For the primary, I've done Rad, Dark, Kin and FF.
For soloing actually your secondary is very important as is having some damage boost and/or -res in your build somewhere ( normally in the primary ).
Rad is the best for soloing. I went Rad/Archery, probably for the wrong reasons, I thought 2 AoEs would be nice, but the 2nd AoE is rubbish for a Rad. Rad is a VERY solid set, it has a -res ( Enervating Field ) and an end/damage boost ( acc Metabolism ) which helps loads in early levels if you get it 6 slotted in the early teens, it is availablre most of the time then.
In my experience Kin is not very good for soloing, it relies on healing and single target -dam and -end for it's damage mitigation. It is a very good team player though. It can be hard to play though if you want to get the most out of it and it is a very active set.
Dark is a great bag of tricks, you have everything short of +dam in their, the best debuff/heal in the game ( IMO ). It is very survivable, possibly the most survivable of the defenders I've played. I found my team play AoE D/D defender was horrid to solo, but that may have been due to attack slotting.
FF is a nice one. For teams you really only need 3 powers, the 2 main shields and the disperion bubble. For soloing Force Bolt and PFF really help too. I'd advise the Medecine pool with it. In teams Aid Other is really useful, soloing Aid Self is a great help too. As the powers only really need 3 slots, you have plenty spare for your attacks. However it's main solo drawback is that it gives you no buffs, so it probably isn't the best. However it is the easiest to play.
For primaries, I've played Elec, Archery, Dark and Sonic. Of these Elec I found a little lacklustre, although Short Circuit ius a good sapper power ( more than half a bars worth of endurance drain ). Archery is good single target and is very accurate, but the redraw animation is annying. Dark has some great AoE Cones and feels very evil. The -acc is good for survivability too. Sonic is probably my favourite, it's secondary is -res, which can be used to boost damage on a less helpful primary or to stack up with a good damge one to make a decent solo toon.
If I were to suggest a combo I haven't tried together, I'd hazard a guess that Rad/Sonic would be a pretty good bet. Dark/Sonic would be good too, but I expect it would take longer to mature from my experiences of the opposite Corrupter.
These are all views from experience, I'm not suggesting any thing from a primary or secondary I don't know.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
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If I were to suggest a combo I haven't tried together, I'd hazard a guess that Rad/Sonic would be a pretty good bet.
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Depending on build, Rad/Sonic can be very strong in teams, solo and in PvP 
Octavian Vanguard
@ohmsEU and @ohms 2
Badging character: Bimble on the Union server, Badgehunter.com and City Info Tracker.
What do you think of a bubble/rad defender?
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What do you think of a bubble/rad defender?
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From what I can see from the Hero Builder, Rad isn't a good single target set until quite late in the game. It's main strengths seem to be it's AoEs.
As a FF defender you are always the most vulnerable person on the team. So I find that being a coward and targetting single target attacks through anyone else is normally the most sensible thing.
If you draw aggro you can always hide in your PFF, but then your bubbles are less than half as effective at stopping dmage for the rest of the team ( with SOs ) because your Dispersion Bubble is no longer helping them. So I reckon you are probably better off with a relatively low aggro secondary.
The early single target sets are Sonic,Archery and Energy. I think that is probably the correct order in terms of effectiveness.
Psychic is also a good choice as it has very good range and the best single target attack chain. But there are quite a few enemies who are very resistant to it and it is a late bloomer.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
I have a Dark/Dark Defender named Shadow Scout. I have taken her as far as level 18 and she is currently on hold there while I am leveling my main.
I have to say that so far I have found her great for solo work. The accuracy debuffs she puts out are really effective and becuase much of this comes from the "attacks" of the Dark Blast set you still feel quite "offenderish".
It also has some great control type powers in Tar Patch and Tenebrous Tentacles and even has pets tho I have not accessed them yet and I don't know how effective they are.
I have been told that as I get into higher levels it will become harder to solo well with her but so far its pretty darn good.
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If I were to suggest a combo I haven't tried together, I'd hazard a guess that Rad/Sonic would be a pretty good bet.
