Here's a build I came up with. Please let me know of any suggestions.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]
Lord Apparition: Level 50 Science Defender
Primary Power Set: Force Field
Secondary Power Set: Dark Blast
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Teleportation
Ancillary Pool: Power Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Personal Force Field -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(3)
Level 1: Dark Blast -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(3), Dmg-I(7), Dmg-I(31), ToHitDeb-I(40), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 2: Gloom -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(5), Dmg-I(7), Dmg-I(31), ToHitDeb-I(40), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 4: Deflection Shield -- EndRdx-I(A), DefBuff-I(5), DefBuff-I(9), DefBuff-I(33)
Level 6: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 8: Insulation Shield -- EndRdx-I(A), DefBuff-I(9), DefBuff-I(11), DefBuff-I(34)
Level 10: Hover -- Flight-I(A), Flight-I(11), Flight-I(29)
Level 12: Dispersion Bubble -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(13), DefBuff-I(13), DefBuff-I(34), DefBuff-I(40)
Level 14: Fly -- Flight-I(A), Flight-I(15), Flight-I(15)
Level 16: Moonbeam -- IntRdx-I(A), IntRdx-I(17), Acc-I(17), Acc-I(34), Dmg-I(42), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 18: Health -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(19), Heal-I(19)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(21), EndMod-I(21)
Level 22: Tenebrous Tentacles -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(23), Dmg-I(23), Dmg-I(36), Immob-I(43), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 24: Night Fall -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(25), Dmg-I(25), Dmg-I(37), ToHitDeb-I(43), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 26: Force Bolt -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(27), RechRdx-I(27)
Level 28: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(29)
Level 30: Tactics -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(31)
Level 32: Force Bubble -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(33), EndRdx-I(33), RechRdx-I(37)
Level 35: Life Drain -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(36), Dmg-I(36), Heal-I(37), Heal-I(43), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 38: Blackstar -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(39), Dmg-I(39), Dmg-I(39), ToHitDeb-I(45), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 41: Power Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(42), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 44: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(45), RechRdx-I(45)
Level 47: Temp Invulnerability -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 49: Recall Friend -- IntRdx-I(A), Range-I(50), RechRdx-I(50)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
@Celestial Lord and @Celestial Lord Too
I'd actually reccommend changing it to a FF/Elec. In my experience Rikti seem to be somehow WEAK to energy damage. They go down faster than any other mobs I ever fought when I was playing the Philotic Knight, who was FF/Elec.
That being said, if you do want to stick with this route, here are my changes to your build:
Personal Force Field: Change one of the Defense Buffs to Recharge. It ALREADY puts you at WAY above the defense soft cap with the default slot, and you'll want that sucker back as fast as possible!
Force Bubble: You do NOT need that much endurance reduction in Force Bubble, it really does not use that much endurance. Anything more than two slots in there is a waste, put the extras somewhere else.
Repulsion Bomb: Where is it??? Honestly, I consider this to be a mandatory power for FFers now, with all the things it can do. Take it, slot it, love it.
And if you haven't already, read the guide in my signature.
I went Dark Blast 'cause I was told by several players that Rikti have a weakness to it. I never observed it myself, but it made sense, Rikti hating magic and all.
Thanks for the other advice.
@Celestial Lord and @Celestial Lord Too
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I went Dark Blast 'cause I was told by several players that Rikti have a weakness to it. I never observed it myself, but it made sense, Rikti hating magic and all.
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They told you wrong, take a look for yourself. I took the data from this great spreadsheet and averaged them out. There is a SUBSTANTIAL difference in the two. Energy is definitely better, so if you want to do the most damage, go electrical or energy blast.
But if you want it for THEME, screw damage... theme is theme.
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There is a SUBSTANTIAL difference in the two. Energy is definitely better, so if you want to do the most damage, go electrical or energy blast.
But if you want it for THEME, screw damage... theme is theme.
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Uhh... Phil, where you getting that? The Rikti Lts and higher, in general, have 30% resistance to Energy damage while not having any resistance to negative energy. There aren't any Rikti that take more damage from energy than negative energy, so, yeah...
Of course, if you really want to consider overall contribution rather than damage, you're going to want to go with FF/Sonic. It's much more single target based than */Dark or */Elec, but it will allow you to generate better damage from your team thanks to huge amounts of -res that you can use as leverage for -res. Your best strategy would be just to target off of a Scrapper, Tanker, or other melee teammate. Stack a couple -res blasts onto his/her target and you'll add more damage to your team than if you were running with either of the other blasts, especially against nice hard targets like AVs and GMs.
