable sacrifice. I may very well make Blackest Night a Corruptor (if the Hero-to-Villain thing works). I love being a Hero but the nature of this set seems designed for Offense and not Defense.
Anyway, thanks for the support thus far and I really wish this guide was worth more but it's not now. It's obsolete...
D3 Bible I6/ED
Bots /FF Guide
Your original post gave pre respec suggestions that are quite different from this new I5 build. Would you recommend still using those old ones until respec( I am currently level 14) and then go into your new I5 build around 24/26?