Defenders on Certain Task Forces

I have to go with the semi-goofy answer. I want whichever you *want* to play... the truth is any defender is better than no defender. Period. If you are playing the defender you LIKE the best, however, chances are better that you really understand the sets, you know the tricks and/or you will be paying attention and playing your best. A poorly played rad will not help as much as a well played FF; a poorly played kin or emp will lead to more team misery (and team whining) than a well played storm. I like playing for fun, and I am willing to forgo the 10 minutes of 'go faster' for watching someone really play their toon well; a fun group rather than building some imaginary optimal team of powers/ATs that I want to quit within moments of starting.

I feel that if the team has only one Defender, that shouldn't be a Sonic. If the team has a Defender and one [useful] Controller or Defender, Sonic is probably a VERY good choice for the second one. Most Defenders, in combination with characters' own builds, can put enemies close to the ToHit floor. Sonics add a lot of Resistance, which is almost never wasted.

Plus, you should never underestimate the benefits of a layer of idiotproofing. Lord knows I've autorun, fallen down the layercake room, turned left when the team went right, beaten the tank to the alpha, etc, etc, plenty of times in my life.

Sonic/Sonic or Rad/Rad for them all. Sonic's resistance buffs and DeBuffs get overlooked quite alot, and that combo is fantastic for busting up AVs and helping enemy groups die easier. The same can be said for Radiation, not to mention AM and the other fantastic powers in the set.

FF/Elec: Dr. Khan/Statesman/ITF. In my opinion, defense buffers like these don't get enough love. A FF Defender with Maneuvers can get everyone in the party to 40% defense or more if slotted properly. An entire team with softcapped defense sounds good to me. The only drawback is it's lack of debuffs and active asistance, KB aside. Having elec blast as your secondary doesnt exactly help, as the effectiveness of Elec Blast isn't exactly great. If you had /Rad, /Sonic, or /Dark a your secondary, you could easily be that much more helpful with all the debuffs. Elec Blasts secondary End Drain and -Recovery doesnt really help too much in the long run unless paired with another powerset that has similar effects (Elec Manipulation, Thermal Radiation, Kinetics (that encompasses all ATs with Elec Blast)). While your End Drain will help when paired with other Elec characters (of any AT), alone it wont be too fantastic. It's definately a situational combo, but it definately has its advantages.

Cold/Ice: Same as FF/Elec. The Cold/Ice combo is a great buffer/debuffer, with lots of support and lockdown included in both sets, making you a support monster. Your DPS will be sub-par, certanly, but you'll be able to cover most of your team with 35%ish defense. My only concen, again, is the DPS, but it shouldnt be a problem if your team has some Extra DPS.

Emp/Psi: Any. While I'm not a huge fan of Empathy as a set, when paired with a good debuffing set, it can wreak havok. Emp/Psi is very similar in regards to Emp/Dark in that the enemies wont hit your allies as often. /Psi's -Recharge is a bit less effective at it then /Dark, certainly, but that -recharge means the enemies attack less often, and teh more you spam your AoEs the less they'll attack. You should be able to keep Fortitude on at least 3 people at once and be able to pick up the slack left behind by the other support characters on your team.

Overall, they each have their advantages and disadvantages. Honestly, I would just join a team, and choose your defender based on the makeup of the rest of the team, for maximum efficiency. Always remember, when in doubt, bring the Rad/Rad.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BackAlleyBrawler you *******!!!!

Thanks for the input, guys.

My Cold/Ice is almost 35 now, and I'm really enjoying the set. I'd have to say that it's actually neck and neck with my Rad/Rad in terms of my favorite defender. The Rad/Rad can solo much easier, but I love the fact that Cold gives me the ability to provide so much defense for my teammates and yet still have other things I can do. It keeps me busy, and I really like that. (I love the concept of my FF/Elec, but in actual practice she's not been a lot of fun to play. I've enjoyed her the most on the Respec mission. )

Discussion in various threads over the last few weeks has made me realise one thing.

In any hard target team build, */sonic defenders far and away outclass the other blast sets.

The final nail that drive this home was the winter event tets last night. A /sonic doing nothing with thier primary and keeping an average of two blast debuffs on the Lord of Winter, would be adding upwards of a 40% damage to every single one of the other characters attacking (and there were upwards of 50 characters in each Lord instance I went in).

If looking for optimal efficiency then */sonic trumps everything else brought to the table.

I'll happily keep playing my any/any defenders, as optimal fun is more important to me than optimal efficiency.