And I would switch assault for manuvers, stacking even more defense for your allies.
50s: Inv/SS PB Emp/Dark Grav/FF DM/Regen TA/A Sonic/Elec MA/Regen Fire/Kin Sonic/Rad Ice/Kin Crab Fire/Cold NW Merc/Dark Emp/Sonic Rad/Psy Emp/Ice WP/DB FA/SM
Overlord of Dream Team and Nightmare Squad
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Uhh... Phil, where you getting that?
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Look at the hard numbers on the spreadsheet, and the average at the bottom. Big Difference.
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Uhh... Phil, where you getting that?
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Look at the hard numbers on the spreadsheet, and the average at the bottom. Big Difference.
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And you're ignoring the fact that the OP is specifically referencing Rikti. Good job with the reading comprehension there.
Um.... the sheet that I gave to the OP is nothing BUT Rikti... the second link is to the full thing. Did you even look at it??? Reading comprehension indeed.
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Um.... the sheet that I gave to the OP is nothing BUT Rikti... the second link is to the full thing. Did you even look at it??? Reading comprehension indeed.
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I looked specifically at the second link and looked at all of the Rikti there. None of the Rikti have a higher modifier for negative energy rather than energy damage. Unless you're using some very strange excelomancy, it's impossible to conclude that energy is going to do more damage than negative energy.
I think you're assuming that a low number is good according to that spreadsheet. It isn't. It's showing percent damage taken from the power source. Low is bad.
(And, as I just checked, I don't have permission to access the first, so I'm afraid I can't reference that bit you included).
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It isn't. It's showing percent damage taken from the power source.
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Great! So, if the percentage damage taken from the power source is .80, then that's better than the percentage taken from the power source being 1.00, right?
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Low is bad.
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Wait, what? Taking 80% of the damage is worse than taking 100% of the damage? Huh?
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It isn't. It's showing percent damage taken from the power source.
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Great! So, if the percentage damage taken from the power source is .80, then that's better than the percentage taken from the power source being 1.00, right?
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Low is bad.
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Wait, what? Taking 80% of the damage is worse than taking 100% of the damage? Huh?
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When you're talking about dealing damage, then yeah, the target taking 80% of incoming damage is worse than taking 100% of the incoming damage. Excellent job on that reading comprehension.
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(And, as I just checked, I don't have permission to access the first, so I'm afraid I can't reference that bit you included).
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Ah, you're right, it was private, I apologize. This was my first time using Google documents. I have edited the original post to reflect.
Here is the document again.
The sheet is the damage resistance of the enemies... so wouldn't enemies having a lower resistance be better?
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The sheet is the damage resistance of the enemies... so wouldn't enemies having a lower resistance be better?
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It's not damage resistance. It's percent of total damage taken. It's (1-damres), not damres. Seriously, did you honestly think that enemies took more damage from lethal and smashing than from negative energy or that the numerous Rikti have 100% resistance to multiple damage types or that drones have 150% resistance?
Seriously, reading comprehension. >.<
O SNAP. I am proven an idiot yet again!
But to be fair, you did have one of those moments as well when you assumed that I'd only looked at the whole list and not just the Rikti. 
Okay, so Dark Blast is better against Rikti then.
@Celestial Lord and @Celestial Lord Too
Yes.
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O SNAP. I am proven an idiot yet again!
But to be fair, you did have one of those moments as well when you assumed that I'd only looked at the whole list and not just the Rikti.
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I was open to you interpreting the spreadsheet wrong in multiple ways. I knew you'd interpreted it wrong either way I thought you had looked at it. You shouldn't be smirking when I was suggesting that you were ignoring the specific enemy group of the discussion.
As to a suggested build, here's the one I used leveling up my FF/Sonic. If you don't want to roll */sonic (my personal favorite defender blast set and, in a majority of the cases, the numerical victor in most actual contribution calculations, dark blast is a close second though it's contribution is less considering how much +def you'll be providing), just replace the blasts with the appropriate selections from your choice of blast set.
Phil is gonna poopoo it a bit because it only takes the "required" powers. I've never been a fan of the powers I didn't take (they offend my Scrappery sensibilities), so take that into consideration. It'll provide 44.5% +def(all) to your friends and 24.1% +def(all) to yourself and only require 36 seconds every 4 minutes to reapply buffs. The entire rest of the time, you can blast away to your hearts content and maintain 80% -res on a single hard target or 40% -res to a group of enemies.
