Mo(healer)

If I want to do MoTF's with emp healer should I go ill/emp for better survival?

Fair warning: We don't typically use the word "healer" in advanced gameplay or build discussions. "Emp" will do just fine.

Defender's not a bad pick. Your self-heal (Healing Aura) will be beefier, and your Fortitude will buff damage better (redirecting aggro away from you a little better).

Still, overall, a level 50 to level 50 comparison will almost always favor controllers over defenders. More damage, more utility, and enough buff/debuff that the difference doesn't matter. There are exceptions, but empathy is not one of them.

GR will shake things up a bit. Whether to bring a controller or a mastermind on an MoSTF, now there's a tough question! Maybe wait a couple weeks before committing to anything?

I'd hazard a guess, but I don't think calling yourself a healer will get you on a Master Of run usually.

I agree with the others on the use of the word healer.

But for my 2 inf, it may be more the role you may get into.

My emp/psi def has MSTF, MLGTF, MDrKTF, and MITF, where as my ice/cold corr has MLRSF, MBSF, MLGTF, MITF.

IME, on the defender, I aged about 10 years prematurely because I felt that if a player died, I wasn't doing my job on a Master run. On my corruptor, I was more "relaxed" because, although I buffed shields, I was more focused on the holds and debuffs.

So in your case, your controller may be more focused on damage mitigation through your primary and can back up on buffing/healing. Just a style of play I guess.

Last time I tried for a MOITF run, we ended up with 2 'pure' healers. Ew... I'd have much rather the /thermal corrupter on the team had been buffing us with the shields, and the emp/doesn't-matter-cause-it's-never-used defender was a force fielder. We probably coulda pulled off the MOITF if that was the case.

Don't get me wrong, empathy is a very nice set. But don't make the mistake in assuming it'll make the team unstoppable. Because it's highly reactionary, it's possible for it to fall behind rather easily in the damage vs heal race.

Outside of 2 specific parts during MoSTF (stacking Clear Mind during the Ghost Widow fight & supporting the tank against Recluse while taking down the towers), I'd place Empathy pretty much at the bottom of the list for usefulness on Master TF runs.

Unless they changed it, Ghost Widow's hold is pretty much unstoppable. My claw/sr got hit by it despite 20 tier 2 break frees, my mez protection, and clear mind. That is one nasty hold.

Realisticlly, what are the odds of having all that stacked on each person on the team? If the defenders/controllers are that focused on stacking clear mind, they aren't doing other things that may be more useful.

And yeah, you will be affected by the hold. Just not for very long. Thank goodness we don't get detoggled when held anymore.

What then when you get more then one of the patrons at once? Say GW and Mako?

The team I tried the STF on... we ended up getting all 4 patrons at once. Man that was a cluster buck. We took them down, barely. But only cause there were 2 'pure healer' guys on the team spamming heals on us melee types. GW was the biggest pain due to the dark regen she kept using. We still failed though. It was when the STF first came out, and the rest of the team didn't pay attention when I mentioned taking out the towers. They didn't even try pulling Recluse away from them. Nooo, the big tactic the team wanted was ZERRRRRRG!

Ok, first off I would NEVER choose to invite a self-described "healer" on any TF run if I had a choice... with very few exceptions in my experience they are poor players who tend to neglect everything but their heals. That's one of the biggest red flags I know of for a bad player so I strongly recommend you don't advertise yourself as a healer.

Actually even for a MoSTF Empathy would probably be my last choice for buff/debuff because they bring less to the party than Rad, Kin, Dark, Storm or the like and in my experience most Emp players fall into the "healer" mentality, something that's not very useful past level 20.

For a MoSTF run my priority is first for 8 very competent players who know the TF well and know their characters well. After that I'll want a solid tanker who can hold aggro and survive the pounding unassisted. Next I look for controllers/defenders for buff/debuffs and damage and finally I look for more damage. A bunch of controllers can fill all of these roles, that's why they're my AT of choice when recruiting. I'll finish the team with straight damage in the form of blasters or scrappers.

Now about Ghost Widow... her hold is entirely avoidable if you have a Kinetic, Sonic, Thermal or Emp on the team with their anti-mez buff; the mez protection of it stacks. As long as the tanker has 8 stacked Clear Mind/Clairity/Increase Density/whatever buffs along with his own mez protection the hold is a dead issue. If the tanker is any good the rest of the team will never see GW's aggro so he's the only one who needs the buff.

Your other choice if you don't have any of those buffs is to simply get your defense to the soft cap... GW's hold is straight negative energy so 45% defense to ranged/negative will also serve the same purpose... she'll only have ~10% chance to land the hold.

For Lord Recluse if your tanker's built well a Stone, Invuln or Shield can tank him unassisted while the rest of the team takes out the towers. Kill the Red tower first as it doubles his damage, then kill the Blue as it gives him a 25% tohit buff and speed boost. Once both of those towers are down your tanker should have smooth sailing.

My strategy when tanking with my Invuln is to keep 2 big orange inspirations and 2 big purple inspirations (enough to keep my def at 75%) active until the red tower dies, then let the orange expire and keep the purples active until the blue tower dies. After that I allow the inspirations to expire and just watch my HP... if I get a big hit I pop Dull Pain. If I get another I pop a green or two. Simple and something I can handle without requiring aid from the team.

Controllers and Defenders are always welcome on any TF, "healers" are usually dead weight. Healing is the worst form of damage mitigation in the game once you get into the 20's... buffs and debuffs are FAR more effective than simple reactive healing particularly since in the late game squishies tend to be either completely healthy or dead so healing doesn't work very well.

As previously mentioned really the only niche role that the Empath is usually asked to fill is that of stacking enough Clear Mind on the primary Tanker to prevent GW's hold from taking the Tanker out of play. This role can also be filled by a */Thermal controller, a Kineticist or a Sonic, and frankly all three of these are likely to bring more to the team. Empathy is a great powerset, but on a Master run I'm more likely to go with one of the other three possibilities rather than chance ending up with a 'pure healer'.

At the end of the day what's really needed is 8 competent people. The rest is negotiable.