Sonic is where storm used to be years ago. People didn't understand it, so they didn't play it.
As for Kin Defs, I know a crap ton of them, heck I have about 5-6 of them myself. It helps to be part of an All Kin SG though. :P
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I'm actually surprised Dark is third although it's rather close. While I love the set and think it's one of the best, I hardly see it played. It's a crime that Cold ranks that low. It's as good as any other set.
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Originally Posted by Patteroast
I know it's not a perfect sample, but for these kind of questions, I always find the statistics page on City Info Tracker to be informative. Here's what they have currently for defenders:
1117 Empathy 599 Kinetics 585 Dark Miasma 555 Radiation Emission 299 Storm Summoning 287 Force Field 273 Trick Arrow 241 Cold Domination 210 Sonic Resonance 99 Traps |
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Originally Posted by Amy_Amp
I'm actually surprised Dark is third although it's rather close. While I love the set and think it's one of the best, I hardly see it played. It's a crime that Cold ranks that low. It's as good as any other set.
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I'm almost positive the reason Cold ranks so low here but so high in "what would you bring" type conversations is that Cold brings so little mitigation to the actual user. Even Force Field and Empathy have a really good low-ish level power that helps them survive. While it's not popular to talk about, the lack of a self heal or personal mezz protection in Cold is really noticeable relative to other sets outside of IO'ed builds. The only sets in a similar position are Storm (which can sometimes get by thanks to the sheer chaos it brings) and Trick Arrow (which... well yeah).
SOnic as everyone said.
And I dont blame em. I hate the sound of that power.
But I dont see a lot of Ice tanker even though I have heard a lot about them. actually, I think I have only seen one Ice tanker in my life, and that was over 3 years ago.
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What I find interesting is how the numbers pretty easily organize into different levels. Empathy is around twice as popular as Kin, Dark, and Rad, which are around twice as popular as Storm, FF, TA, Cold, and Sonic, which are around twice as popular as Traps.
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Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood
That is interesting. If we assume it's representative of the game overall then the only ones that really surprise me are Empathy and Kinetics. Traps is a new set for Defenders so I would expect the overall number to be lower even if they are getting played more so you see them with some regularity. I'm surprised Kinetics is as high as it is, I see a lot of Kinetics Controllers but I just don't seem to see Defenders with it as much as the other sets.
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Having Vengeance and Fallout slotted for recharge means never having to say you're sorry.
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Yeah I noticed that. I'm not to surprised that that sort of clumping occurred but the effect was stronger than I would have expected. In the case of Traps though I think it's primarily caused by the relative newness of the set, give it a few years and the numbers will pick up.
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Originally Posted by Kelenar
What I find interesting is how the numbers pretty easily organize into different levels. Empathy is around twice as popular as Kin, Dark, and Rad, which are around twice as popular as Storm, FF, TA, Cold, and Sonic, which are around twice as popular as Traps.
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My Traps/Pistols 'Fender is phenomenal. He just doesn't die!
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Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood
Yeah I noticed that. I'm not to surprised that that sort of clumping occurred but the effect was stronger than I would have expected. In the case of Traps though I think it's primarily caused by the relative newness of the set, give it a few years and the numbers will pick up.
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My guides:Dark Melee/Dark Armor/Soul Mastery, Illusion Control/Kinetics/Primal Forces Mastery, Electric Armor
"Dark Armor is a complete waste as a tanking set."
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This post inspired me to make a Cold/Rad. No other Defender set gets a power that completely incapacitates one enemy at level 1. Seems to me that good use of Infrigidate and Snow Storm should give you a lot of survivability.|
Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
I'm almost positive the reason Cold ranks so low here but so high in "what would you bring" type conversations is that Cold brings so little mitigation to the actual user. Even Force Field and Empathy have a really good low-ish level power that helps them survive. While it's not popular to talk about, the lack of a self heal or personal mezz protection in Cold is really noticeable relative to other sets outside of IO'ed builds. The only sets in a similar position are Storm (which can sometimes get by thanks to the sheer chaos it brings) and Trick Arrow (which... well yeah).
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And, of course, the best mez protection is a Tanker.
