Without looking at the build too closely, are you 7% over the softcap with 1 foe in range or with 10?
I've had no issues on my invulns (scrappers and brutes) tanking 54's and ITF's with a build that only softcaps with 1 opponent in range for S/L. If you're aiming to hit the softcap with no opponents in range, it is certainly doable, but I wouldn't really view it as a justifiable expense. Of course, it depends on what you're planning to do - you want 70% defense to energy to hang with LR, and having a lot before buffs and insps certainly makes it easier.
Overall this is a build that will do the job, and do it very well. I have a few thoughts about it though. First, you are way over the soft cap for S/L with one enemy... you're actually over it slightly with no foes in melee. That's telling me that you could shift things around a bit and sacrifice some of the S/L def in order to boost other aspects.
One suggestion would be replacing a couple of the Kinetic Combat sets for the Crushing Impact set, 5 of them caps out your damage with adequate accuracy and it gives you a 5% global recharge and 7% global accuracy bonus, among other things. Those would be more useful to you in more situations than the excess S/L defense over the 45% cap... and it would leave you with slightly over 45% anyway.
Since you're using the Kin Combat set I'd consider the Mocking Beratement set in Taunt instead of the Zinger... MB gives def to F/C and more global recharge at the expense of roughly .6% S/L defense; it would be a better fit in your particular build.
Personally I would certainly squeeze Bone Smasher in, probably at the expense of CJ in your build; I'd slide RPD down into the 20's and pick up Bone sometime pre-20.
Laser Beam Eyes I would slot with Thunderstrike; it gives you a recovery buff, E/N defense and 7% global accuracy in 4 slots and it's relatively cheap.
Focused Accuracy I frankly have a hard time recommending; since the nerf awhile back it only provides 5% tohit buff and 20% accuracy... the tohit is too little for the end cost and you're already getting more than enough accuracy via set bonuses. It also has a rather extreme endurance cost.
Resist Elements is really your most skippable power; it's mostly useful for it's slow resist and as a mule for IO bonuses.
With just a bit of finagling of your basic build I came up with a quickie modification that gives you the following:
<ul type="square">[*]47% S/L def[*]45.7% E/N def[*]33.8% F/C def[*]27.5% global recharge[*]28% global accuracy[*]2.63% endurance/second recovery (still room for improvement here)[*]3.6 additional total endurance[/list]There's still room for considerable further improvement, that's just a quick reslotting and some power substitution. I dropped FA for Conserve Power and dropped Res Elements and added Bone Smasher. I didn't get into re-ordering the powers for that quick experiment but I would before actually playing it. Oh, here's the sample changes, bear in mind that the power order should shift somewhat with Bone Smasher moving up and RPD moving down into the 20's.
[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
Also worth considering, in addition to the good advice above, is removing the 3rd slot from Stamina and Tough Hide.
The 3rd level 50 IO doesn't net you a terribly big boost. It is often well worthwhile to do with 2 L50s and use the slot(s) elsewhere.
I'd keep the 3rd spot in Stamina (endurance being all important) if for no other reason, then to stick Performance Shifter: Chance for End in there later on.
Tough Hide: That's your call if you're running out of slots.
good luck getting all those kinetic combats too. 
50 Inv/SS Tank, 50 Inv/EM Tank, 50 FA/SS Tank, 50 Shield/SS Tank, 50 WP/SS Tank, 50 Dark/Dark Tank, 50 EM/Elec Brute, 50 SS/FA Brute, 50 SS/SR Brute, 50 Fire/Kin Controller, 50 Plant/Storm Controller, 50 Earth/Therm Controller, 50 Necro/Dark MM, 50 Bots/FF MM, 50 Elec/SD Scrapper, 50 Arch/MM Blaster, 50 Emp/Psi Defender
Thanks for all the help, everyone! I've taken on board a lot of what Call_Me_Awesome had to say and I really appreciate the advice. I've dropped Combat Jumping and Focused Accuracy for Bone Smasher and Conserve Power.
I'm right at the cap for smashing/lethal with one enemy at this point and I'm satisfied with that. I'm going to keep playing around with things though because I'm still over the resistance cap for S/L so I'm going to see what I can do with that.
After pricing things out it seems like this build is going to be doable. I dropped down from the 5 Kinetic Combats to 2, because those things are pretty pricey.
Thank you for the suggestion about dropping a slot on TH. I think I'm good on slots for now but I will keep that in mind if push comes to shove.
Thanks again everyone!
So I just came back to the game recently and have finally gotten over my intimidation of set IOs enough to attempt to respec my Level 50 INV/EM Tanker in order for him to hit the soft cap. That, and so I'm not embarrassed when people look at my info and see that I have no set bonuses.
Right now, he has all level 45 and a couple level 50 invention origins in his powers. He is also sitting on a little bit over 250M in influence, so I'm hoping that will give me some choices.
Anyway, I checked out Call_Me_Awesome's guide to hitting the soft cap and I have no qualms with calling him awesome after reading that. I've pretty much followed his advice from there as well as a couple other posts in order to create a starting point in Mids. Right now I know I'm about 7% over the soft defense cap for S/L and I'm also about 5% over the resistance cap for S/L.