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: Force Field
Secondary Power Set: Sonic Attack
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Dark Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Deflection Shield -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(3), DefBuff(3)
Level 1: Shriek -- Acc(A), Dmg(5), Dmg(5), Dmg(7), RechRdx(7), RechRdx(9)
Level 2: Scream -- Acc(A), Dmg(9), Dmg(11), Dmg(11), RechRdx(13), RechRdx(13)
Level 4: Howl -- Acc(A), Dmg(15), Dmg(15), Dmg(17), RechRdx(17), RechRdx(19)
Level 6: Insulation Shield -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(19), DefBuff(21)
Level 8: Hurdle -- Jump(A)
Level 10: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff(A)
Level 12: Dispersion Bubble -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(21), DefBuff(23), EndRdx(23), EndRdx(25)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Jump(A)
Level 16: Shout -- Acc(A), Dmg(25), Dmg(27), Dmg(27), RechRdx(29), RechRdx(29)
Level 18: Health -- Heal(A)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod(A), EndMod(31), EndMod(31)
Level 22: Amplify -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(31), RechRdx(33)
Level 24: Maneuvers -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(33), DefBuff(33), EndRdx(34), EndRdx(34)
Level 26: Repulsion Bomb -- Acc(A), Dmg(34), Dmg(36), Dmg(36), RechRdx(36), RechRdx(37)
Level 28: Tactics -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(37), ToHit(37), ToHit(39), ToHit(39)
Level 30: Hasten -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(39), RechRdx(40)
Level 32: Assault -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(40)
Level 35: Screech -- Acc(A), Dsrnt(40), Dsrnt(42), Dsrnt(42), RechRdx(42), RechRdx(43)
Level 38: Dreadful Wail -- Dmg(A), Dmg(43), Dmg(43), RechRdx(45), RechRdx(45), RechRdx(45)
Level 41: Dark Consumption -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(46), RechRdx(46), Acc(46)
Level 44: Dark Embrace -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(48), ResDam(48), ResDam(48), ResDam(50)
Level 47: Soul Drain -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(50), RechRdx(50)
Level 49: Vengeance -- DefBuff(A)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
As long as you have the "new big four" (the ST bubbles, Dispersion and Repulsion Bomb), go nuts, and I won't complain.
But I consider not having Repulsion Bomb on a bubbler to be a sin now.
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As long as you have the "new big four" (the ST bubbles, Dispersion and Repulsion Bomb), go nuts, and I won't complain.
But I consider not having Repulsion Bomb on a bubbler to be a sin now.
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Agreed. Repulsion Bomb is just... awesome, especially with a set like */sonic that is light on AoE damage. It's great to run into a group and drop Howl + Repulsion Bomb and see the entire mob flop and die.
I still hate Force Bubble though. Force Bubble can die in a shark on fire.
Force Bubble is kinda the whole point of having a Bubbler for the RWZ raid though. :P
@Celestial Lord and @Celestial Lord Too
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Force Bubble is kinda the whole point of having a Bubbler for the RWZ raid though. :P
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No it isn't. Dispersion Bubble is. Dispersion Bubble is highly visible so people know where to head, provides mez protection so that squishies aren't screwed over by Rikti Magi, and gives significant +def to everyone so that people are taking less damage without you having to do anything. I've lead a number of RWZ raids with my FF/Sonic. Force Bubble wouldn't have contributed at all. If anything, it would inhibited everything by scattering everyone. Clustering everyone up is a good thing.
I've been on raids where a bubbler did think using Force bubble to knock all the Rikti out of the location based debuffs and forcing meleers out of the range of pbaoe buffs was a good idea.
Hey, note to those bubblers - it's not a good idea.
If there is one thing I love almost as much as playing a villain, it's Rikti mothership raids. However, my server has a... lack of bubblers, which we definitely felt during the Rikti mothership raid today. As such, I decided to make a Force Field / Dark Blast Defender that will be almost exclusively used only for Rikti bashing once he hits level 50. Currently, he's level 6, so he's got a ways to go yet. :P
Do y'all have any suggestions? It's been years since I last played a hero, and I'm very rusty at it. Even then, I rarely played a Defender. What powers would you suggest taking? Again, this character will be almost exclusively for Rikti pwning.
@Celestial Lord and @Celestial Lord Too