Guide for Force Field/Radiation Defenders I6

Well, after about a year of play with my FF/Rad defender, I decided to post my first guide. After several respecs and power changes, here is my findings.

**Title Edit** This is for Issue 6

Force Field
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1 Personal Force Field - With a base resist of 75% to all and defense of 95% to all, its one of the best defenses in the game. I highly suggest taking this ASAP. At lower lvls, its excellent for getting to missions unmolested and at higher levels, it can save your skin in tough places. I use it in conjunction with Aid Self when I need to take a moment to heal up. Recommend slotting with 3 Defense Buffs. At a cost of 0.33 it really isn't necessary to slot it with an End Redux since you can't use any attack powers with it on.

2. Deflection Shield - An excellent team buff with a base defense of 14% towards smashing, lethal and melee and just slightly over 22% with 3X +3 Defense Buffs. Recommend slotting with 3 Defense Buffs and 1 End Redux. Can't really call yourself a Force Field Defender without this.

3. Force Bolt - I chose this power at lvl 32 but I knew it would be in my arsenal eventually. Its an excellent damage mitigation tool for single targets. Perfect for soloing and its up right about the time they are, usually before especially with ragdoll physics. With its decent range (80ft), low cost (5.2) and inherent 20% ACC, its a tremendous help despite its almost nonexistent damage. Recommend slotting 2 ACC. Under normal circumstances, only 1 ACC would be fine since it already comes with a bonus but this power shines when dealing with bosses where missing once could be crucial, especially for a squishy defender.

4. Insulation Shield - Slightly more situational and more costly than Deflection Shield , its still considered a must have with a base defense of 14% towards cold, fire, NRG and range and just over 22% 3X +3 Defense Buffs. Recommed slotting 3 Defense Buffs and 1 End Redux.

5. Detention Field - An excellent damage mitigation power with an inherent 20% ACC. I respeced out of this power later on as it did not fit with my playstyle. Great for PvP to keep buffers, debuffers and powerhouses out of the fight. Not so great in fast moving teams. Holds for 45 seconds and recharges in 60. Recommend slotting 2 ACC and possibly 1 or more Holds or Recharge Redux for more PvP oriented players.

6. Dispersion Bubble - A necessity IMHO. Its your first self buffing power which also allows attacks and the buffs are great. It gives resistence to all status effects to you and your team in a 25ft range. Its base defense is 9.25% for everything except Psionic damage and 14.5% with 3X +3 Defense Buffs. Recommend slotting 3 Defense Buffs and 1-2 End Redux.

7. Repulsion Field - A fun power but unreliable and too situational. Within a 7ft bubble you can run around, knocking opponents back unless they are resistent so stay away from anything from an Elite Boss and up and keep away from most Tanks, Brutes and some Scrappers and Stalkers in PvP. The endurance drain has been reduced to the point where its useable but the recharge of 20 seconds makes it a one-use-per-battle power. Recommend slotting 2 End Redux. I respeced out of this power as I could not find a proper time or place to use it. As an escape power, it isn't very effective as I'm usually low on endurance when I need to run and Personal Force Field is a more useful and effective power. As an in-fight power, it did nothing more than to attract aggro. For damage mitigation, Force Bolt for single targets or Repulsion Bomb for multiple targets works much better.

8. Repulsion Bomb - Another decent damage mitigation power. An AoE version of Force Bolt but not as quick or far reaching (70 instead of 80) but disorients as well. Recommend slotting 2 ACC and 2-3 Disorient Duration. I've never felt the need to add Knockback Distance since it will only give about an extra second of mitigation. That slot can be more effectively used for a Disorient Duration.

9. Force Bubble - An excellent and cheap power if you know how to use it. Kind of situational at times and hard to control but great in tight spaces. Good to herd groups into corners where an AoE attack can have the most effect or for soft holds like Ice Patch or to push mobs into or back into them. Although the range is larger than that of Dispersion Bubble I usually like to move in and crush mobs into a corner so that my Dispersion Bubble will still cover my melee teammates. Its also a great way to keep minions separated while the team deals with a boss pulled through a sewer doorway. Just a bit of creativity and you can find many uses for it but keep practicing because in open spaces its like trying to hold wet fish and can easily work against a team if used poorly. I've also found that the inherent ACC debuff offers a decent amount of aggro protection but I wouldn't recommend prolong useage with higher leveled ranged mobs (ie - Nemesis). Recommend slotting 1 End Redux.


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Next, before going into Radiation Blast, I'd just like to state that other guides may tell you to multi-slot powers with Defense DeBuffs. After all, its what the Radiation Blast set was made for. I would advise against it simply because as a Defender, your damage output is just too degraded to spare a damage slot. For most of my attacks I used 2 ACC and 3 Damage. If I had additional slots, I would add a Defense DeBuff. My recommended slotting is just that, recommended. But if you only have 5 slots to spare where I recommended 6, I would say to fill it with ACC and Damage. If you opted for Tactics in the Leadership Pool, then I would say to multi-slot Defense DeBuffs.
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Radiation Blast
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1. Neutrino Bolt - Its pretty fast. As a Defender, you'll need to hit your target often so the faster its up, the better for you. Get this power. Recommended slotting 2 ACC, 3 Damage and 1 Defense DeBuff.

