Cold/Sonic no shields?

Ok I am working on a new defender now which is a cold/ice. Originally my plan was not to take the ally shields, while this is all still in planning form right now. What I am wondering would I be in some way hampering myself for teaming or otherwise?


Also a second question what powers in Sonic would be called skip able?

While corruptor builds with Sonic Blast and Cold Domination frequently were built especially for PvP situations, a Cold Domination defender in conventional situations would be considered 'less defendery' without the shields. It's your $15 a month to play as you like, but the bottom line is that cold shields will protect your teammates from more damage than a sonic blast defender can put out.

Shriek, Scream, and Howl are really standard while the others can all be optional depending on taste. There is analysis done that a tight attack chain with shriek, scream, and howl has a higher dps than an attack chain including shout. I take shout because I am not as immersed in my attack chain as some, and when shout is up I shout away. Amplify is good, probably better than just questionable. I really like screech when you just have to take one guy out of commission like a raider engineer of the skyraiders. I like nukes on most of my defenders, especially sonic, forcefield and cold defenders since the shields don't drop when the endurance crashes. Shockwave is cone knockback. Some people hate it, some love it. Siren's Song is beautiful while soloing, but less effective on teams or where AoE you don't control wakes the sleepers.

Take the shields, take enough blasts to keep you busy. Cold/sonic is a very successful combination.

And the fact that if you're looking for some very nice cheap recharge via LotG, both can be 3 slotted and pretty much max them. Nice for the team and you

I guess that depends on if you're teaming or not.

If you plan to play solo then the shields are skippable but you'll probably get a lot of grief on teams if you don't have them. Shields are one of those powers that not only do people expect you to take but they also notice if you don't .

Ok so here is my build I planned out right now; if there is anything that can be tweeted please tell me.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Natural Defender
Primary Power Set: Cold Domination
Secondary Power Set: Sonic Attack
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Power Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Ice Shield -- Rchg+-S:50(A), Def/EndRdx-S:50(3), Def/EndRdx/Rchg-S:50(3)
Level 1: Shriek -- Acc/Dmg-S:40(A), Dmg/EndRdx-S:40(5), Dmg/Rchg-S:40(5), Acc/EndRdx/Rchg-S:40(7), Acc/Dmg/Rchg-S:40(7), Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg-S:50(9)
Level 2: Scream -- Acc/Dmg-S:40(A), Dmg/EndRdx-S:40(9), Dmg/Rchg-S:40(11), Acc/EndRdx/Rchg-S:40(11), Acc/Dmg/Rchg-S:40(13), Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg-S:50(13)
Level 4: Snow Storm -- EndRdx-I:50(A)
Level 6: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(15), RechRdx-I:50(15)
Level 8: Howl -- Acc/Dmg-S:50(A), Dmg/EndRdx-S:50(17), Dmg/Rchg-S:50(17), Dmg/Rng-S:50(19), Acc/Dmg/EndRdx-S:50(19), Acc/Dmg/EndRdx-S:50(21)
Level 10: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 12: Infrigidate -- DefDeb-S:50(A), Acc/DefDeb-S:50(21), Acc/Rchg-S:50(23), DefDeb/EndRdx/Rchg-S:50(23), Acc/Rchg/EndRdx-S:50(25), ResDeb%-S:20(25)
Level 14: Super Speed -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Glacial Shield -- Rchg+-S:50(A), Def/EndRdx-S:50(27), Def/EndRdx/Rchg-S:50(27)
Level 18: Benumb -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(29), RechRdx-I:50(29), Acc-I:50(31)
Level 20: Health -- Heal-I:50(A), Heal-I:50(31)
Level 22: Stamina -- EndMod-S:50(A), EndMod/Rchg-S:50(31), EndMod/Acc-S:50(33), End%-S:50(33)
Level 24: Amplify -- ToHit-S:50(A), Rchg-S:50(33), ToHit/Rchg-S:50(34), EndRdx/Rchg-S:50(34), ToHit/EndRdx-S:50(34)
Level 26: Sleet -- DefDeb/Rchg/EndRdx-S:50(A), DefDeb/Rchg/EndRdx-S:50(36), Acc/Rchg/EndRdx-S:50(36), Rchg/EndRdx-S:50(36), Rchg/EndRdx-S:21(37), ResDeb%-S:20(37)
Level 28: Arctic Fog -- HO:Ribo(A), HO:Ribo(37), ResKB-S:30(39), Def/EndRdx-S:50(39)
Level 30: Combat Jumping -- ToHit+-S:30(A)
Level 32: Heat Loss -- EndMod/Acc/Rchg-S:50(A), EndMod/Acc-S:50(39), EndMod/Rchg-S:50(40), Acc/Rchg-S:50(40), EndMod/Rchg-S:50(40)
Level 35: Siren's Song -- Acc/Rchg-S:50(A), Acc/EndRdx-S:50(42), Acc/Sleep/Rchg-S:50(42), Sleep/Rng-S:50(42), Heal%-S:50(43)
Level 38: Dreadful Wail -- Dmg-S:50(A), Acc/Rchg-S:50(43), Dmg/Rchg-S:50(43), Acc/Dmg/Rchg-S:50(45), Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg-S:50(45), Acc/Rchg-S:50(45)
Level 41: Power Build Up -- ToHit-S:50(A), Rchg-S:50(46), ToHit/Rchg-S:50(46), EndRdx/Rchg-S:50(46), ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg-S:50(48)
Level 44: Temp Invulnerability -- ResDam/EndRdx-S:50(A), ResDam/EndRdx-S:50(48), ResDam/EndRdx-S:40(48), Psi/Status-S:50(50)
Level 47: Maneuvers -- Rchg+-S:50(A)
Level 49: Frostwork -- Heal/Rchg-S:50(A), Heal/Rchg-S:50(50), Rchg-S:50(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
------------
Set Bonus Totals:

