Thunderstrike is the greatest set on earth, IMHO.
Two gives you +Recovery, very nice for a toggle heavy build, like FF running multiple Leadership toggles
Three give you +2.5% Energy Def/+1.25% Ranged Def. This stacks with your Dispersion Bubble in keeping you safe, and thus keeping your team safe. If you fall, any mezzes sitting on the other squishies may kick in, and everyone loses 16% defence or more. You are the keystone, so personal safety is not selfish.
Four gives you +Acc. Always welcome
Six gives you +2.5% Ranged def/+1.25% Energy Def. See above.
A full set also gives you +95%+ Damage and +60% Accuracy, End Redux and Recharge.
The global Acc bonuses and +Recovery compound with this awesome innate slotting for each blast to make you very accurate and endurance effiicent.
Now, you may not have your blasts six-slotted by the sounds of it, but even having only two or three slots its worth using this set. The more you put in each blast, the better it gets.
As an alternative, if you have a spare slot in a blast power, stick a Devastation "Chance to Hold" proc in there, 20% chance to hold a minion per hit. Th hold looks like Tesla Cage, very "bubbly". Stick it in your fastes firing attacks as a preference.
Do get Manouvers, and slot it. On a team, it cuts incoming damage on your teammates by half, assuming you're shielding and using Dispersion bubble. It does this by taking everyone to the defence soft-cap of 45%.
Dispersion Bubble and Manouvers need slotting for defence and end redux.
I suggest Red Fortune for this - it has +5% Recharge from the fifth slot, +2.5% ranged Defence from the sixth. Combined with Thunderstrikes, you can easily hit the soft-cap for defence yourself, without making build sacrifices.
Beware of the rule of 5 though, you can only have 5 +2.5% Ranged Defence bonuses, and its easy to gop overboard on them with Thunderstrike and Red Fortune.
The other good set for defence is Luck of the Gambler. The +Regen isn't fantastic on a Defender, the +HP at slot 3 are good, and the +Acc at slot 4 are kind of wasted if you are running Tactics and have a few Thunderstrikes slotted. This set can be good in the ally shields though, if they arent six slotted. Luck of the Gambler +Recharges are an option too. They're expensive, but they'll get your AoE's up more quickly, like Psi tornado and Repulsion Bomb. Recharge is OK like that for an FF-er, but not as crucial as it is for many other primaries.
For Dominate, have a look at Basilisk's Gaze:
More Energy/Negative Defence, mor +Recovery and a big Recharge bonus for 4 slots. Its expensive though, but worth it.
Personal Force Fiedl takes the Karma -KB IO. Very handy for reducing a lot of knockback. Manitaining your positon can be important to keeping others un-mezzed.
If you took Mind over Body, the Steadfast Protection Unique can go in here for +3% Defence all round for you. Very nice to stack with other +Defence set bonuses but a bit pricey.
I echo what DrMike has to say - the two most important bonuses to go for on a FF/ are ranged defense and recovery. Definitely do take maneuvers and an ancillary armor. Put red fortune in maneuvers and dispersion, thunderstrike in 3 ranged attacks (since it doesn't sound like you took all 4), the steadfast 3% in the ancillary armor, and then whatever else you need for the softcap (you can get some cheap ranged def by putting explosive strike in force bolt. 2 BoTZ in travel prereq/travel are another (albiet expensive) way to get some). Getting to the ranged softcap is an amazing experience - suddenly, between that and force bubble you become nigh invincible, as long as you have the recovery to keep up with those toggles.
@MuonNeutrino
Student, Gamer, Altaholic, and future Astronomer.
This is what it means to be a tank!
Quote:
Thunderstrike _is_ very nice. Red Fortune is awfully nice, too: +Recharge and +Ranged Defense. | Thunderstrike is the greatest set on earth, IMHO. |
WARNING: you can only have five "2.5% energy" Ranged Defense and both Thunderstrike and Red F give you that bonus.
I basically decided to go with Ranged and some AOE (this was early in the Invention System, before Eradication or Blessing of the Zephyr or purples or whatever) for my build; I've been told that I'm NOT the only person to 5-slot Ruin for the AOE defense, but I'm not sure I believe it.
I tried a "high HP/regen" build on a FF defender once, and it didn't do much to keep me alive. High ranged/AOE defense works very, very much better.
As far as powers to love and hate: I've got a miniguide to FF. Philotic Knight (going by Westley, last I paid attention) has a classic guide that I disagree with on many points.
I don't like Force Bubble OR Repulsion Field, but I think even people who love knockback/repel generally recommend picking one or the other. Repulsion Bomb is nice- it's decent damage for Defender AOE, and one of the few direct damage powers a Defender Primary gives you. I have found, personally, very few times when Detention Field was the right answer for anything. Might be just my playstyle. Force Bolt is handy for selecting your aggro precisely, and the three bubbles are absolutely crucial.
