I got no problems with it, and it's saved the team for me more than once. I don't see why you die after you use it, unless you're attacking or something...which you should never do if you've used AP.
On mine I took it, I don't use it a lot, but I do like to have it just incase. I use it primarily as a tanker heal, although I'll use it on anyone if I need another heal quickly and I'm not taking damage, I don't use it often in situations where I'm already taking damage of any kind, even more rarely when I actually have aggro myself. There are just some situations where being able to heal over half a tankers hitpoints in one pop then forget about them for a bit are bloody useful.
Also, you can use it when regeneration aura is running quite easily, of course the chances are you don't need to use AP after you've used regeneration aura, but if you do, you can do so fairly safely.
Yeah, it's not a power I use all the time, especially not if I have aggro, anyone who does that deserves to die!
Double edged power.
a) It's a really good strong heal which is well able to get a tanker out of trouble quickly.
b) It's downside is that it takes hitpoints off you and prevents you from healing yourself for a set amount of time.
(There used to be a trick whre you could heal yourself using Regeneration Aura. Can you still do that ? I'll have to try it and see if it's been nerfed!)
I think it's useful as a Tank heal, especially if you are in a good team where the tank will keep the aggro off you while you recover yourself. I use it sparingly and only when necessary.
One of the best times I remember using it was to heal our tanker during an Arch Villain mission (I forget which one!) The beta-strike took out the whole team bar me and the tank (I picked up Temp invuln as my Epic which means I can take a good hit) but the aggro was going to take me down too. My last ditch gesture before death was to AP the Tanker who then proceeded to continue to tank the AV and the minions while I rezzed myself (the old F1 to F5 trick!) and got the team back in action.
AP and an Invuln/SS tanker saved the day. 
Blueside Level 50's.... Knightingale (Def), Rogue Elevenex (Blast), Lady Rogue (Scrap), Mr Infinity (Tank), Miss Infinity (Troller), Knight.Shade (WS), Knight.Bringer (PB)
Redside Level 50's... Colonel Rogue (Brute), Sergeant Domino (Stalk), F411-OUT (Dom)
Next Project: Psiryn Psi/Psi Cor Global Handle is @Knightingale
Well the tank we had in the respec trial was possibly the worst tank I've ever had the misfortune to play alongside, so maybe that's colouring my opinion of AP a bit.
I certainly didn't have time to blast as I was looking after everyone, so I wasn't trying to attract aggro. The tank couldn't hold aggro so I probably got some aggro inadvertantly. The worst bit was the DoT attacks, were you're watching the health bar get lower and lower whilst still seeing the AP icon on there 
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Yeah, it's not a power I use all the time, especially not if I have aggro, anyone who does that deserves to die!
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um, use absorb pain a fair amount on large teams where I am the primary defender/healer class there. Generally blast as well (my build deliberatly has lots of attacks in cos, well, I like them). Haven't died from absorb pain since the last time I deliberatly suicided next to someone for the amusement value...
Maybe I'm usually on good teams but I've never really understood the "absorb pain is bad" argument...
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Maybe I'm usually on good teams but I've never really understood the "absorb pain is bad" argument...
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Seconded, I use AP a lot on large teams and have only died from it a few times (more from sacrificing myself to keep another player alive than from mob aggro).
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(There used to be a trick whre you could heal yourself using Regeneration Aura. Can you still do that ? I'll have to try it and see if it's been nerfed!)
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Oh it still works alright, and on that note the Regen aura is worth taking, i can realy see the difference in health gain when its on, with Both RAs on, i hardly see any of the team members health/end bars drop at all when fighting an AV, unless the AV does a big hit, even then i would only heal the squishies just out of safety and not need
Anyway....back to the point of the OP...
I love AP, but then im an illusion controller, PA and Spectral Terror deal with most of the aggro, i heal as much as i want, with the odd AP aswell
So in conclusion to what the establish heavyweight Empathy users are saying but not actually typing:
I'm a [censored] Empath 
Fair enough
hoho, I just respecced Sweet Stuff and I dropped AP, which I used all the time previously, and now I find out everyone is into it.