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Depending on build, Rad/Sonic can be very strong in teams, solo and in PvP
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I don't know about my build but it is really a good choice.
If you are up to fun play pick Storm Summoning. Not so shinning set, Kin and Rad is the shinning sets of Defenders. Actually because of the Speed Boost i think Kineticists always find themselves in teams. For secondaries i can only say Psi set very end draining but has a good damage. If you planning to go for FF, forget about your solo carreer. In solo you have two choices attack to the death or sit and watch mobs as they strain themselves to hurt you. I never played a Sonic/* defender but as it is very similiar to FF i think soloing will be not to good with it too.
A note; Storm/Archery have a good side you don't loose your bow when using Snow Storm or Freezing Rain. I don't know about other sets but i think Storm/Archery will work together fine.
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I have been told that as I get into higher levels it will become harder to solo well with her but so far its pretty darn good.
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You've been mis-informed then. At 42 my D3 is quite capable of soloing on invincible. This week he's managed to solo the single spawned Envoy of Shadows arch-villain with the help of a warwolf.
In teams he feels godlike, stopping whole spawns (as long as they're not Nemesis) in their tracks, upping the teams damage output considerably and reducing bosses and Arch-villains to annoyances rather than dangers.
However as lots of his opening moves are AoE based (tar-patch, fearsome stare, darkest night), if he gets it wrong, it goes wrong with style.
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This week he's managed to solo the single spawned Envoy of Shadows arch-villain with the help of a warwolf.
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Then thats not exactly solo is it? or is it? Well whatever toon a warwolf is comparable too in dps and survivability could of been there.
NB: Get striga arcs to get warwolf for defender soloability.
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Dark/Sonic would be good too, but I expect it would take longer to mature from my experiences of the opposite Corrupter.
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Thatll be a good one to do i reckon.
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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I have been told that as I get into higher levels it will become harder to solo well with her but so far its pretty darn good.
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You've been mis-informed then. At 42 my D3 is quite capable of soloing on invincible. This week he's managed to solo the single spawned Envoy of Shadows arch-villain with the help of a warwolf.
In teams he feels godlike, stopping whole spawns (as long as they're not Nemesis) in their tracks, upping the teams damage output considerably and reducing bosses and Arch-villains to annoyances rather than dangers.
However as lots of his opening moves are AoE based (tar-patch, fearsome stare, darkest night), if he gets it wrong, it goes wrong with style.
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Luudo, your news is good news mate! Although my D3 is on hold while I level up my main (I finally controlled my Altitis!) its gonne be my next focus to get her going again.
I know what you mean about feeling "godlike" and thats just at level 18. Also, I tend to open with the AoE stuff as well and then whittle away with the blasts. From your post it sounds like a sound tactic to stick with
By the time the AoEs wear off then the mobs could not hit a barn door if you swung it at them! 
If by any chance any of them CAN still see straight of course, you can just wapp the AoEs back out again as they will have recharged by then.
I am also sooooo looking forwrd to gewtting the pets
I've found I can solo on my dark defender fairly easily, not on invicible or anything like that but once you get used to using your own attack chain (myself I use tar patch, fearsome stare, soul drain, tentacles, nightfall) it is very very easy! As for the pet it means in teams your more free to attack and launch those potent debuffs as you won't need to spam heal or tentacles all the time
I suggest either rad or dark as a primary and sonic or psychic blast as a seconday All have their own attributes though.
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Depending on build, Rad/Sonic can be very strong in teams, solo and in PvP
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I reckon a lvl 50 rad/sonic def with a shivan could be a Hero that can take down an AV.
I had a Warwolve as a "temp" pet once and that was well usefull. Are Shivans a whole lot better than the wolves then?
I ask mainly becuase I have just read a great trick to making the meteor mission a lot easier and hope to try it tonight.
lol!!
The wolf compared to the shivan is like having a lvl 1 with you. The shivan is an Elite Boss, it smacks thigns for average 200 dmg at a time, actually more like 700 on an AV
Thanks sheep.
Meteor time tonight!
(Actually should I be advertising in advance my likely presence in a PvP Zone? 