Oh, and Dr. Mike's idea on the "Chance to Hold" Devastation procs? Will totally change the way your Defender plays. I had them in Neutrino Bolt and X-Ray Vision and I occasionally held bosses. By accident. If you want to throw a lot of holds around, it's good fun.
Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.
So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.
WOW thank you guys all so much for the great info. I just did a respec and dropped detention field and Force bolt. picked up Maneuvers and a few more Psy powers. I think i'm going to respec again and swap Force bubble for Force bolt lol.
I fully slotted Dispersion bubble with Red Fortune and placed a bunch of bids on LUck of the gambler for the other 2 shields (how many of them should i slot?) next i will slot Maneuvers with red fortune and definitely look into thunder strike!
Just by those few changes I can tell a huge difference already. thanks again guys.
Miss Burst on Freedom
No worries.
Luck of the Gambler...
Your main aim is to max the shields out for Defence, regardless of sets.
If you're using LotGs at level 50 or close, you could get away with just the Def, Def/End and Def/Rech pieces, which also gives you the best set bonus for your build, the +Health.
This won't make a huge difference from just having 3 SO's though, the two sets will give you +2.25% extra HP and +20% Regen. Nice but not game-changing.
The cheaper Thunderstrikes will - they'll have a big impact on you, so if its either-or due to funds, I recommend getting them first.
Out of interest, how many slots do you have for:
- Manouvers
- Mental Blast
- Subdue
- TK Blast
- Will Domination
I'd recommend 4 for Manouvers at least, maybe 6 if you have spare slots. 6-slotting the single target blasts is a definite plus, with priority given to the later ones that hit harder, but cost more End and recharge more slowly.
Quote:
Had a couple of Detonation sets myself for a while (for the +AoE) in my bubbler, but a coupla BotZ -kbs later I was able to lay some Positrons over 'm. (Also, no Red Fortunes, so I needed them Thunderstrikes.)
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Originally Posted by Fulmens
I've been told that I'm NOT the only person to 5-slot Ruin for the AOE defense, but I'm not sure I believe it.
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Sorry it took me so long to get back i had a busy week at school.
Mental blast-4
telekinetic blast -4
will domination - 5
I have these 3 powers slotted with Thunderstrike, I really want to do more damage, i might respec again and try do throw 1 more slot in at least one of those.
The rest of my blast powers look like this;
Psionic lance- 3
psychic scream- 3
Psionic tornado- 5
psychic wail - 5
those just have so's right now
Maneuvers - 6 (haven't been able to put red fortune in it yet)
allies shields- 6 (slowly filling them up with LOTG)
Dispersion bubble- 6 slotted with Red Fortune
Thanks again
If you're planning on doing another respec, I would definitely move some slots around. Psy wail doesn't need more than 4 slots, for example - with level 40 IOs, put in an acc/dam and 3 dam/rech and you get maxed damage, enough acc, and a good amount of recharge in only 4 slots.
I would drop psionic lance entirely. Even though you can probably get it off safely with all your defense, it's just not that good of a power. Especially since you are likely to need the slots, it just isn't worth the power pick in my opinion.
Do try to get all three of your single target blasts up to 6 slots. The big 2.5% defense bonus from thunderstrike isn't gained until 6, so you're missing out on the best bonus if you're sitting at 4 or 5 slots.
Your ally target shields don't need 6 slots. The best bonuses are gained for having 2, 3, and 4 enhancements slotted - the 5 and 6 slot bonuses are quite lackluster on LoTG. That's another 4 slots you can save for other powers. (this also lets you avoid the even more expensive end/rech and def/end/rech pieces, although only if you can afford the def/7.5% or use level 50 IOs, because otherwise the defense stat won't be maxed out).
Do you have mids? It'd be much easier to give you suggestions if we could see your entire build. If you don't I would suggest getting it (you can get it here) and posting the build you're considering respecing into, so that we can hammer out any problems before you use up another respec.
@MuonNeutrino
Student, Gamer, Altaholic, and future Astronomer.
This is what it means to be a tank!
Thanks for the great suggestions, your right i really don't need psionic lance and taking slots from my ally shields would save me on the pricy LOTG.
I don't have mids, i looked into it a while back but I have a mac and I think it only works on windows. I forgot I was going to check again to see if they updated it.
I have been struggling with finding the right IO's to slot my 50 bubbler. Psy is my secondary and i treat it as such but i would still like to be able to hold my own. I have all of the Force Field powers (tryin to figure out how to use Force bubble) a few psy powers, tactics and assault. I chose mind simply because it fit my character, from that pool i chose Telekinesis, Dominate and mind over body.
Before I respec I could use some advice on what is important, what can be skipped. I'm pretty sure i'm going to swap Telekinesis for Maneuvers because telekinesis is such and end hog, other than that I'm not sure.
I would love some input on what IO sets would be good, thats where i am struggling the most.
Thanks in advanced an if you see me say hi!!
Miss Burst on freedom