SECTION 2: EMPATH POWERS BREAKDOWN
Ok so now you have decided what kind of Empath you want to be, now you just need to know what each of the powers do and how they are used.
Below I will explain common usage of the powers and there effects and the levels you can attain them. Also slotting will be discussed a little in this part.
Healing Aura- level 1
A small radius area of effect heal around the caster, also the only heal that effects yourself.
Used in conjunction with Heal Other, sometimes set on auto by clicking it with the ctrl button held down.
Usually when Empaths afk they set follow on a fellow player besides the tank and have this on auto. Beware constant afk healing WILL get you booted from teams.
Most commonly used in farms too sometimes afk following a fire/kin.
Be aware the small range does not mean you should be stood in melee range as you will get stunned a lot later on, and a stunned or dead healer isnt any good to anyone.
My tactic used to be with either a kin in the team Speed boosting or Super speeding into a group of players then as i run backward to range again, hitting the heal. Rarely get hit that way, sprint is not fast enough to pull this off unless you have slotted swift too.
Possible Slotting:
Usually 6 slotted, 3 heal, 3 recharge, having a numinas +regen or a miracle +recovery instead of a recharge is fairly common.
Minimum slotting that could be used and still be viable is 4 slots, 2 recharge, 2 heal.
Heal Other- level 1
Your main heal as an Empath without a doubt the button you will be most hitting throughout your CoH career.
Used with Healing Aura to keep your team alive. Good range meaning you should stand well back when using it.
Possible Slotting:
Nearly always 6 slotted, 3 heals 3 recharges, although when you hit over level 25 you can use a recharge slot with Numinas +regen or Miracle +recovery because it only knocks off 0.17 of a second.
I strongly suggest 6 slotting it though just because of the amount of time you will be using it.
If 6 slots is really too much you could probably get away with 4-5 slots by dropping recharge but you will underperform with it.
Adsorb Pain - Level 2
Very much a last chance heal, heals a lot of HP compared to heal other, but in return you yourself cannot heal for a few seconds. The damage it does to you is minor but because you cant heal yourself after, its very dangerous in the wrong situation.
If a tank is going down fast whilst your heal other is on cooldown, or heal other just isnt healing him enough, use this and stand well back, using a few purple inspirations before you use this helps with any possible incoming damage.
If you are going to drop any power in the empath set, this is the one thats least needed. In my entire playing time I have only used this a handful of times.
Possible Slotting:
Usually i tend to slot just 3 heals because i rarely use this power because of the dangerous side effects. Easily could get away with 1 slot though because it still heals more than heal other with one heal enhancement on it.
Resurrect - level 6
Bring players back to life with this power, long cooldown though so cant deal with more than one downed player effectively.
If you plan on being a PvP healer, this isnt very useful. Also doesnt resurrect players that have used Self-Destruct.
Possible Slotting:
Usually 3 recharges but depending on your level range you can get away with 1 or 2 slots instead if you need elsewhere.
Clear Mind - level 8
In my experience i rarely need to use this power, because the duration of it isnt great by the time you have buffed the team it runs out meaning its only to be used once people already have a status effect.
Most of the time people just use a breakfree or say nothing anyway so you need to be perceptive.
The mez protection is handy in some situations but i find myself hardly ever using this.
If you take the power however, blasters, defenders and controllers should be your focus because there the ones without resists to status effects.
Most of the time if people want Clear Mind they will type either: 'Stunned' 'zzz' 'held' in chat box, but if not its down to you noticing the effects on screen.
This should not take priority over your heals, if the team is splatting and someones held you should not stop everything to cast it.
If you do not get this power however, you will get the occasional know it all that calls you a bad healer, so beware.
Possible Slotting:
The one slot is all it needs one recharge one i usually put on but it has a fast charge anyway.
Fortitude - level 12
Your first proper buff, 120 second duration and it increases defence, damage and to hit by a fair amount. You will get asked for this fairly commonly up till mid 30s where its not asked for as much.
I tend to use it on scrappers and blasters because they are the ones who benefit from all of the buffs most. Scrappers usually take priority though for me because there melee and more likely to be hit in any team but its your choice.
I have seen Empaths without this power before so its not unheard of in the later levels, but you will get grief and it is a good power.
Possible slotting:
I tend to either 6 slot this power with two defence buffs, two to hits, and two recharges, later i tend to put in Gaussians syncronised fire control: chance for build up instead of a to hit buff, and possibly luck of the gambler: 7.5% recharge increase, but thats fairly expensive.