*sigh* I always ruin my respecs
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So in conclusion to what the establish heavyweight Empathy users are saying but not actually typing:
I'm a [censored] Empath
Fair enough
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Nah, you just need to team with people who'll make sure you stay safe. Maybe have a bind that lets people know you've used AP and are now being attacked?
in my opinion all empath defenders should have absorb pain
edit: after a chat with one of the best empaths on union i retract the above statement and say that it is not a must have but can save the team in some situations 
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So in conclusion to what the establish heavyweight Empathy users are saying but not actually typing:
I'm a [censored] Empath
Fair enough
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Nah, you just need to team with people who'll make sure you stay safe. Maybe have a bind that lets people know you've used AP and are now being attacked?
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I just have a bind that /t's @Xanthus that I've used AP. Works wonders!
Seriously though, AP's saved pick up team and SG team time and time again, Elerith wouldn't be the same without it.
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So in conclusion to what the establish heavyweight Empathy users are saying but not actually typing:
I'm a [censored] Empath
Fair enough
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Nah, you just need to team with people who'll make sure you stay safe. Maybe have a bind that lets people know you've used AP and are now being attacked?
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I just have a bind that /t's @Xanthus that I've used AP. Works wonders!
Seriously though, AP's saved pick up team and SG team time and time again, Elerith wouldn't be the same without it.
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To be fair though, with the amount of suicidal squishies in our SG we need AP! (I include Ms. Freedom in the 'suicidal squishies' group )
AP is great, I only ever died from it when the party were really getting hammered, and it was a case of use ap to heal the tank or we all die. SO I AP'd the tank and died from it due to the hp loss.
I use healing aura a lot too and its never healed the hp loss from AP on me
It's regeneration aura that does that, not healing aura. It's not a heal as such, merely a massive boost to your normal heath regen rate, and it still works after AP.
as a defender i try to stay out of the line of fire as much as possible, will i follow a team into a small room? i think not and ill tell them that they better pull out. as for ap its a panic heal button u wont catch me standing next to a group of jaegers so it has yet to get me killed (cept with hami once) i also in my madness 3 slotted it with range slots for runners who fly away or people just outside normal range. its not that much better but every little counts sometimes.
He will honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. What he promises he will fulfill. He does not care about his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another's troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, or shamelessly extol his own virtues. - Sima Qian.
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(There used to be a trick whre you could heal yourself using Regeneration Aura. Can you still do that ? I'll have to try it and see if it's been nerfed!)
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there are some things that should not get mentioned on the forums!! omg the nerf bat cometh!!
He will honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. What he promises he will fulfill. He does not care about his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another's troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, or shamelessly extol his own virtues. - Sima Qian.
Not sure if I completely understood, but AP is pretty much a necessity now...ED Heals were amazing, and AP wasn't needed. Now you don't 6 slot your heals, it's not so good anymore, and there's nothing really you can slot em with, maybe with an end reduc. AP is perfect now. If you just stay out of the way, not aggroing anything (Invis may help if you get in a twist) you can heal and heal and heal. Hasten is also a pretty necessary power for empaths. Your heals don't do so well on anyone now, so think of the Tanks! Yes! Those big things that stand in the way, grunting and burping and stepping on enemies, they need love and attention too. AP is perfect for em
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One of the best times I remember using it was to heal our tanker during an Arch Villain mission (I forget which one!) The beta-strike took out the whole team bar me and the tank (I picked up Temp invuln as my Epic which means I can take a good hit) but the aggro was going to take me down too. My last ditch gesture before death was to AP the Tanker who then proceeded to continue to tank the AV and the minions while I rezzed myself (the old F1 to F5 trick!) and got the team back in action.
AP and an Invuln/SS tanker saved the day.
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tanker in melee range i take it or just within aura range of AV? cos thats the only time team should be able to get wiped imo. however very good ap reflex.