• 12% DamageBuff(Smashing)
• 12% DamageBuff(Lethal)
• 12% DamageBuff(Fire)
• 12% DamageBuff(Cold)
• 12% DamageBuff(Energy)
• 12% DamageBuff(Negative)
• 12% DamageBuff(Toxic)
• 12% DamageBuff(Psionic)
• 6.75% Max End
• 62.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
• 5% Enhancement(Sleep)
• 47% Enhancement(Accuracy)
• 10% FlySpeed
• 118.3 HP (11.6%) HitPoints
• 10% JumpHeight
• 10% JumpSpeed
• Knockback (Mag -4)
• Knockup (Mag -4)
• MezResist(Immobilize) 5.5%
• MezResist(Stun) 4.4%
• MezResist(Terrorized) 2.2%
• 7.5% (0.13 End/sec) Recovery
• 30% (1.27 HP/sec) Regeneration
• 1.58% Resistance(Fire)
• 1.58% Resistance(Cold)
• 2.52% Resistance(Energy)
• 2.52% Resistance(Negative)
• 3% Resistance(Psionic)
• 15% RunSpeed

Just from my personal experience, whenever I see a sonic or cold defender join the team full of scrappers and blasters with no shields taken, I die a little on the inside. I do so because I see the potential of a damage heavy team that can't die, if only that FF defender took the shields instead of the medicine pool or something....


Anyway I see you have the shields in that build up there.

build looks good!

it'd be nice if you had Acrobatics, but no biggie...

and im not a fan of Snow Storm, but thats me.

the Ribo's in Artic Fog aren't worth the cost, i would rework the IO's in AF remove the Steadfast kb prot. and put a Karma kb prot. in Combat Jumping (you dont need the Kismet, your acc is high)

Cold has a lot of tricks, so skipping the shields isn't as detrimental as a Force Fielder or Sonic Resonator without shields.


I still wouldn't recommend it, though.

Yeah I found that I could easily squeeze in the shields, so it makes it easier and +teaming is nice. Also this build is only temp until i16 comes out and see what comes out for the EPPS and the slotting for it.

It should always be remembered that you can go solo vs team build with your alternate build that is available at level 10. Have your ice shields and eat them, too.

As Psylenz says, if you think you'll solo a fair amount definitely go dual build, one with shields and one without but with more attacks.

Though I usually find its so much faster leveling on a defender to join teams that if I'm stuck soloing I tend to switch to an alt that solos better. . .

But I'd definitely suggest taking the shields for teaming, a team leader who knows what a cold defender does would expect it.

You'll get far more use out of the second shield than you would Frostwork.