Recovery Aura - level 18
An PBAoE buff around the caster, the first of two similar buffs, one buffing endurence, the other regen. Recovery Aura is by far more useful than Regeneration Aura in teams, especially to those endurence hungry tanks and blasters.
Usually announced on chat by using a bind such as:
/bind (Any key here), team >>>Gather For Auras<<<
Or something similar to that. When people dont take notice, i tend to wait until they just get out of an elevator so there all grouped or at the start of a mission and fire it.
Another tactic is if you take notice of whos draining endurence in the team, run up to them and use it on them.
If a blaster has just used a nuke or another defender, and Adrenalin Boost is recharging, i tend to run up to them and use this too, it does start them gaining endurence again, but when they do start it helps them recover it.
Possible Slotting:
I tend to go 3 recharges only but if you have the slots this is a good place to put them, any endurence modification enhancements on top of this would benefit it greatly, but recharge takes priority.
If you have the money, also performance shifter: chance for +end is a good addition.
Regeneration Aura - level 26
The second of two similar buffs, this one covering regen, its a PBAoE and is usually used at the same time as recovery aura, but slot on that should take priority.
This power I have dropped in the past, and some people I have seen around have too, its a handy power but seen as your a healer anyway, theres very little situations where a standard heal wouldnt do the same thing.
Good to help Willpower tankers mostly and scrappers.
Handy before a boss or an Arch Villain, or in PvP.
Possible Slotting:
If you take this power you should slot it the same amount of recharges as you have for recovery aura so you can use them together, because people will not group up twice.
The Miracle: +recovery and the numinas: +regen and +recovery is a good choice on this power.
Adrenalin Boost - Level 32
The last power in the set, and very handy power it is too. Resistence to slow, and a massive regen and recovery boost for a single player for 90 seconds.
Use this power wisely because the recharge rate is long.
Used mainly on blasters or defenders after a nuke to get them instantly regaining endurence again, but if you have this recharged and want to use it, look for people with high endurence use in the team and use on them.
Rarely asked for, only ever with blaster but great benefits with it on any player.
Possible Slotting:
I tend to just slot 3 recharges, but if you have slots to spare this is a good place to add them.
I would focus on the endurence modification rather than the heal enhancements because your job is a healer anyway, and the recovery from a nuke would be the main place you use it anyway.
If you have slots the usual numinas: +recovery/+regen or Miracle:+recovery would be good but take more priority slotting these in your AoE heals/buffs.
SECTION 3: POOL POWERS
Every charecter will take a pool power at some point, Empath or not, but heres a low down on the ones that will benefit Empaths the most.
Fighting
This benefits a defender a fair bit because of defenders inability to take damage. Tough is the most useful power here and slotted it can give 23.8% resistance to smash and lethal damage.
Meaning almost a quarter of the damage coming in will be negated.
Weave is a good power if you have defence elsewhere, otherwise in my experience, its not really beneficial. It gives 7.92% defence slotted currently.
Fitness
The main pool set of most charecters, as a Full Empath, its not 100% nessessary because you have your recovery aura and your reduced endurence cost when your team is in need, but i still take it anyway because its a good boost.
Can never have too much of a good thing 
Flight
I was thinking whether to mention this because its only a small thing, but in some missions when a tank runs off above you, leaving you at the bottom of a ramp, or if you fall from a big ramp during a fight, this is much easier to get up there to heal rather than super jump or superspeed.
Concealment
Grant invisibility is a good power to help tanks deal with agro and also you can help your team stealth missions, stealth is ok for the same reason but for yourself, Invisibility i find little use for except for running away after a team splat because you cant do nothing under it.
Phase Shift is good to get away from mobs because you cant be harmed for the duration.
Leadership
My favourite pool power set, they take a long time to reactivate after they have been knocked off but they are great for teams.
Maneuvers is the worst power in the set because the defence buff is really low, the slot can be used better elsewhere but assualt is a great boost to damage.
Tactics is a great power because your team will hit a lot more and finish enemies quicker.
Vigilance is my favourite power in the pool set because if one team member falls, slotted with 3 defence recharges, 3 heals you can stop a team splat as soon as it begins.
It gives every member of the team 39% defence for 120 seconds, which is almost soft cap, and heals all of them for the same amount as healing aura. It also boost To hit by a fair amount too.
The only drawback is the long recharge of 300 seconds which cannot be slotted for recharge reductions, but you shouldnt need to use it that often anyway.
Leaping
Combat Jumping and Acrobatics are good choices because of there resistances to immobilisation, holds as well as knockback. Combat jumping also has a moderate defence increase of about 7% slotted.