2. X-Ray Beam - Decent damage. Get it. Recommended slotting 2 ACC, 3 Damage and 1 Defense DeBuff.

3. Irradiate - An exception to my rule. Irradiate is a more powerful defense debuffer so I slotted it accordingly. Recommended slotting 2 ACC, 2 Damage and 2 Defense DeBuffs.

4. Electron Haze - A short cone that does decent damage and can knockback. I respeced out of this since I found that the range was too short and the activation animation is too slow. I would always get hit or swung at and the knockback isn't reliable at all. The only time where I had success with this power was in conjunction with Hover. Recommended slotting 2 ACC, 3 Damage and 1 Defense DeBuff.

5. Proton Volley - I really like this power. As a snipe, its the second most powerful attack in the set next to Atomic Blast but what I really enjoy is its slow speed which allows a squishy Defender like me to hide from sight before it hits. With its 20% ACC bonus, 1 more ACC is all you really need. Recommended slotting 1 ACC, 3 Damage and 2 Defense DeBuffs.

6. Aim - A solid power, despite its long recharge and short duration. Great for those tough battles where every shot counts and can almost get you a 1 shot snipe with the extra 62.5% damage. No need for ToHit Buffs unless you expect to be massively ACC DeBuffed. Recommeded slotting 3 Recharge Redux.

7. Cosmic Burst - The best power in the set IMHO. Good power AND disorients too. Great for when your sniped pull comes running around the corner. They may get a shot off on you but if you hit, you get to walk all over them. Add a Recharge Redux and you can effectively keep a +2 minion in a daze until its vanquished. Recommended slotting 2 ACC, 2 Disorient Duration, 1 Damage and 1 Recharge Redux.

8. Neutron Bomb - Not a very powerful AoE. 2nd least powerful attack in the set with Neutrino Bolt being the first but an AoE which makes up for it. Recommended slotting 2 ACC, 3 Damage and 1 Defense DeBuff.

9. Atomic Blast - Your final and most devastating attack. Use cautiously since it will not always kill your foes outright and leaves you disoriented. Use in conjunction with Aim and it does wonders. Has a 20% ACC bonus. Recommended slotting 1 ACC, 3 Damage and 2 Recharge Redux. If all goes well, there will be no need for Defense DeBuffs.



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With regards to Power Pools, instead of going into details as each power has its benefits, I'll just describe the powers which I chose in all my various incarnations of my hero.

Concealment - I had Grant Invisibility and Invisibility so I could stealth missions. Good powers for any squishy. Phase Shift wasn't necessary with Personal Force Field.

Fighting - Not a pool I used for this build. Although Tough would have been nice, melee based powers aren't good for Defenders.

Fitness - It was a must for me as these sets have no recovery or rejuvinating powers and running toggles while attacking (and attacking a lot) drains endurance rather quickly. Swift, Health and Stamina.

Flight - I had Hover and Fly but had to respec out of them since they took too many slots away from other powers. If I had more slots to spare, these would be my powers since Hover is excellent in keeping out of reach of melee enemies, nulifies knockback and offers some defense. Fly is also the safest and versatile travel power. Good for squishies.

Leadership - Assault is something that I always give my Defenders to compensate a little for the lack of damage output. Maneuvers would be good but kind of redundant with this hero. Not really but kind of. Tactics would be a good choice if you wanted to free up an ACC slot but triple slotting on Tactics would only give your Defender an extra 19.67% with +3s.

Leaping - I chose Combat Jumping for the immobilization protection and Super Jump for my travel power. Acrobatics would be helpful but less necessary for a ranged fighter. Using Personal Force Field with Super Jump is an excellent way to avoid being molested while traveling.

Medicine - I picked Aid Other and Aid Self from this pool. Its great for a little break inside your Personal Force Field and then wait until after the mob attacks to drop your shield and disorient them with Cosmic Burst.

Presence - For a Defender? Please.

Speed - Hasten was a power I respeced out of. Not that it doesn't have its uses but I always had an attack up and ready and the recharges on the set are not that bad. And the only hero I use Super Speed with is my Peace Bringer since she already has an inherent flight power. I just hate being vertically challenged but that's just me.

Teleport - Good powers but not used on the final/current version of this hero.



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Well, that's it. If you see anything you disagree with or if some information is outdated or wrong, please feel free to reply. Obviously I didn't include the Epic Power Pools since this guide was only meant to be a Force Field and Radiation Blast guide.

Doesn't detention field take phase extension enhancements?

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Doesn't detention field take phase extension enhancements?

[/ QUOTE ]

Unless this is a new change, no. As far as I know, ACC, Range, End Redux and Recharge Redux are the only enhancements available for DF. No way to increase the hold duration of 45 seconds.

A few nitpicks:

Dispersion Bubble doesn't protect against sleep. It does protect aganst Psionic damage, but this is a relatively recent change.

Detention Field does not take Phase Extension enhancements. Note that it can't be properly chained on a target since the target can't be phased out while phased out. (Read it twice, it really does make sense.)

Force Bubble hasn't had -ACC since beta. Ignore what the planners say, they're wrong.

Atomic Blast doesn't disorient and hasn't for some time. It *does* cut your end recovery and drain all your end if you hit with it. Be warned that unless you're quick with a blue, your status protection is going down.

Maneuvers is actually more useful with FF than with other defender sets, because of the way defense stacking works. That said, Maneuvers is ~3% defense base so it's not the end of the world. The defense scaling changes in I7 may make Maneuvers relevant, YMMV.