Is defense only good when you're softcapped?

I'm trying to build a Fire/SD Scrapper focused entirely for doing maximum AoE and single target damage on 8 man teams. Going for Fireball for my Ancillary, etc. The builds I've come up with that accomplish my intended goal usually aren't able to fit in tough or weave, which leaves me below the defense cap with normal IOs. If I were to only be at about 35% defense or so, would that still be good? Or would it not being soft capped make me not so great in PvE? Considering that I'm never planning to either solo or tank on this guy, I don't know how important soft capping it is.

35% is still good. It's fine for "normal play", and whenever you're up against something more challenging you can just pop a small purple and hey, now you're soft-capped!

35% is still very good and very tangible. As mentioned if you are getting overwhelmed pop a purple and problem solved.

That said, you may not be planning to "tank", but AAO has different plans for you

At 35% you would still be a force to be reckoned with, no doubt. Also, as previously mentioned, purples will be your friends.

Case in point, my Kat/DA is not softcapped. She is not too far away from it but I decided to pick up a bit of additional accuracy. I do not have many problems at all. Sure every once in awhile I find myself in over my head (running at +4x4 is a sure way for me to faceplant) but usually I stick to my limits and have a great time doing so.

Thanks guys! I appreciate the speedy response.

One last thing, when I'm working on MIDs and say I have 30% melee defense and 8% energy defense. Does that mean against a melee energy attack I have 38% defense? Or only 30%? If I'm supposed to combine the two then reaching softcap won't be as hard as I had thought.

Asking if def is only good when softcapped, is like asking if resistance is only good when you're at 90%, wich isn't even possible for scrapper. With your -def resist, 35% should be good enough, specialy if you don't tank.

The reason you hear so much about softcap here, is because people wants to solo at +4/x8, pylons, AVs and/or GMs... and without using insps. For normal play or team play, you really don't need that much.

35% defense is fine. If you're teaming/farming, chances are a /cold or Bubbler is in there somewhere anyway

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deus_Otiosus This entire post should receive some kind of award for being both hysterical and fantastic. Well done.

Without Tough and Weave, hrm? I quickly tried making a build for you using Set IOs to at least softcap melee so you can fight to your heart's content. This could be something to work on your second build while you're using normal IOs in your first build. :3

I didn't take Breath of Fire, because I've heard from pretty much all parties that it's pants on a Scrapper (a Blaster's Breath of Fire is another matter). So, even with just Fire Sword Circle, Shield Charge and Fireball (use it in melee range, remember, so it can take advantage of Against All Odds!), I hope that's enough AoE. And, as you wanted to do solid single target damage, I took Greater Fire Sword on this build. Also took Hasten (just two slots) to make attacks recharge faster at times. If you'd rather have some extra safety in your mez protection (which has just its basic slot, but if fully slotted, should recharge in time with 8 seconds before it wears off if not under any slow mezes), just transfer one of Hasten's slots over to Active Defense.

This build doesn't use HOs, Purples, or PvP recipes, and assumes all IOs are at level 50, and that you have Combat Jumping turned on when fighting. Phalanx Fighting is set to as if you're fighting on your own.

Melee Def: 47% (next to 1 person 49.6%, 2 people 52.2%, 3 people 54.8%)
Range Def: 43.8% (next to 1 person 46.5%, 2 people 49.1%, 3 people 51.7%)
AoE Def: 40.1% (next to 1 person 42.7%, 2 people 45.3%, 3 people 47.9%)

So, if you stand next to at least one other fighter or something, you become softcapped in Range too. If next to two, then AoE is also capped. So to help other people, Grant Cover is added into the build (and also to help you with Defense Debuffs).