Not 100% nessessary but a good choice for a travel set.
Presence
An Empath should not be taunting under any circumstance but intimidate and provoke arent that bad powers.
The fear boost can be good to use when a tank has the agro but be careful with the stragglers that will most likely bum rum you.
Ok powers to choose if you really want but better choices can be made.
Medicine
A lot of empaths take this set for the extra heals and resurrect, but personally i never saw the need heal wise because you recharge fast enough anyway and the heals are kinda bad plus they have interupt time.
Heal self is an ok power choice as is resusitate, but again, the slots could be better used i think.
Speed
Hasten when slotted with 3 recharges will be a great ally to you, i always have this set to auto activate and it helps me greatly with buff recharges.
Super speed is handy to dash in and out of the melees and use healing aura but in travel use, a wall is you weakness.
Teleportation
If you choose to go teleport, recall friend will be loved by many when you teleport them to mission enterences from train stations, plus if a team splats and you get away, you can teleport them to safety.
Make sure you ask if they want teleporting first though because it can annoy people if you dont ask outside of a team splat.
Teleport as a travel power is good but only if you have a fast pc. You will need to bind it to a key to use it effectively too.
The bind i use is:
/bind rshift, powexec_name Teleport
When you use this, if you hold down the right shift key, it will auto set your mouse to teleport mode, meaning wherever you click with it held down you will teleport to.
I always slot teleport with 3 range, 3 endurence enhancements so i have no endurence drained with maximum distance, but you may not need all those end reductions.
SECTION 4: EPICS
Epic powers are powers you get after level 40, they are sets of four powers that help with defenders weaknesses, those tend to be resistance and control.
Below I will explain the usefulness of each powerset.
Dark Mastery
Opressive Gloom is a good power, it drains hp whilst keeping your enemys disorientated, not really useful for an empath though.
Dark consumption drains HP and adds to your endurence, good if you have endurence problems or missed stamina, but defenders should have no real problems.
Dark Embrace is this sets armor power, slotted it gives 43.6% resist to smash and lethal, 23.8% to negative and toxic. Good power to take.
Soul Drain is only for partial empath, and if you have chosen partial empathy then this set is for you, it increases your damage by 12.5% for 30 seconds as well as chance to hit. The recharge slotted can be taken down to 60 seconds.
Electricity Mastery
Electric fence isnt really useful seen as most of the time you will be teamed anyway, it immobilises one enemy for a while but can drain a small amount of endurence, only good use would be slotted for end modification and used on enemies if you have electricity attack set.
Thunder Strike is a good melee attack, being an empath you shouldnt be thinking of melee attacks anyway but this power is a good one, same animation as total focus but less damage, can endurence drain and has a small AoE radius though.
Charged Armor is this sets armor power, slotted you can get 43.6% smash and lethal resist, and 31.7% energy resists, good if you plan on team pvp in particular compared to other armor epics.
Power sink is a very good power to choose, and i strongly recommend it for an electric attack set empath, as power sink combined with short circuit will take away all enemies endurence and stop them getting any back for 10 seconds, this even drains a fair bit of AV's endurence too.
Power Mastery
If you didnt take stamina, then conserve power should be your primary choice, if you did however you can miss it.
Power Build UP is one of the better powers an empath can take, without it on level 50 my heal other heals 522 with it, it heals 780, the effect last 12.5 seconds and slotted it recharges in 120 seconds but its still a good power.
Temp Invulnerability is the best smash and lethal resist armor set for defender, giving 47.5% smash and lethal resists with it slotted.
Total Focus is good for a melee stun, and also for an attack if you are going for a combo build. Highest damage attack in all the epic pools.
Overall this is the set most empaths choose.
Psychic Mastery
Dominate is a handy power if a single enemy has broken free from the tank, you can hold it and stop it killing a team member.
Mass Hypnosis isnt really of much use in a team because of a blasters AoE's it will wake them straight back up again, handy if your attempting to solo although its not recommended.
Mind Over Body is this sets armor, giving 43.6% resists to smash and lethal and 31.7% resists to psychic damage slotted.
Telekinesis is one of the more useful powers in the epic sets, constantly sending a single enemy away from you with a repel, but very endurence heavy, definately needs slotting endurence reductions if you take this.
SECTION 5: TIPS AND TACTICS
1. Always make sure you are far back from the mob, you are not a tank, and a dead healer is no use to anyone. The only times you should go in melee range is to fire a good AoE or a melee epic move if you have nothing to do heal wise.