I have a 50 io'd Sonic/Sonic and I love her to bits, it's def a team toon tho... if you want to solo switch to Red side get a patron and a Pet to place your disrupting ring on.
Consciousness: that annoying time between naps.
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Cold/DP Defender here! I've had him for about a month, tons of fun as Sleet + Snow Storm = recharge/slow softcap, meaning either I can do -dmg or do extra dmg myself.
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Originally Posted by AnElfCalledMack
This post inspired me to make a Cold/Rad. No other Defender set gets a power that completely incapacitates one enemy at level 1. Seems to me that good use of Infrigidate and Snow Storm should give you a lot of survivability.
And, of course, the best mez protection is a Tanker. |
50s: Bla- Arch/Mental Cont- Mind/FF, Earth/Cold, Ill/Therm, Earth/Rad Dominator- Plant/Psi, Elec/Earth Corr- Fire/Storm, Arch/Sonic, Rad/Kin, Beam/Sonic, Psi/Time Stalker- Elec/SR Def- Storm/Dark, Emp/Psi, Dark/Elec, FF/Arch, TA/Ice, TA/Elec, Kin/AR, Cold/DP, Traps/Psi Scrap- Fire/Shield Tanker- Dark/Mace, Ice/Kin Brute- Claws/WP, SS/Energy, BS/Elec
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Or you could play a Rad and debuff a mob at level 1. I'm just saying.
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Originally Posted by AnElfCalledMack
No other Defender set gets a power that completely incapacitates one enemy at level 1.
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Storm has as good of a tohit debuff as anybody. Cold and TA's lack of personal protection is much more an issue when you are soloing. On teams they seem to be perfectly fine. And I know people solo defenders, hell, I did it a bunch on my Rad/sonic, but doing so ranks about as low as any other AT I would want to do it on.
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Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
I'm almost positive the reason Cold ranks so low here but so high in "what would you bring" type conversations is that Cold brings so little mitigation to the actual user. Even Force Field and Empathy have a really good low-ish level power that helps them survive. While it's not popular to talk about, the lack of a self heal or personal mezz protection in Cold is really noticeable relative to other sets outside of IO'ed builds. The only sets in a similar position are Storm (which can sometimes get by thanks to the sheer chaos it brings) and Trick Arrow (which... well yeah).
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I just designed the build for my Cold/Sonic fender and it was very easy to softcap to range.... Artic Air is amazing.
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Originally Posted by Amy_Amp
Storm has as good of a tohit debuff as anybody. Cold and TA's lack of personal protection is much more an issue when you are soloing. On teams they seem to be perfectly fine. And I know people solo defenders, hell, I did it a bunch on my Rad/sonic, but doing so ranks about as low as any other AT I would want to do it on.
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Consciousness: that annoying time between naps.
My vote for Sonic.
I have a sonic/sonic and don't see many of us around 
It's unfortunate really because it's a great set to play around with.
GF
Justice
Everwood
Triumph
The Trust
Sonic is sooo valuable for teams. I was on quite a few Master-Of runs not too long ago, and the ones with a Sonic Def were soo much easier, we flew through MO Khan
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If only my first near-successful MoSTF had him, instead of the Rad who likes to melee range LR.
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Originally Posted by Black_Destroyer
Sonic is sooo valuable for teams. I was on quite a few Master-Of runs not too long ago, and the ones with a Sonic Def were soo much easier, we flew through MO Khan
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One thing to remember when wondering why Cold is so low, is that it's the 2nd to last set ported to Defenders, with Traps of course the last one. If there were some way to get numbers after Cold was ported, I have a hunch (and that's all it is) that it would lie somewhere between Rad and Storm.
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Originally Posted by Patteroast
I know it's not a perfect sample, but for these kind of questions, I always find the statistics page on City Info Tracker to be informative. Here's what they have currently for defenders:
1117 Empathy 599 Kinetics 585 Dark Miasma 555 Radiation Emission 299 Storm Summoning 287 Force Field 273 Trick Arrow 241 Cold Domination 210 Sonic Resonance 99 Traps |
Global = Hedgefund (or some derivation thereof)
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Originally Posted by Donna_
I just designed the build for my Cold/Sonic fender and it was very easy to softcap to range.... Artic Air is amazing.
