Da/em

Hi everyone, Im a returning player after around 5 years and had a few questions about tanking and the game in general.

What are the soft caps for res and def?
Where can I get a list of what IO sets do? (when I left the game it was Hami's that were the monsters)
I play on a mac so I cant use Mids, is there something similar?
For the Freedom server, does the Unjustice League still play?

Finally as the title would suggest DA/EM. Im lvl 10 at the moment and having serious issues with endurance. I know that DA and EM are both end hogs but with the right enhancements: Offensive abilities - End mod, End Red, Acc, Dam and whatever IO sets my offer. Defensive abilities Res/Def, End Red. Will this be ok end game? I know its basic but just wanted to lay it out there. If it will work come end game, in my mind, DA/EM should be a farm monster and super sturdy in PvP.

If DA/EM is going to be impossible from an endurance standpoint I was thinking of DA/Ice slotting heavy into slows.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions and answers. I play on Freedom @Fulker.

Welcome back! I'll answer your questions as best I can, though some of what you asked will have a more subjective response rather than a single right answer. Here goes:

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Originally Posted by Bang What are the soft caps for res and def?

The defense soft cap is 45%. There is no resistance soft cap as the concept really doesn't apply to the resistance mechanic. The hard cap for resistance, for Tankers, is 90%.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bang Where can I get a list of what IO sets do? (when I left the game it was Hami's that were the monsters)

Cliki the wiki. You'll want to keep the Rule of Fives in mind while you build (a max of five of the same bonus - goes by name of bonus rather than number, which is significant in some cases). You'll also want to pay close attention to IO Set categories. For example, the Positron's Blast set is a targeted AOE set. You cannot slot it in Bone Smasher. You would need Melee Damage sets for that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bang I play on a mac so I cant use Mids, is there something similar?

Nothing quite as good, but I'd try the Suckerpunch planner.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bang For the Freedom server, does the Unjustice League still play?

Don't know. You might try posting on the Freedom boards to look into that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bang Finally as the title would suggest DA/EM. Im lvl 10 at the moment and having serious issues with endurance. I know that DA and EM are both end hogs but with the right enhancements: Offensive abilities - End mod, End Red, Acc, Dam and whatever IO sets my offer. Defensive abilities Res/Def, End Red. Will this be ok end game? I know its basic but just wanted to lay it out there. If it will work come end game, in my mind, DA/EM should be a farm monster and super sturdy in PvP.

Well you've mentioned several different goals there - PvE, farming and PvP. Building will be different for each so more info on this point might be helpful. Speaking in general terms, yes, you may have some endurance issues especially at the very early levels with the combination you've chosen. Is it a bad combo? Not in the least. In fact, with Inventions Dark Armor probably has the most potential out of all the primary sets. It does, however, benefit greatly from good use of Inventions (especially KB protection IOs and the Theft of Essence: +End proc).

Quote:

If DA/EM is going to be impossible from an endurance standpoint I was thinking of DA/Ice slotting heavy into slows. Thanks in advance for any suggestions and answers. I play on Freedom @Fulker.

Not impossible in the least and potentially quite a powerhouse. EM doesn't have a lot of AOE outside of Whirling Hands, however, so it may not be as good for farming as a secondary that is more AOE-centric such as Elec. I can't speak to PvP as I don't do that, but I can say with certainly that the endurance issues are more than manageable and that you can tank very well indeed with Dark Armor.

Yes, I did mean Whirling Hands. For some reason I was confusing Foot Stomp and Whirling Hands. Knew what I meant to say. Thanks for the catch.

Wow thanks for the replies guys. I wrote EM and didnt even think about Energy Melee. I am actually Electric Melee. The way I was thinking about using my DA/Elec tank was as a "sap bot" so to speak. Mitigation through Resistance, KB, Disorients and End drain. I have scrolled back a few pages on tank forums to look for any info on this build with no luck. Is it a "no no" build? Once again, thx in advance.

DA/ELM isn't a no no build. I've got one sitting in the mid 20's and yes, it was a bit end heavy to start with, but once I got stamina it's evened out better.

Even though some folks (like Nuclear Medicine) don't like Oppressive Gloom, it does work well with ELM's few stuns.

The things I've focused on with my DA tanks are the following: more endurance management (set bonuses, unique/special IO's, and powers), recharge (getting dark regen up more often) and as much resistance/defense as I can muster without gimping the toon.

Recommendations to start with:
In Dark Regen: Theft of Essence: Chance for +end, with some additional end redux.
In your Primary or pool powers somewhere:a Steadfast Unique Res/Defense.
Also somewhere in your primary/pool: at least one -kb IO (Karma, Steadfast, or Botz), if not 3 for a total of 12 kb resist.

In PvE you should be just fine.

Dark Armor can softcap to S/L/E/N fairly easily (Search for the name Dechs Kaison if he doesn't pop into this thread), but can have end problems early on. I'm guessing most of your end problems are coming from Dark Regeneration (it uses a full third of your end bar every time you use it).

Save up and pick up a Theft of Essence: Chance for +End IO. It will be expensive, but worth it. It turns Dark Regen from an end hog into an occasionally end gaining power.

Your build is not going to do well in PvP. I have a Broadsword/Dark Armor scrapper, and out of all my level 50 characters, he is my least PvP capable (though he's beastly in PvE).

Couple major problems: They drastically changed PvP about 2 years ago. Now you will automatically be affected by mezzes, your mez protection will just decrease the duration. When a mez lands, your offensive toggles (Death Shroud, Cloak of Fear, and Oppressive Gloom) will all drop.

Also, your giant heal (Dark Regeneration) needs targets to heal from. No one is going to stand still and let you heal from them.

Dark Armor characters, once everyone else figures out what set they are playing, tend to get mezzed to drop their toggles, and killed from range where their heal is useless.

I recommend against playing a Dark Armor in PvP, but they are AWESOME in PvE, so don't count it out.