2. Do not be tricked into thinking if you take Tough and one of the Epics armor sets that you will be able to last very long under fire, because you wont, you do not have a tankers hp and will die quickly.
3. Always remember, healing comes first, if the team is losing health, its not good to use clear mind or start an attack because you will find a wipeout very fast.
4. In times when you have nothing to do because your in a good team who need no healing, I find concentrating on keeping the teams endurence up can be much more of a challenge, also a couple of AoE attacks wouldnt hurt either even if they do rubbish damage.
5. A team that does not need healing will get annoyed at you if you dont do anything, they will see you as a leech so at very least try to keep buffs up, theres normally something to do if you try. Constant afk healing will get you booted.
6. If a team member dies, rather than just charging in straight away, check to see if anyone else is near death, healing your standing team is a better tactic.
7. Dont be afraid to run (benny hill style ) away from mobs if team is going down, its much better for an empath to run away than die with the team, especially if he/she has recall friend. You can always come back to resurrect a team member.
8. Empathy is all about being useful for the team, so things that are commonly needed such as recall friend, and to some extent grant invisibility will get you teams more often.
9. If someone calls you a bad healer, dont leave in a huff, ask them what your doing wrong and why you are bad, if its down to your powers then just explain its your charecter if they dont like it they can leave. Fair but stern is the best option. If this doesnt work you could always not heal them, that will teach 'em
10. You cant resurrect an entire team at once, suggest wakies or hospital if teams splats, recall would help because you can teleport them back to missions enterence.
11. A team usually tries to protect the empath the most in the team, dont abuse that by getting yourself in harms way.
12. AFK healing by the ouroboros portal to get yourself high in the healer charts isnt on, and people that do this are cheaters. YOu know who you are with the 20 million hp a day heals :P
13. Empathy isnt as easy as it looks, it can get really challenging at times, in particular statesmans task force. Be aware of a constant change in need for heals, it can differ from mob to mob.
14. A good healer usually gets thanked, a bad healer gets shouted at, an afk healer gets booted and ignored.
15. If your trying to build a combination build its about trial and error, you will need to try out a few things to see what works and spot weaknesses in your build.
So with that, 2-3 years experience comes to an end, I will miss this game its a shame that people have decided to move on.
I wish you all good luck with your Empaths, make me proud.
That's a might comprehensive guide for so early in the morning 
Nice one Angel
Golden-Phoenix - Lvl 50 Fire/Fire Tank
Oodja Nikabolokov - Lvl 50 SS/WP Brute
Baby-Phoenix - Lvl 50 Peacebringer
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could Chuck Norris?
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Resurrect - level 6
Bring players back to life with this power, long cooldown though so cant deal with more than one downed player effectively.
If you plan on being a PvP healer, this isnt very useful. Also doesnt resurrect players that have used Self-Destruct.
Possible Slotting:
Usually 3 recharges but depending on your level range you can get away with 1 or 2 slots instead if you need elsewhere.
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No.
Other than that - the guide looks pretty decent, though I don't agree with slotting procs/globals in things like your heals or buffs - I'd much rather grab Health somewhere like 49 for them if I need them.
Edit: Oh God Tough and Medicine. 
I appreciate and love the effort gone into this. This looks like a genuine effort to offer guidance which is what this section is all about and has been lacking in lately.
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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Resurrect - level 6
Bring players back to life with this power, long cooldown though so cant deal with more than one downed player effectively.
If you plan on being a PvP healer, this isnt very useful. Also doesnt resurrect players that have used Self-Destruct.
Possible Slotting:
Usually 3 recharges but depending on your level range you can get away with 1 or 2 slots instead if you need elsewhere.
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No.
Other than that - the guide looks pretty decent, though I don't agree with slotting procs/globals in things like your heals or buffs - I'd much rather grab Health somewhere like 49 for them if I need them.
Edit: Oh God Tough and Medicine.
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What do you mean No? please explain which part you dont agree with and I will edit if need be, but as far as i can see theres nothing wrong with it.
Tough is a fairly effective power even though defenders dont have the hp to take many hits, tough can make you live at least one more hit which is always good, medicine isnt really worth taking in my view because you have enough heals already. plus medicine is interuptable anyway so by the time you have finished using a medicine power, you could have used a decent regular heal anyway. The only thing that is argueable about it is the res with it, which is handy at times, especially in a team wipe but it doesnt justify taking two other powers first that could have been used elsewhere.
Thank you for the good feedback people I wrote it on notepad first and just pasted it at an early time because i didnt want a random post in it mid guide lol.