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.707
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

AoE Fireman: Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Fiery Melee
Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Blaze Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Scorch

• (A) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage
• (3) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance
• (3) Touch of Death - Damage/Recharge
• (5) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (5) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (7) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative)

• (A) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance
• (15) Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge
• (15) Red Fortune - Endurance/Recharge
• (17) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
• (43) Red Fortune - Defense
• (46) Red Fortune - Endurance

• (A) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage
• (7) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance
• (9) Touch of Death - Damage/Recharge
• (9) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (11) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (11) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative)

• (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%

• (A) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance
• (13) Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge
• (13) Red Fortune - Endurance/Recharge
• (17) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
• (39) Red Fortune - Defense
• (50) Red Fortune - Endurance

• (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff
• (23) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge
• (23) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge/Endurance
• (25) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Recharge/Endurance
• (25) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Endurance
• (31) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO

• (A) Run Speed IO

• (A) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery

• (A) Endurance Reduction IO

• (A) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage
• (19) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Endurance
• (19) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Recharge
• (21) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Recharge
• (21) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance

• (A) Performance Shifter - EndMod
• (39) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Recharge
• (39) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Accuracy/Recharge
• (40) Performance Shifter - Accuracy/Recharge
• (40) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Accuracy
• (40) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End

• (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range
• (31) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance

• (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range
• (34) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance

• (A) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage
• (27) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance
• (27) Touch of Death - Damage/Recharge
• (29) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (29) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (31) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative)

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
• (37) Recharge Reduction IO

• (A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage
• (33) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance
• (33) Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge
• (33) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
• (34) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (34) Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal)

• (A) Obliteration - Damage
• (36) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge
• (36) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge
• (36) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (37) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (37) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

• (A) Lockdown - Accuracy/Hold
• (42) Lockdown - Accuracy/Recharge
• (42) Lockdown - Recharge/Hold
• (42) Lockdown - Endurance/Recharge/Hold
• (43) Lockdown - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge/Hold
• (43) Lockdown - Chance for +2 Mag Hold

• (A) Shield Breaker - Defense Debuff
• (45) Shield Breaker - Accuracy/Defense Debuff
• (45) Shield Breaker - Accuracy/Recharge
• (45) Shield Breaker - Defense Debuff/Endurance/Recharge
• (46) Shield Breaker - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
• (46) Shield Breaker - Chance for Lethal Damage

• (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage
• (48) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance
• (48) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge
• (48) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range
• (50) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (50) Recharge Reduction IO

• (A) Resist Damage IO

• (A) Empty

• (A) Empty

• (A) Empty

Wow, you really hit the nail on the head with what I was looking for Ideon. I happen to hate Fire Breath, and you even managed to fit Hasten in which is something I'm going for. I'm very impressed, thanks so much. Got the build saved and I'll be working for it.

Just for reference, so I know how much to begin saving, how much should I expect to be spending on this build? I've never purchased set IOs before, and I'm only looking for a rough estimate. Just the nearest 100mil off the top of your head, no intense research necessary!

500-600 million should get you the vast majority of that build.

Personally, I'd drop Melt Armor in favor of Fire Blast.

You're not going to have huge amounts of recharge there, so the extra ST attack will help smooth out your single target chain, and Melt Armor is, from all reports, pretty bad for scrappers.

The long answer to your question is that Defense (and Resistance) are both better the higher they already are. That is, +5% Defense at base to hit will only reduce the number of times you are hit by 1 in 10, but +5% Defense at 40% Defense will cut the number of times you are hit in HALF.

OTOH, to my mind while that damage is cut in half, it's like the difference between taking 4 HP damage and taking 2 HP damage. When you have 1000 HP. In ordinary play you should not really feel the difference. It is primarily effective in PvP or against purples when you are pushing the performance of your character to its absolute limits, and a difference of 1% or 2% can actually effect whether you live or die.

So the short answer is that you really want all the Defense you can reasonably get. Don't worry about softcapping, but every bit you add will count for more and more. For this reason, it can also be more useful to specialize with Defense over Resistance, or vice versa.

You don't need to be near the softcap to feel the effects of defense. 10%ish is noticable, but minor in its effects (which is why pre-DO/SO /SR Scrappers might as well be gimped melee Blasters). Around 20-25% it becomes a more reliable form of mitigation, though far from able to save you from everything. And, as said above, 30%+ is more than enough to provide all the mitigation you'll need for the majority of the game's content, especially with the other benefits of /Shield backing it up.

Thank you for the alternative build Ideon, I think I'll stick with the first one since the choice between Melt Armor or Fire Blast isn't going to be too a big deal for me. I was just curious if I'd be able to apply the same IOs. Since I can't then the switch between them probably isn't worth it.