Anything and everything, really. One of the great strengths of Defenders is the tremendous variety in the powersets - there's more difference between Defender primaries than there is between some other ATs.
I'll briefly talk about a few of my favorites and I imagine others will do the same, but really you can't go wrong so long as you play whatever you choose for what it is rather than trying to shoehorn it into being something else.
Dark Miasma - fantastic powerset with the power to control, debuff, heal, buff and rez. Offers probably the best set of tools to single-handedly rally a losing situation into a victory. You can floor the ability of enemies to hit anything. You can rez multiple players at once in a radius around you. You can hold, stun and cage. You grant stealth, defense and resistance to your allies. You have a shadowy pet who follows you around, and the two of you also have a heal. About the only thing you don't have is mez protection powers.
Sonic Resonance - a powerhouse of a set that is the master of Damage Resistance. You grant Damage Resistance to your allies and yourself, you debuff the Damage Resistance of your enemies (effectively increasing the damage output of everyone on your team). You also command a mez protection power, a dispersion bubble and a cage power.
Iscariot's Guide to the Tri-Form Warshade, version 2.1
I'm sorry that math > your paranoid delusions, but them's the breaks -- Nethergoat
P.E.R.C. Rep for Liberty server
Grats on your return, and thanks for going.
Something I've always wanted to try but never could get going is a kin sonic.
Think the build below would be just totally sick. A team of scrappers and blasters? Rompin stompin raging hell death and destruction meat wagon of death. No controllers or tanks needed. Just carnage. Open with sirens song, Fulcrum shift, and blast like mad. OG would keep the minions silly, screech the lt's/bosses.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]
Level 50 Magic Defender
Primary Power Set: Kinetics
Secondary Power Set: Sonic Attack
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Dark Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Transfusion -- Acc(A), Heal(3), Heal(11), Heal(13), RechRdx(13)
Level 1: Shriek -- Acc(A)
Level 2: Scream -- Acc(A), Dmg(3), Dmg(5), Dmg(40)
Level 4: Siphon Power -- Acc(A), RechRdx(5)
Level 6: Siphon Speed -- Acc(A), Acc(7), RechRdx(7)
Level 8: Howl -- Acc(A), Dmg(9), Dmg(9), Dmg(11)
Level 10: Hover -- Flight(A), Flight(23), Flight(23)
Level 12: Speed Boost -- EndRdx(A)
Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(15), RechRdx(15)
Level 16: Shout -- Acc(A), Dmg(17), Dmg(17), Dmg(19), EndRdx(19)
Level 18: Inertial Reduction -- Jump(A)
Level 20: Amplify -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(21), RechRdx(21)
Level 22: Assault -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(25)
Level 24: Tactics -- EndRdx(A), ToHit(25), ToHit(31), ToHit(31)
Level 26: Transference -- Acc(A), EndMod(27), EndMod(27), EndMod(29), RechRdx(29), RechRdx(37)
Level 28: Increase Density -- EndRdx(A)
Level 30: Siren's Song -- Acc(A), Range(31), Range(34), Range(34), Sleep(43), Sleep(46)
Level 32: Fulcrum Shift -- Acc(A), Acc(33), RechRdx(33), RechRdx(33), RechRdx(34)
Level 35: Screech -- Acc(A), Dsrnt(36), Dsrnt(36), Dsrnt(36), RechRdx(37), RechRdx(37)
Level 38: Dreadful Wail -- Dmg(A), Dmg(39), Dmg(39), RechRdx(39), RechRdx(40), RechRdx(40)
Level 41: Oppressive Gloom -- Acc(A), Acc(42), Dsrnt(42), Dsrnt(42), Dsrnt(43), EndRdx(43)
Level 44: Dark Embrace -- ResDam(A), ResDam(45), ResDam(45), EndRdx(45), EndRdx(46), EndRdx(46)
Level 47: Soul Drain -- Acc(A), RechRdx(48), RechRdx(48), RechRdx(48)
Level 49: Vengeance -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(50), DefBuff(50), Heal(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson
I have a Cold/sonic I am fond of. I love the stormies, currently alting on Storm/ice. 3 Rains will be uber.
Another alt I have kicked around in my addiction wanting to try is a Dark/Ice. Triple holds and slows on slows. I love raining damage on tar patch, too, on my corruptors and masterminds.
Triumphant Defenders Forever
Psylenz FF/Psi, ArticQuark Storm/Rad, Symon BarSisyphus Bots/psn, Max VanSydow Thugs/Dk, Cyclone Symon Bots/stm, Blue Loki Ice/Cd, Widow 46526
HelinCarnate:OMG it is so terrible. I have the option to take 3 more powers but no additional slots. Boo F'ing hoo.
I loves all my Defenders, but I keep going back to Storm and Kinetics. The only set I've tried that I really haven't liked is Radiation, but Storm and Kin top my list of Most Fun Sets To Play.
I feel like Storm and Kin, while their playstyles are very different, both provide me with a similar amount of activity. They are both crazy, with lots and lots of things to do all the time.
Some people don't like the buffing that Kin pretty much requires, but I have always liked being the guy that people say "Yay, SB!" about. I would certainly prefer a longer duration on SB, but it doesn't bother me too much.