3 Rech in Res, I wouldn't do it. From experience I've found that the combination of a slotted Regen Aura, Fortitude and the odd Heal will keep most teams up. Epescially once you get some IO's going.
As for Tough, again you've got Regen Aura and Healing Aura - getting near the S/L Res Cap isn't bad but I'd rather either have A) something more beneficial to the team like Leadership etc... or a few attacks for when the going's far too easy.
But this is a YMMV kind of thing, so hey - each to their own.
I don't, after a quick scan, see anywhere that says "Take tough". It's more of why someone might take tough as it says:
2. Do not be tricked into thinking if you take Tough and one of the Epics armor sets that you will be able to last very long under fire, because you wont, you do not have a tankers hp and will die quickly.
I wouldn't take tough as I don't feel a need but I still have super recharged resurrect from the old Hamidons. I got 2 res and 2 end in it. Sometimes although not often, the level of damage onto the team exceeds what an empath can match in a moment, especially at those times when the defense that fortitude has to offer is punched through. I don't get to dictate the dynamics of play half as much as I think Defenders should and often over confidence sets in after a while and people can put themselves in a compromising position in relation to each other without realizing.
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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3 Rech in Res, I wouldn't do it. From experience I've found that the combination of a slotted Regen Aura, Fortitude and the odd Heal will keep most teams up. Epescially once you get some IO's going.
As for Tough, again you've got Regen Aura and Healing Aura - getting near the S/L Res Cap isn't bad but I'd rather either have A) something more beneficial to the team like Leadership etc... or a few attacks for when the going's far too easy.
But this is a YMMV kind of thing, so hey - each to their own.
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yeah its a valid point i kind of agree with that, but that being said tough wouldnt hurt, even empaths get hit sometimes its good to know you have a bit of resistance and dont get two shotted by a rogue AoE or something.
The res slotting is just a suggestion because especially as your leveling, your bound to have a team wipe, recharge can help with those people who refuse to go to the hospital and just wait for a recharged res or an awaken, which can also happen where there is no awakens, granted this isnt very common as it used to be now you can mix 3 insps to make an awaken but it can happen.
In all honesty i think its just personal preference that, I like to know my res is ready if one person get randomly taken out.
Just thought of something else to add to this guide:
Always take note of the players around you, as soon as you enter a mission for the first time work on trying to find out whos taking all the damage, sometimes it wont be the tank.
Once you find this out, use that player as a 'base' so that when your not healing other people you switch back to targeting that person as there more likely to lose hp.
Another good tip i picked up is if you click the dot on the top of the team window, you can drag the box anywhere on screen, if you move the team window to the direct right side of your powers, its much easier to switch team members fast to heal in an emergency situation.
Cant believe i missed those out!
I moved my chatbox over slightly and put a vertical tray down the left side (just incase I got a drink in one hand).
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.
Excellent guide although there are a few points I would like to raise about it.
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In my opinion, you first need to decide what kind of Empath you want to be, a partial Empath, taking a few attacks, or a total Empath, in which case primary powers are kind of irrelevant unless you are building for roleplay reasons.
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Empathy is you primary. Total empaths have very little from the secondary attack set until much later in the build.
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Volatic Sentinel which can dish out damage while you heal your allies
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Personal choice and my experiences with emp/elec would say forget the pet. It can draw attention to you when you really don't need it. The damage it dishes out is not really worth the aggro it draws.
Clear Mind. I found this was one of the main powers I was using in later levels. Keep an eye on your team mates and the team icons as to who needs it. Essential for fighting enemies that do large amounts of blinding, e.g. Arachnos. However it is also worth noting that you can remove sleep from people with healing aura.
Fortitude. I find controllers and other defenders make extremely good use of this. Most scrappers, tankers and blasters are close to if not over their attack/defence levels. Controllers and defenders can attract a lot of aggro and really benefit from the increased damage and defence. Also if you have hasten and slot 3 recharges you can usually get about 3 people with Fort on at a time.
Power Pools.
Fighting. I can't remember who wrote the guide a long time ago that put this best (I think it was sexylady but can't find it now 
). You are a lover not a fighter. The team takes the beating and you defend them. Tough is just a toggle that drains, a lot, of endurance.
Opressive Gloom not useful for an emapth O_o. I would say it is very useful. Anyone that leaves the tanker and comes to play with you gets a stun for their trouble. Also very useful for getting in close to use HA on melee characters.
I have an Emp/Elec and found that slotting all AoE attacks with endurance drain was a huge help to the team. Short circuit and ball lightning at enemies near the tanker to drain the enemies. Tesla cage to help controllers get containment on bosses and when it looks like it is going wrong. Thunderous blast and run like hell.
