New To Defending, help please ^^

Hey, i've never played a defender very high up the leveling ranks before, and most of the time i play in melee, but i felt like rolling a fender because it would be a nice change. So, as you can probably guess, i have a few questions and stuff.

1) I'm thinking of rolling a Kin/Rad, but i have no idea what the best way to build and slot a defender is, i'm using mids and i got as far as slotting health, stamina and aim =P.

2) My characters concept means i need to go either rad or sonic, and i was wondering which one would go best with kin/ and why.

3) As i play in melee, i like survivability. I have heard that defenders can get to softcapped defense in ranged at least. is this quite easy to achieve, and if not what would be a good level of defense to aim for?

4) if you could throw me up a quick build as an example or as a possible build for my char that would be fantastic =)

thanx guys
-NP

Hi there, and welcome.

Kin/Rad and Kin/Sonic both work well. A lot of Kinetics powers need to hit, so the -Def from Rad is nice, and Rad plays well close up with Irradiate and Cosmic Burst both being short range.

Kin/Sonic is the ultimate damage booster, and has a couple of good mezzes in the set. Siren's Song mass sleep is the perfect setup for a good safe Fulcrum Shift.

In general, Sonic Blast goes best with anything, because the -Res stacking is that good. Just attacking can give you a 60% Res debuff on any enemy. -Def from Rad is nice at lower levels, but can be compensated for with reasonable slotting. Thunderstrike (mentioned below) gives +58% accuracy to the power its in, plus a global 7% bonus per set, so your ST blasts are at +80% accuracy already if you slot three of these sets. (And I almost always say you should).

With Kinetics you can skip travel powers (rely on Inertial Reduction and Siphon Speed) and Stamina (rely on Transference) in order to make use of other pool powers.

You aksed about Defence. Kinetics wont contribute directly - you pretty much rely on the powerful heal (Transfusion) to stay alive. However, any Defender can build up a meaningful level of defence from polls because they get good Defence Bonuses.

Fighting Pool lets you put the Steadfast Unique IO in Tough. This and fuilly slotted Weave is 11% Defence to all.

Combat Jumping (or Hover) is 2.5% unslotted

Manouvres from leadership is 5.6% slotted.

So for those three pools you can start off with 19% Defence to everything.

Add in a few set bonuses and you're dodging half the incoming attacks that would otherwise hit.

Ranged Defence is probably most important because mezzes can be deadly - you're relyiong on a click heal power to stay upright. Fortunately, the Thunderstrike set is available and cheap - 3.75% ranged defence per full set, or 11.25% for three sets in your single target blasts. Add in Red Fortune in Manouvres and Weave at 2.5% each, and you can have 32.75% Ranged Defence - now 2 out of 3 attacks are bouncing off.

Blessing of the Zephyr in Hover/CJ is also recommended, both for anti-KB and set bonuses, but this is pricey.

So, you can build for Defence on a Kineticist. It wont come together till the late 20s/early 30s, and you may have to skip Stamina or a travel power to do so, both of which are quite viable. You'll never be Scrapper tough, and life will always be a little bit edgy, but its a fun set for sure.

Awesome, sounds great. Ill play arround with the build on Mids and see what i get that i'm happy with. When i've got a build ill post it up for some help with slotting =)

[EDIT]

This is the most disasterouse build i've ever made lol =P it's gona need a lot of improvement, but it's not that bad a first try i don't think.

As far as damage is concerned, i am pretty much capped all the time, but i don't have a very big recharge buff so my damage isn't as good as it could be. Although i don't have room for hasten which would be useful.

I have siphon speed, and inertia reduction, i don't need both myself so i have them for teaming, but i don't know how useful inertia will be for the rest of the team.

With the leadership pool, manouvres is useful for the damage, but tactics and assault are pretty useless in this build, is it worth taking them for teaming reasons? and otherwise it is kinda a waste of a pool power slot.


Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Technology Defender
Primary Power Set: Kinetics
Secondary Power Set: Sonic Attack
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Power Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Transfusion -- Nictus-Heal(A), Nictus-Heal/HP/Regen/Rchg(3), Nictus-Acc/Heal(3), Nictus-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(5)
Level 1: Shriek -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(7), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(9), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9)
Level 2: Siphon Power -- Acc-I(A), RechRdx-I(11), EndRdx-I(11)
Level 4: Scream -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(17), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(17), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(19), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21)
Level 6: Siphon Speed -- RechRdx-I(A), Acc-I(15), EndRdx-I(15)
Level 8: Increase Density -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
Level 10: Hover -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(13), Zephyr-ResKB(13)
Level 12: Speed Boost -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(43)
Level 14: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(21), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(23)
Level 16: Shout -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(23), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(25), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(25), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(27)
Level 18: Inertial Reduction -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(43), Zephyr-ResKB(43)
Level 20: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
Level 22: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Numna-Heal(29), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(29), RgnTis-Regen+(31), Heal-I(31)
Level 24: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(31), P'Shift-EndMod(33), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(33), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(33)
Level 26: Transference -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(34), P'Shift-EndMod(34), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(34), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(36)
Level 28: Amplify -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(36), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(36), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(37), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(37), GSFC-Build%(37)
Level 30: Siren's Song -- CSndmn-Acc/Rchg(A), CSndmn-EndRdx/Sleep(39), CSndmn-Acc/EndRdx(39), CSndmn-Acc/Sleep/Rchg(39), CSndmn-Sleep/Rng(45), CSndmn-Heal%(45)
Level 32: Fulcrum Shift -- RechRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(40), Acc-I(40)
Level 35: Boxing -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 38: Dreadful Wail -- Armgdn-Dmg(A), Armgdn-Dmg/Rchg(40), Armgdn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Armgdn-Acc/Rchg(42), Armgdn-Dmg/EndRdx(42)
Level 41: Tough -- ImpSkn-Status(A), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(45), ImpArm-ResDam(46)
Level 44: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(46), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(46)
Level 47: Power Build Up -- Rec'dRet-Pcptn(A)
Level 49: Temp Invulnerability -- Aegis-Psi/Status(A), Aegis-ResDam(50), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(50), ResDam-I(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Dmg-I(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Vigilance

You might want to consider a Kin as a chance to do something different than you normally do. A nice change, as it were.

FIRST: Kinetics is the "Anti-defender"- almost nothing it does actually DEFENDS the team, except in the way that nuclear weapons defended America in the cold war. Which is to say: overwhelming damage. Kin on a team, seems like you have two choices: play relatively safe and let the melee characters have the spotlight, as you turn them into combat monsters, or take your own crack. The #1 cause of Kin death is running in to try and take full advantage of Fulcrum Shift, as far as I know.

I don't, myself, play Kin so I'm going out on a limb here, but it seems like you're going to have to make an important judgement call: Are the other defenders and controllers on the team skilled, and willing to keep you alive, or are they being played by monkies or 8-year-olds or something? I'm not going to say you're WRONG to run into melee range underdefended- I play way too many short range Blasters- but if you do, it's gonna be a short fight one way or the other, so make sure you're ready to hit really hard really fast.

Thats pretty good for a "disastrous" build
A few minor points...

[Edit] Get Howl! Its 20% -Res to a group, ie 20% more damage after your damage bonuses from Fulcrum are factored in. Im not sure what to drop specifically. Maybe drop Shout? Shout has a long animation, so you can often get by on just Shriek and Scream for ST damage. [end edit]

I'd drop the end redux enhancements in Fulcrum and Siphon Power straight away. Transfusion fills your bar up to full each time it hits, which is at base once every 30 seconds. Maybe turnt hem both into Recharges in Fulcrum Shift - 1 Acc 3 Rech is pretty good basic slotting for that, considering you have a bit of an Acccuracy bonus from sets as well.

Transference and Stamina look a bit overslotted? If youre going for +Recovery and +Damage set bonuses dont bother, you'll be overshadowing any piddly little +3%'s with your powers! I doubt you even need to 3 slot Stamina (Transference is that good at returning end), and Transference should get Acc, Recharg and End Mod.

Siphon Speed and Inertial reduction are both good to have. Siphon Speed ups your recharge and gives you unsupressed combat superspeed, so its great to have in missions. IR is your standard travel power-free travel power for crossing zones, because you don't need to draw aggro to use it. If you're say level 10 and arrive at the top end of Steel Canyon, it can be tricky finding a NPC to siphon speed from to get back down to the south end.

The Luck of the Gambler +Rech seems a bit of a waste maybe. You'll be pulling in recharge with Siphon Speed, whether you'll notice the extra 7.5% is debatable. Up to you - if you can afford it go for it.

Regarding playing in melee - I found on a team you're often best off going in at the tank's heels. They draw aggro, keeping the big spike damage off you. You'll take some splash damage, but you've got a massive heal in Transfusion. I'd be doing my best to draw aggro using Fulcrum Shift, Short Circuit and Ball Lightning but if I had a tanker on the team I rarely faceplanted.

Having another Defender on the team was nice, especially a Force Fielder (Kin and FF mutaully beneift each other a lot) but a good Tanker or even an aggressive scrapper was enough to take the heat off me.

You'd have to have a pretty poor team to warrant standing at the back at any time.

Part of the consideration of a kinetic's attack/debuff/heal cycle is eventually with enough recharges, the player will be waiting on animation times and not recharge time. I am in favor of a shriek, scream, howl combination, and maybe keeping shout in the solo build. Siren's song is a great complement to the kinetic's playstyle.

I agree with Fulmens.

