A guide on how to play an empathy defender.

Same here. Most of the time, it's possible to find a moment in combat where the team is naturally grouped and fire off your RAs at that time. When I'm on a team that is steamrolling already, I find 'gathering' really kills the momentum.

No worries, it didn't get any better from there.

You say it yourself: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. A good defender will prevent attacks on team mates before they happen. Since the Empathy primary has nothing that directly affects enemies, the secondary powers must be used for this. That means a dedicated defender should choose secondary powers that have preventive potential.

For example, Empathy/Psychic Blast/Psionic Mastery is a good combination because of the control-oriented powers (Telekinetic Blast, Will Domination, Scramble Thoughts, Dominate and Mass Hypnosis). Using these powers will disable attackers and prevent them from attacking team mates.

Additionally, powers such as Psychic Scream and Mental Blast have significant -recharge secondary effects. Using them regularly will reduce the number of attacks enemies can launch against team mates.

A good empathy defender will use these powers to mitigate incoming damage after their primary duties (applying buffs as they recharge and healing any damage) are complete. In most instances there's just not enough to do if you're only applying buffs -- the recharge on buffs is such that you'll just be sitting around twiddling your thumbs the vast majority of the time.

The caveat, as always, is to use your attacks in such a way as to avoid drawing aggro on yourself. So you should be careful when using any AoEs. And try to use a mez attack on a target before a damaging attack if you're the only one attacking the target.

Would you rather have a team mate who sits around most of the time waiting for Fortitude and AB to recharge, or someone who's contributing to the battle while they're waiting for their buffs to recharge?

The other thing to acknowledge is that the rest of the team is not helpless, and they should be responsible for their own actions. If some blaster is constantly jumping the gun or a scrapper hares off to attack another spawn, you're not responsible for saving their skin every time they screw up. If you can save their bacon, great. If they get themselves killed, so be it.

Much of the time it is not necessary to use Clear Mind on team mates because you'll be fighting enemies that have no mez powers. Good defenders will know what enemies have mez powers and will protect allies against them. Good defenders will also watch the battle and see when an ally is mezzed, and can tell when enemies use powers that mez (such as the Freaks who use the PBAoE stun, or the Rikti Mesmerists). You should also be familiar with the various animations that play when characters are mezzed so that you can tell when someone needs CM.

One thing I try to do is make sure mezzers are locked down as soon as possible. That means using a hold or stun on Carnie Illusionists, Rikti Mentalists, and so on. If the mezzers are all mezzed, you don't need to worry about spamming Clear Mind. Fast-recharge single target stuns and holds are good for doing this. Remember that two quick applications of a stun or hold will mez most bosses. If you and a controller double-team bosses with your mezzes you can lock down most of them immediately.

It is a good idea to keep Clear Mind at all times on another character that has Clear Mind or a similar power, and that character should do the same for you. Also note that blasters can use up to three of their attack powers even if mezzed, so they don't need CM as much as controllers and defenders do.

Let other players know what you want them to say when they get mezzed. Most people say something like "zzz" when they need Clear Mind.

If you keep an eye on everyone's hit points and watch the general flow of the combat you can mix preventive secondary attacks with buffs and heals.

The worst thing a defender can be is inattentive. Boredom causes inattention. Sitting around just applying buffs and waiting for them to recharge is boring. Ergo, you should not neglect your other powers. Use them to defend your team mates.

And this is why...

Angel Red
"We're heroes. Fighting injustice is the thing we do." ~Rebel Scum

Really? I consider Clear Mind just about the least important power in the set. Possibly tied with Absorb Pain.

Someone actually tried this with my tanker yesterday. They put their DP blaster on follow and auto'd what appeared to be their weakest DP attack, and left. Needless to say I was not pleased as soon as I noticed, and it didn't take long (one fight) on a duo to notice that the level 32 DP was only using one attack. Not to mention the whole doesn't-respond-in-chat-anymore thing.

This is a good way to find yourself sitting outside a mish door.

Pro tip: When you do come back and find yourself sitting outside the mish door, DO NOT play dumb about why it happened. Welcome to ignoresville, dumba**.

He got lucky. With me, he'd be *faceplanted* outside the mission door.