He will honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. What he promises he will fulfill. He does not care about his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another's troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, or shamelessly extol his own virtues. - Sima Qian.
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One of the best times I remember using it was to heal our tanker during an Arch Villain mission (I forget which one!) The beta-strike took out the whole team bar me and the tank (I picked up Temp invuln as my Epic which means I can take a good hit) but the aggro was going to take me down too. My last ditch gesture before death was to AP the Tanker who then proceeded to continue to tank the AV and the minions while I rezzed myself (the old F1 to F5 trick!) and got the team back in action.
AP and an Invuln/SS tanker saved the day.
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I had a similar experience in using AP to keep a tank going after a near team-wipe. Huge outdoor Portal mission, fighting Nemesis. Entire team wiped except me and the tank... if I remember correctly, someone on the team managed to aggro some nearby groups, resulting in a tank left standing in two or three BIG groups of them, all angry and buffed by Vengeance. I hovered up, stayed in Leadership range for him, and then healed over and over, alternating Heal Other and Absorb Pain, and keeping him ABed and Forted. As he gradually chopped through the enemies, I started to rush out and rez or hand awakens to people between heals. It never would have worked without AP... sadly, it probably wouldn't work since ED, either, but ah well. Happy memories.
Going back to the original topic... I've had AP a good while, and always liked it. I tend to use it only when I'm safe, or the situation is such that I'm about to die anyway - and despite the former only happening on good teams, good teams still can need a lot of healing, and emergency heals. (Especially since I5 and I6 made tanks a lot squishier than they used to be.) Aside from its use as an extra heal when Heal Other is down, or as a tank heal, it's also handy because it has a quick activation, and doesn't use much endurance. I've used it to save people at times when my endurance was almost gone, and they needed a heal right away, not after I'd eaten a blue insp. Frankly, I made my empath because I wanted to keep teams alive in tough situations, so I couldn't see dropping AP for anything, even when it is situational.
Never took it. Never found a reason to waste a powerslot on AP. Never been in a situation whereby AP would have turned the tide.
It depends on how you play and the ppl you play with. On a good team, your buffing. On a bad team, your healing and if you need to put yourself at risk in order to keep the tank/anybody alive just to stand a small chance of success, then I'd say the team has bitten off more than it can chew which equals, time to make your excuses and leave the team.
On the best teams I've been in, I protect my team and my team protects me, which leaves no room for AP. Although I understand that not everyone has the good fortune that I had during my stint to Lvl 50.
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Never took it. Never found a reason to waste a powerslot on AP. Never been in a situation whereby AP would have turned the tide.
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honestly... I find that strange. Even on the best teams I've been on when I have been happily doing the odd bit of buffing, but mostly just chatting to people there have always been occasions where having absorb pain has been useful.
Sure, it's not the power to end all powers... nor has it necessarily turned the tide... but "waste a powerslot" ? it's a useful power to have whether back up power ot not - how can a heal ever be a wasted power?
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It depends on how you play
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I think that's the key point, AP isn't for everyone. I never took it on Empath until I got to level 50, and I did fine without it. But after taking it, I didn't want to lose it! (and now I can't)
Hi,
I know this has been discussed before, but bear with me.
I took Absorb Pain at 24, very late, yes, but I was worried about the "can't heal yourself" part.
Now I just did the 1st Respec trial as the only "non-targetted heal" Defender (stepping deftly over that minefield) and it was hard. The problem was that if the team is in need of you using AP because your other heals haven't come back, or cos more than one person is redlining, then it seems that a few seconds after you use it, you die cos of incoming enemy fire, and then most of the team dies cos you're not there to heal them.
In a good team, you don't need to use it.
In a bad team, if you use it, you die, then everyone dies.
Just doesn't seem to be worth it, so I am looking to respec it out. Glad we hung on (barely) and saved the reactor.
So, I've had my say, what do you other Empaths think of Absorb Pain?