If you're new to Defending, a few comments I'd make:

Secondary: Sonic is getting most of the acclaim as a secondary right now due to its amazing -res debuff, but to be taking advantage of that, you need to be attacking quite a bit.

Rad also has really good debuffs.

Ice has some conveniently high damage attacks, and might work better if you plan on spending most of your time on the Primary powers.

Primary: I've played a Kin-Ice Defender to 50, a Fire-Kin Controller to 50 and a Fire-Kin Corruptor to 35. I have kept the Controller and deleted the other two because I simply don't enjoy playing them.

Kinetics is click-heavy (esp. if you want to SB your allies), and its best ability, Fulcrum Shift, requires you to be in melee range. So as a Defender, I spent a lot of time dancing in and out of melee range.

As others have said, kinetics is also more about boosting your allies than "defending" them. Good use of Transference and Transfusion can help keep your team alive, and of course there's SB, but you're primarily trying to keep the team's DPS high.

I've had a lot more fun playing a Rad Defender to 50 (I've done 2 of them!), and felt more defender-y playing anything other than Kinetics (Thermal is a blast, FF can be tremendously powerful on the right team, Sonic is versatile, I thought Emp got boring).

None of this is to say that Kinetics is bad on a Defender, but I enjoy it least on that AT. I'd always recommend Radiation as the Primary; it fits well with Sonic as a secondary and I just find Rad a lot more fun.

Fulcrum Shifting from a distance will still draw aggro. If you do that, you're not only the target but you're out of range of your own enemy-centred heals.

So the two safe options are:

1) Stay back and Fulcrum once the tank's gone in and grabbed aggro.

2) Follow the tank in and Fulcrum once the tank's grabbed aggro.

I usually went for option 2, because the spike damage is low in this situation (you're taking small AoE hits rather than big melee hits) and easily overcome by Transfusion.

There were some situations where I found I'd go for option 1. Nemesis springs to mind, they seem to put out a lot more AoE damage than most groups. That's when I'd switch to option 1.

This is from experience of playing a Kin/Elec Defender and Earth/Kin to 50.

I'd say more Kinetics deaths occur from failed Transfusions (either you miss or the target dies) than from just being in melee range.

Come to think of it, the worse times I've had on my Kinetics Defender was against Earth Thorn Casters, because they can keep you at range using Quicksand and running off.
The defence debuff isn't great, but its the inability to get close and Transfuse that really hurts.

Speed Boost provides run speed debuff resistance, but Siphon Speed doesn't - I learned the hard way watching my teammates skim effortlessly over the quicksands.

Ok so, sofar the genearal jist is, kinetics is good for buffing enemies to kill everything with one hit, which makes the defender have pretty descent attack damage even though its base damage is kinda low.

but i kinda find myself not watching to role a kinetics defender as much anymore. i'm kinda leaning toward a sonic/rad corr...

d'you recon thats a good starting point for me as i'm coming down for the scrapper field??

If it hasn't been mentioned already, You are not a healer and you should never refer to yourself as a "healer". There is no powerset that is oriented entirely around healing, or even partially (excluding Empathy, but even that only has about two good heals out of nine powers).

Sonic Blast/Rad Emission Corrupter is a very powerful combo, Neon, and unlike Kinetics, its powerful right from the get go.

Radiation Infection is your main defence due to the massive -To Hit it imparts on the target and surrounding enemies.

Your main frustration coming from Scrapperville will be getting mezzed - when you do so your enemy targetted toggles like Radiation Infection drop, and take a good few seconds to recharge, during which time you can feel pretty vulnerable. Your best defence is preemptively mezzing the mezzers - Screech at 26 and Sirens Song at 18 are your tools here.

This combo also works really well on a Defender, by the way. The base damage is lower and there's no Scourge, but the -Res from all the Sonic attacks and Enervating Field are greater, so that closes the damage gap considerably. The mez attacks are further away though, but the -To hit from Radiation Infection is better.

BTW, if you're talking about Sonic Resonance/Radiation Blast, thats a much weaker combo.

I didnt want to roll a corr cos it was a vill but thatll change after going rogue. mez wont be too much of an issue if i take the pools that prevent it.

i have made a corr build but im on my wii atm, ill post it either here or the corr forum when im on my pc =)

Which pools prevent mez? I can think of:

Acrobatics has a Mag 2(?) hold protection, ie one hold and its overcome. Also prevents KB, but that doesnt drop toggles anyway.
Combat Jumping provides decent immobilise protection, once again not a toggle-dropper.
Health reduces the duration of Sleep, but doesnt stop them.
Aid Self reduces the duration of Stuns, but doesnt stop them.

But nothing can stop a single stun or sleep or two holds from dropping your toggles.

The problem with this for a Rad is that even break frees dont help unless you use them pre-emptively. On a Blaster, say, its Ok to pop a break free once you are mezzed and carry on business as usual, on a Rad its pop a break free and hope you survive before Rad Infection comes back up.