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However i stress if you are thinking about trying to get a possible solo combat type from this you should reroll, I would stand by my decision that its impossible.
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I know it's jumping the gun somewhat, but it's probably worth anticipating multibuilds changing this considerably. An empath could easily run a solo build with only Healing Aura, Regen Aura, and Recovery Aura - leaving many slots free for the blaster set, Hasten, and pool powers such as Assault that improve soloing. Soloing will still be slow, but much less so. Of course this will also decrease the incentive to skip empathy powers in the teaming build.
[I proposed, more radically, allowing defender sets to self-target single-target buffs when alone in an instance, but I can't see it happening.]
It is worth mentioning that with Hasten and the two RAs slotted for recharge you can have one or other of them up essentially all the time. This is good because when Regen Aura is up the team don't need much healing and when Recovery Aura is up you have all the endurance you need to heal people. It also, obviously, cycles Fortitude and Adrenaline Boost more rapidly.
Traditionally one has six-slotted Healing Aura and Heal Other, but you could five-slot them and Frankenslot Healing/Recharge and Healing/Endurance/Recharge (no more Healing+Recharge than a single aspect IO, but no less, so the End Redux is basically free), filling in the gaps (if there aren't enough Healing sets at the right level) with a plain Healing and Recharge, either normal IO or from a set if you're flush.
This would be just as effective at most levels and free up slots during the crippling shortage early on.
I'll defend Absorb Pain. You don't need it often but when you do need it nothing else cuts the mustard - no endurance (useful early, or if you run into jokers like Sappers, or just on an 8-man team when Heal Other can't keep up), and even single-slotted for Healing gives someone pretty much their entire health bar back. Also, because it already heals a huge amount, costs no blue, and needs used rarely, it doesn't need any extra slots at all.
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Fortitude. I find controllers and other defenders make extremely good use of this. Most scrappers, tankers and blasters are close to if not over their attack/defence levels. Controllers and defenders can attract a lot of aggro and really benefit from the increased damage and defence. Also if you have hasten and slot 3 recharges you can usually get about 3 people with Fort on at a time.
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I totally agree, as said in another post talking about scrappers usefulness, not all blasters take their AoEs and so who gets what aggro and needs help is a matter of see what goes on and see and yep on some Tanks and scrappers (it'll be overkill) but not all so an educated decision is best just to do whats best.
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.
I enjoyed reading this guide as it has been well written and obviously done by someone who has a fair bit of experience. I agree with lots of it and disagree strongly with other bits but thats to be expected as all empaths play differently.
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There are a lot of dull times as an empath where you will not be needed. If it is important to you that your constantly active, then empath is not for you.
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Personally I don't think this is true and the way I read it, I think it is misleading. I agree that in a well functioning team you won't spend a lot of time using your heal powers but that doesn't mean you won't be doing anything. The three "heal" powers plus rez might not be getting used but that still leaves you the other 5 powers to be using. It is very dependent on team structue - playing with scrappers and defenders will proably require less heals than playing with 6 blasters/khelds.
Just wanted to talk about clear mind a bit. I think that the guide doesn't emphasise how good this power is. Prsonally I try to keep it as a buff on everyone if I'm not worried about more pressing issues - if you have team members bound to the number pad and CM and heal other also bound its pretty easy to cycle through the team and buff everyone quickly.
Its important on other defenders and controllers whose powers drop if they get mezzed - here a CM after the status hits is no good, it needs to be proactively applied. I speak from experience watching the sonic and forcefield big bubbles drop because the defender and troller operating them got hit by the same mez - not a pretty sight.
The other thing I noticed not included in your guide is how to play if you have two empaths/people with healing powers in a team. I often see teams come apart a bit when this happns because both people try and do the same jobs. Am always interested in what other people do in that situation.
Nice guide agree with some things, and disagree with others.
I have in the past ended up in screaming fights with empaths when they ask for opinions on their "great pure healzor build" and i say its awful unless you always got the need to spam heals non-stop, and if so your team sucks.
Focus on your primary by all means, but when you are in the mid 30's i see no reason exept for stubborness not to have 2 attacks slotted so you can help with the fighting part when the team is steamrolling.
But then again, thats just my opinion...
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The other thing I noticed not included in your guide is how to play if you have two empaths/people with healing powers in a team. I often see teams come apart a bit when this happns because both people try and do the same jobs. Am always interested in what other people do in that situation.