)
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Depending on build, Rad/Sonic can be very strong in teams, solo and in PvP
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I reckon a lvl 50 rad/sonic def with a shivan could be a Hero that can take down an AV.
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I reckon a Dark/Sonic could do as well if not better. Dark has more -dam ( over 60% rather than 30% ) and -res ( -30 rather than -25 ) than Rad. As -res from the secondary improves -dam I suspect this may be the most important thing. Its -regen is as good, if not better, the only thing it is missing is -recharge. Dark has a better self heal than Rad too.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
Dark does get -recharge from using the rez, Howling Twilight Great debuff too
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I reckon a Dark/Sonic could do as well if not better. Dark has more -dam ( over 60% rather than 30% ) and -res ( -30 rather than -25 ) than Rad. As -res from the secondary improves -dam I suspect this may be the most important thing. Its -regen is as good, if not better, the only thing it is missing is -recharge. Dark has a better self heal than Rad too.
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It's pretty easy to hit 90% -damage with dark. Rad could get about twice as much -regen I believe though unless they fixed it?
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I reckon a Dark/Sonic could do as well if not better. Dark has more -dam ( over 60% rather than 30% ) and -res ( -30 rather than -25 ) than Rad. As -res from the secondary improves -dam I suspect this may be the most important thing. Its -regen is as good, if not better, the only thing it is missing is -recharge. Dark has a better self heal than Rad too.
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It's pretty easy to hit 90% -damage with dark. Rad could get about twice as much -regen I believe though unless they fixed it?
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I forgot about the Dark Servant, yes, with that you get another 30% which gets you to 90%. Although the -res will help if the AV is resistant to their own damage type.
From nofuture:
Lingering Radiation has a 90 second recharge and a 30 second duration for a -100% regen. So assuming you have hasten and Accelerate Metabolism running ( which is reasonable ) you have a perma -100 regen.
Twilight grasp has a 20 second duration and a 8 second recharge for a -50% regen. With a 2 second activation that means if you have a single recharge in it you can get -100% regen. However the Dark Servant also uses it so you get another 50% I'd guess.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
You can get a consistent -200% regen with dark (triple stacked TG and one from your DS as well) and -250% by throwing in the odd Howling Twilight. I could never compete with Lingering Radiation however which seemed to be at -500% (NoFuture listed it at that for a while as well I think?). Not seen it in action recently so maybe they fixed it.
The defenders -res is a hell of a lot more than tar patch, also has very nice -def
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Lingering Radiation has a 90 second recharge and a 30 second duration for a -100% regen.
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This was fixed in December. From notes:
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Defender Lingering Radiation powers -Regen was operating at 1/5th the scale of the equivalent Corruptor or Controller version. The base scale now matches across all three Archetypes.
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So it's now -500% which Dark won't be able to get to.
CoX 50s: <ill/rad> <ice/ice> <fire/kin> <grav/sonic> <ice/storm> <earth/kin> <kin/elec> <cold/psy> <thugs/dark> <fire/dark> <dark/elec> <night widow> <EM/ninj> <mind/icy>
Ah, should have checked the controller/corruptor version.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
Rad is blatently teh roxx
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Defender Lingering Radiation powers -Regen was operating at 1/5th the scale of the equivalent Corruptor or Controller version. The base scale now matches across all three Archetypes.
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So it's now -500% which Dark won't be able to get to.
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It's still a little confusing as the Prima Guide listed the corruptor version as a 50% debuff. To me that seemed the right balanced figure for the power. 500% just seems a little too large which is why I always assumed it was bugged....
Hi,
I am thinking of making a def, but am unsure which type to pick.
I have tried an empath before, which I liked but found it difficult to find teams in the later levels (35 onwards).
I would like a defender that can help teams, but also can solo ok if needed. I am mostly wanting to be in a team so is there any defender type that is in short supply or is always needed?
I havnt played an empath for a long time so I dont know if they are needed all the time anymore, so if the only choice is an empath I will try it.
Im up for any suggestions at all!
Thanks in advance
EDIT: Sorry one more note, I have an inv/ss tank, claw/regen scrapper, ill/kin controller, Warshade, elec/elec blaster so don't really want to make another of these types... want to try something new