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Just as an aside to this, most any build can be made reasonably durable with IOs, but most people don't start IOing until the 30s at earliest (I have no proof of this, but I wouldn't be surprised if the majority wait until 50.) I have a fire/cold/mu corr and playing him was fun, but also risky. Solo, neither set did much to keep me alive. Teamed, the fire blasts pulled a decent amount of aggro and cold is poorly equipped to keep you standing, although it gets better after 35 (for corrs, earlier for defs.) It's not the quite same as defenders, but my main point it there is life before IOs, and this pre-IO period is where many people decide if they want to stick with the set or not.
And back on topic, I'll add another vote to sonic for least seen primary. Don't see much of the buff set anywhere really.
You can't really start IO-ing a character out much before 27 at the very earliest because of the number of key sets that start at level 30. (eg Thunderstrike, Crushing Impact, Doctored Wounds). Plus the number of slots available before then limits the acqusition of set bonuses.
So you're dead right on that score, Eliath.
Buit, its not that different from the pre-invention world where you couldn't really judge a set's performance before 22 when you got SOs.
Definitely Sonic.
I was looking for info so I could respec my Sonic/Psi Defender here, with no luck.
Super Ero-kawaii - Grv/FF Go Girl - Kin/Rad
Dana Roberts - AR/Dev Choh-oppai - DM/Inv Orangah - Fir/Fir
@Lovely Larose(2 and 3 too!) ---------- #Arc 243518 - Just do it.
Sonic resonance is the least seen defender primary, yeah. Fun to see another player with a Sonic resonance/Psychic blast posting here, haven't seen that combo on anyone beside the one I'm playing before. What are you aiming at with your build?
We Sonics are rare, and proud of it. On Liberty, at least, they're also very appreciated. I'm always welcome on TFs, PuGs, MSRs, whatever, because most ppl seem to understand how much they bring to the table. FF clone? Pshaw. Since when did FF bring massive -res debuffs? Liquefy a joke? It's an I win button, even if few ppl understand just why you won that fight.
I love my Son/Son, and I hardly ever play him solo, but the few times I do, it's in 100% security. Then again, I feel that way w/all my defenders--they're all slower than hell to solo compared to pretty much all my other ATs, but safe as hell, though much, much more fun to play on teams.
An Offensive Guide to Ice Melee
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Any info in particular?|
Originally Posted by LovelyLarose
Definitely Sonic.
I was looking for info so I could respec my Sonic/Psi Defender here, with no luck. |
I just recently got done respeccing most of my level 50 toons for i19, amongst those are two Sonic/Elecs (one's a Defender, the other's a Blaster!
) The Defender was my 3rd heroside toon to hit level 50, and has seen his fair share of TFs/MoTFs/Hami Raids etc. even on one of the backwater European Servers. Due to Inherent Fitness I've managed to work Vengence and Resuscitate back into the build, and take "Thunderous Blast" for the first time ever. I'm finding the alpha slot a lot of fun. Liquefy and Sonic Cage are both incredibly under-rated.
I had a Sonic/Psi/Psi at level 50 and deleted it because I was so frustrated with it. It was a good concept toon, yet it drove me crazy. The bubble was hard to see through and if you changed the color it would not fade and wound up giving me headaches after a while.
I hated the fact that my disruption field HAD to be targeted on an enemy while the friggin trick arrow could shoot theirs to a location. I found that utterly stupid especially since I am supposed to be the master of all things sonic.
And Liquefy was the most sucktastic tier 9 I have ever experienced. I know people will defend it until the cows come home but for me that that power was just terrible.
I deleted him and while I loved the concept I dont miss the toon one bit.
The hard things I can do--- The impossible just take a little bit longer.
If numbers are so much more important than a teammate who is fun to play with, forget about the game altogether and go play with a calculator instead. -Claws and Effect-
1117 Empathy
599 Kinetics
585 Dark Miasma
555 Radiation Emission
299 Storm Summoning
287 Force Field
273 Trick Arrow
241 Cold Domination
210 Sonic Resonance
99 Traps