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Sometimes you say to one, you fort the top half of the team and I fort the bottom half when looking at the names then alternate RAs and give eachother AB so we can buff more. Then there is the keep the other empath clearminded. Not always required but often I am doing stuff out of the habit myself and cm'ing when its not necessary.
But some, (some???) most empaths I have come across make lackadaisical tag team mates. They play waiting to heal someone. I prefer those that hate to heal and prefer to buff. I have always found a free mind does more (whether people do more is another matter). But normally you end up having to ask the other empath to apply something to someone they should be as yours is recharging or reminding them of someone needing something before they're too lost in their chain. Some are more healthbar watchers than buff icon watchers.
Ultimately the most important thing is that an empath is never lost in their attack chain. Many a time the constant buffing can be overkill but its nice to know whose up to it.
I will remember an empath for many things myself but the cooperation is the best thing to remember them for. An empath that doesn't buff another with CM and AB doesn't impress me. Whether other people think they're legendary or not I couldn't give a [censored].
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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First of all you need to think what you are wanting to do with your empath. If you are wanting to solo anything at all without a team, then an empath isnt for you.
They perform very poorly without a team,
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Not so sure about that!
Chimera
Heracles
Carnies
L50s: Tanks: Cryofission - Ice/EM - Dr Celsius - Fire/Ice - Saint George - SD/SS | Controllers: Psichosis - Ill/Kin - Major Chaos - Ill/Stm | Scrappers - Neutron Crusader - DM/SR
Currently Levelling: Angelic Blade - BS/WP Scrapper | Seeds of Destruction - Plant/Kin Controller
OOPs here's the Carnies
Carnies
L50s: Tanks: Cryofission - Ice/EM - Dr Celsius - Fire/Ice - Saint George - SD/SS | Controllers: Psichosis - Ill/Kin - Major Chaos - Ill/Stm | Scrappers - Neutron Crusader - DM/SR
Currently Levelling: Angelic Blade - BS/WP Scrapper | Seeds of Destruction - Plant/Kin Controller
Just a quick point.
The Heracles fight is exemped and means unlike being lvl 20-25 with some slotting, its better slotting. Simple fact is, if you want to be good at soloing leveling up the attacks require slots and you require an attack chain. People either get and slot team based powers or slot attacks and there is this balance that's involved: Do I choose to slot for the team or do I blast? At late levels soloing gets easier especially due to epics as well as having all the slots. I'd rather play in teams as leveling would be slow. Empathy is more of a team set. I think its pretty insane to make one for soloing purposes.
Defenders with their lack of control and a team based inherent could do with slightly higher DPE than controllers.
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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Another good tip i picked up is if you click the dot on the top of the team window, you can drag the box anywhere on screen, if you move the team window to the direct right side of your powers, its much easier to switch team members fast to heal in an emergency situation.
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Another technique here works well for those of us who use the keyboard a lot rather than clicking.
Map the keys on your numpad to select the members of your team:
/bind numpad1 "team_select 1"
/bind numpad2 "team_select 2"
etc.
Then you can map your fave single-target heals/buffs to the other keys on the numpad, eg:
/bind add "powexec_name heal other"
/bind subtract "powexec_name clear mind"
Then, as soon as you see a health bar turning a nasty shade of orange you can select the player and activate the power without having to move your mouse at all.
As I say, only works if you're happier with the keyboard than clicking but at my age I tend to lose the cursor on the screen more often than I care to admit! This way if player 6 shouts "zzz" I can instantly apply clear mind (provided I'm in range).
Cheers
Drag
Ever wondered how our costumes stay so clean and shiny given everything we put them through?
Then you need to try out Spandex Crisis (Arc ID 32943)
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Map the keys on your numpad to select the members of your team:
Then you can map your fave single-target heals/buffs to the other keys on the numpad, eg:
/bind add "powexec_name heal other"
/bind subtract "powexec_name clear mind"
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I don't think this approach is the best possible, because it is toon-specific. I always map team members to the numbers on the main keyboard and powers to the numbers on the number pad (nothing wrong with the other way around, but I use WASDQE for movement and I need powers more often than I need to select team members, so I keep my right hand free for powers) - that way when I switch toons I've only got to look at the numbers in the power tray to see which powers are where (and I try to be consistent with the location of shields, "panic buttons" like Dull Pain, attacks, travel power, etc). These days, you could use one of the loose power trays to have the powers in the same arrangement as the keys on the numpad, too.
The more alts you have, the more useful it is not having to do much toon-specific configuration (I load one power-binds file for everyone but teleporters) and not having to remember which of the favourite power keys is which. You are also marginally quicker with a team heal or buff if one hand is selecting the team member and the other the power.