What I love about Kin is the SPEED! With Hasten and a few Siphon Speeds, every power comes back very fast; even your nuke can be up about every 3rd fight, and you should be nuking like crazy. Also, with Speed Boost for your teammates and Siphon Speed for yourself, your whole team should be moving like a movie on Fast-Forward. Zip to a group, explode all over them, zip to the next group, blam blam blam. Kin isn't really being used at top effectiveness unless no one stops for anything. It's just a blitz from the mission entrance to the end.
With Storm, you are a god. There are very few enemies in the whole game, other than AVs, who won't be puppets subject to your whims while playing Storm. The only time I don't like playing my Stormie is when, for whatever reason, I can't be the center of attention. If I can't be in the thick of the action, pushing around with Hurricane and Gale and blasting away with Lightning Storm, then I get bored very quickly, because I'm mostly just left with Freezing Rain. Of course, Freezing Rain is amazing, but that's only one power.
Those are the sets that appeal to me. Everyone has their own tastes, though, so you'll probably have to just try them all out. Fortunately, they're all great, so you can't really make a bad choice. Just get out there and have fun.
Bye, everybody!
*Champion*
[ QUOTE ]
I love the diversity of defenders and all they can accomplish just throughout the one AT so ... dont be shy write somethine down that i can read to past these last few days
[/ QUOTE ]
Normally at this point I would step in to rant about apotheosis of Defender sets that is Rad/Sonic. Something about your admonition to not be shy, however, has rendered me shy. I will limit myself to an uncharacteristicly restrained suggestion that it is very effective, a lot of fun, and comes highly recommended.
- Jock Tamson, Who had difficulty with the juxtoposition of CoH and Afghanistan. Welcome home.
Trick Arrow/Archery is also a very fun set, although it's probably far from as focused as most other power sets. In addition to that it is a set that is very endurance friendly and accurate, meaning you can save slots for accuracy and pre-20 you're not constantly having endurance issues.
Trick Arrow feels a lot like a bag of mixed goodies, having arrows that give -resistance, -to hit, arrows that give -movement and -fly, you can cause entire groups to sleep, so you can pick enemies one by one, you got an arrow that can hold. And oil slick knocks down and slows and can even deal damage if you set it on fire. You can't heal and you don't buff, but on the other hand you've got a power for any situation. EMP arrow is a strong aoe hold, though it's on a rather long cooldown and is very endurance heavy. Like Dark/* it feels a lot like a controllerish set and I have found it to be excellent for both teams and soloing.
Archery fits well together thematically with trick arrow. And with the -resistance in Trick Arrow, the resistances to lethal isn't as horrible late game, as it is for power sets that do not have -res. In many ways it's like any kind of blaster set, having a cone aoe, a burst aoe (with knockback), some standard single target arrows and a build up. One of the single target arrows is a fire arrow, which deals fire damage and lethal damage, good against very resistant enemies. Lastly we have a single target stun (not a bad power, though it seems to be more like it was meant to be a trick arrow) and let us not forget Rain of Arrows, the nuke of the set. It doesn't deal as much damage as the other nukes, but it doesn't drain you of all endurance and can be used once every fight (can get around 30 sec cooldown if slotted with recharges).
I'm not arguing that it's the most powerful set, but it is one of the sets I find to be most fun to play, because you've got so many different options and also deals a good damage (at least for a blaster I think)
Trick Arrow/Electricity is working well for me (especially Oil Slick Arrow) but it is a late bloomer in terms of being able to debuff enemies Oil Slick Arrow + Ball Lightning= Foes defeated
cold/sonic or /ice
rad/sonic
dark/ w/e
and TA/ w/e
all are very powerful, different, and very fun.
Positron's i13 letter: We are trying to make PvP more accessible to new players, while giving experienced PvP'ers the advantage that comes with formulating tactics around the new systems we're putting in place. PvP from now on will be on our priority list. If something isn't working out, we'll be in there tweaking it and making it work, for the entire future of the product, not just Issue 13.
I have 2 Defenders, a level 38 Kin/Energy I've been working on for two years, and a level 28 TA/A that I've only recently been playing.
The Kinetic def can make teams into gods. Transfusion, transference, speed boost, and fulcrum shift don't just tip the balance in your favour, they kick the other kid right off the end of the seesaw. When he needs to, he can do his own thing, but Kin offers little mitigation and I feel especially squishy when I play it.
The trick arrow defender on the other hand doesn't experience the great highs of the Kin, but she also doesn't feel the lows. She doesn't need teammates to buff, just a place. The rest of the team charges in, and she lays down a field of debuffs so foul even the toughest enemies are easily cut down. All this she does with smooth animations that rival MA in their grace.
Kinetics is a very noticeable set. People notice never getting low on end, or dealing damage with numerical values they can't count to. It's flashy and always in demand. Trick Arrow is much the opposite of that. Sure, the animations are noticeable, but their effects are much more subtle, though still potent.
They ALL float down here. When you're down here with us, you'll float too!
@Starflier
So in precisely 18 days I will be back in the lovely U.S OF A, from spending 7 months of this wasteland that some people call afghanistan, and plan to pick up the game again immediately.
Since i left off in the game tapping into the amazing world that is defenders what i was hopeing for from everyone here was:
what are some good/powerful/fun/interesting or even obscure primary/secondary combos
please feel free to enter any " holy crap, I cant believe that really just happened" or "I just did that!" moments you guys have had with your own builds
I love the diversity of defenders and all they can accomplish just throughout the one AT so ... dont be shy write somethine down that i can read to past these last few days