Here's the build that I've started:
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]
Telesto: Level 50 Science Tanker
Primary Power Set: Invulnerability
Secondary Power Set: Energy Melee
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Resist Physical Damage -- RctvArm-ResDam:40(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(3), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(3), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(5)
Level 1: Barrage -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg:35(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:35(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg:35(7), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(7), P'ngS'Fest-Acc/Dmg:30(9), P'ngS'Fest-Dmg/Rchg:30(9)
Level 2: Temp Invulnerability -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(11), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(11), RctvArm-ResDam:40(13), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(13)
Level 4: Dull Pain -- Dct'dW-Heal:50(A), Dct'dW-Rchg:50(15), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg:50(15), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg:50(17), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg:50(17)
Level 6: Air Superiority -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg:35(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:35(46), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg:35(46), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(46)
Level 8: Unyielding -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(19), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(19), RctvArm-ResDam:40(21)
Level 10: Taunt -- Zinger-Taunt:50(A), Zinger-Taunt/Rchg:50(21), Zinger-Taunt/Rchg/Rng:50(23), Zinger-Acc/Rchg:50(23), Zinger-Taunt/Rng:50(25), Zinger-Dam%:50(25)
Level 12: Swift -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 14: Fly -- Zephyr-Travel:50(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx:50(36)
Level 16: Health -- Heal-I:50(A)
Level 18: Invincibility -- HO:Cyto(A), HO:Cyto(27), HO:Cyto(27), Taunt-I:50(29)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I:50(A), EndMod-I:50(43), EndMod-I:50(43)
Level 22: Whirling Hands -- Erad-Dmg:30(A), Erad-Dmg/Rchg:30(29), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:30(31), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:30(31)
Level 24: Boxing -- Dmg-I:50(A)
Level 26: Tough Hide -- DefBuff-I:50(A), DefBuff-I:50(31), DefBuff-I:50(33)
Level 28: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(33), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(33), RctvArm-ResDam:40(34)
Level 30: Weave -- DefBuff-I:50(A), DefBuff-I:50(34), DefBuff-I:50(34), EndRdx-I:50(36)
Level 32: Combat Jumping -- Zephyr-Travel:50(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx:50(36)
Level 35: Energy Transfer -- KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:35(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg:35(37), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(37), KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg:35(37), P'ngS'Fest-Acc/Dmg:30(39), P'ngS'Fest-Dmg/Rchg:30(39)
Level 38: Total Focus -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg:35(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:35(39), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg:35(40), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(40), P'ngS'Fest-Acc/Dmg:30(40), P'ngS'Fest-Dmg/Rchg:30(42)
Level 41: Resist Energies -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(42), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(42), RctvArm-ResDam:40(43)
Level 44: Resist Elements -- Aegis-ResDam:50(A), Aegis-Psi/Status:50(45), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx:50(45), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg:50(45)
Level 47: Focused Accuracy -- AdjTgt-ToHit:50(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg:50(48), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg:50(48), AdjTgt-ToHit/EndRdx:50(48)
Level 49: Laser Beam Eyes -- Entrpc-Acc/Dmg:35(A), Entrpc-Dmg/EndRdx:35(50), Entrpc-Dmg/Rchg:35(50), Entrpc-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(50)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
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[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]4.5% DamageBuff(Smashing)[*]4.5% DamageBuff(Lethal)[*]4.5% DamageBuff(Fire)[*]4.5% DamageBuff(Cold)[*]4.5% DamageBuff(Energy)[*]4.5% DamageBuff(Negative)[*]4.5% DamageBuff(Toxic)[*]4.5% DamageBuff(Psionic)[*]27.4% Defense(Smashing)[*]27.4% Defense(Lethal)[*]6.13% Defense(Fire)[*]6.13% Defense(Cold)[*]15.5% Defense(Energy)[*]15.5% Defense(Negative)[*]3% Defense(Psionic)[*]15.2% Defense(Melee)[*]13.9% Defense(Ranged)[*]4.56% Defense(AoE)[*]4.05% Max End[*]9% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]4% Enhancement(Heal)[*]10% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]154.6 HP (8.25%) HitPoints[*]MezResist(Confused) 2.75%[*]MezResist(Immobilize) 16.5%[*]MezResist(Terrorized) 4.95%[*]44% (3.44 HP/sec) Regeneration[*]1.26% Resistance(Fire)[*]1.26% Resistance(Cold)[*]1.26% Resistance(Energy)[*]1.26% Resistance(Negative)[*]3% Resistance(Psionic)[*]5% RunSpeed[*]2.5% XPDebtProtection[/list]
Off of the top of my head, here are a couple questions that I'm having:
1) I didn't slot in Bone Smasher, and I'm nervous that I've made a catastrophic mistake. I left it out because I wanted to make room for Resist Elements even though the logical side of my brain tells me not to worry about Fire/Cold but the emotional part for whatever reason doesn't want to lose the set of Resist Elements and Resist Energies.
I also know that I probably could have fit it in by taking SJ instead of AS and Flight, but I've always just envisioned this character as a flyer. It was hard enough to lose Energy Torrent for concept reasons, I didn't want to lose Flight as well.
2) I took Focused Accuracy over Conserve Power this time around because I found that I wasn't using CP at all and I liked the global accuracy bonus I could get through the Adjusted Targeting set. I don't see a lot of people taking FA so I'm wondering if it's a waste of a power and slots.
3) I'm not sure how I should be slotting LBE. I saw a lot of builds using the Apocalypse set, but I'm pretty sure that would be out of my budget. I went with a set that head some health recharge because I couldn't 3 slot health and I get nervous with ET.
4) I'm still pricing everything out, but if anyone has any immediate insight about my budget my laziness would really appreciate it as I've only started to price things out.
5) Last budget question, whenever I get around to shopping and building, I'm wondering if I should respec in order to get back my money from my IOs or if I should create this as a second build. The only reason I'd consider making it a second build would be for when I exemp down for TFs, badges I missed, etc.
Okay, I think that's about it. Like I said, any help that anyone could give me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!