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As I say, only works if you're happier with the keyboard than clicking
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And, frankly, if you're not, practice. Mousing's never going to be as fast as the keyboard for this job.
Hello everyone,
They always make a massive impact on a previously failing team.
As i am about to leave the game i think its only fair that I pass on a few things I've learned whilst playing Empaths. I hope this helps you.
I will split this into sections to make it easier to read:
SECTION 1: Is Empath for you?
First of all you need to think what you are wanting to do with your empath. If you are wanting to solo anything at all without a team, then an empath isnt for you.
They perform very poorly without a team, much like the current kheldians, however, because of this they are fairly rare, and tend to level very fast because everyone wants them in a team.
Empaths tend to be the most loved players around and make friends easier.
However i stress if you are thinking about trying to get a possible solo combat type from this you should reroll, I would stand by my decision that its impossible.
Good Empaths are always perceptive, and can see where there team is struggling and needs help, and also take note of any problems they currently have, the carebear of the group
There are a lot of dull times as an empath where you will not be needed. If it is important to you that your constantly active, then empath is not for you.
SECTION 2: ATTACKING POWERS
In my opinion, you first need to decide what kind of Empath you want to be, a partial Empath, taking a few attacks, or a total Empath, in which case primary powers are kind of irrelevant unless you are building for roleplay reasons.
Be aware partial empaths tend to be looked down on, and shouted at a lot, having snide comments made about them, i attempted a dark/empath combination build and left out clear mind because it seemed no one was ever asking for it, as soon as it went i got a lot of hateful comments until i respeced again. Be aware but ultimately its your choice, thats what the ignore buttons for.
Ultimately defenders dont do that much damage anyway, so i wouldnt expect miracle blaster types because you will just be disappointed.
My thoughts on powersets are as below:
Archery
Pros: Fast attacks, not a bad set because it has +accuracy to all attacks and the speed of the mini nuke is good so you can still kick out a little damage.
Cons: Drawing time to get weapon out between heals can get annoying. Not a great deal of damage in the set compared to others.
Dark Blast
Pros: lots of cone attacks and a targeted AoE, plus a self heal in the form of Life Drain.
Cons: the -accuracy never seems to make much difference even when slotted unless your teamed with a defence based charecter such as Super reflex scrapper, again the damage is fairly low, Dark Pit should be avoided, its long recharge makes it worthless unless fully slotted and they could be used better elsewhere.
Electrical Blast
Pros: Endurence Drains can really help a team with Short Circuit in particular, plus you have a pet, Volatic Sentinel which can dish out damage while you heal your allies. One of the few sets to have a ranged hold in it.
If you plan on PvPing with friends, this is mainly energy based which is less resisted.
Cons: High endurence usage, to get effective endurence drain usually means slotting is required, and in PvE the enemys tend to regenerate endurence faster than you can take it away. Single target based, only two AoEs.
Energy Blast
Pros: High damage, plus its energy based so its less resisted if you plan on team PvP. Probably overall the most damaging set for single targets in the shortest amount of time defender has.
Cons: Its all about knockback, which tends to annoy team players in melee because they have to give chase.
Ice Blast
Pros: The slows can really help your team in most situations, also handy if you plan on team PvP, plus it has two holds and the most damaging single attack that defenders can get which also hits all foes in the area.
Cons: Really high endurence cost, no sniper attack, ice storm will get you killed with bad teams because of its tendancy to drag agro to you. Not a lot of damage till you hit the 30s and even then its not spectacular.
Psychic Blast
Pros: -recharge can be handy in both team PvP and regular teams, its psy damage so its not really resisted unless you come up against willpower types. Has a good variety of control effects.
Cons: Psy abilities tend to look bad, plus the constant wave board sound fx will do your head in after a bit. No Aim power. No Flashy attacks :P
Radiation Blast
Pros: Energy based so good in team PvP. Neutrino Bolt is really fast and X-ray beam is one of the few types with eye beam type attack.
Cons: Endurence wise costs a lot. -Defence isnt much good in PvE unless your fighting Arachnos blinding Widows. A fair few attacks require a fairly close range, and thats not where you want to be as an empath.
Sonic Attack
Pros: The -resist is very helpful in both PvP and PvE. Energy damage meaning its less resisted in PvP.
Cons: No control effects till level 28 with Sirens song, which isnt really handy in PvE because AoE will just wake them up again. The sounds will annoy you after a while, even more so than psy powers. The attacks arent flashy :P