First off, 45 IS the softcap, not "45% or so" because 44.5 is actually getting hit 10% more often than 45, and so the full value is important in achieving that survivability.
As to the bonuses, on a /nin, you will want positional defense bonuses (Melee, Ranged, AoE). These are usually found as the last bonus in a set, meaning you need 6 pieces to get the bonus. Ninjitsu gets you around 33% defense to all three positions on just normal IOs/SOs if you pick up weave and CJ. That means you need 12% to cap yourself. Gausian's Synchronized Fire Control in build up will get you 2.5% to all, and a steadfast unique will get you another 3. That means you need 6.5% to all three still. So at that point, 2 bonuses of 3.75 (normal 6 slotted bonus) will get you there. So in 2 melee attacks, slot 6 Touch of Death pieces and in 2 others slot 6 Mako's Bite pieces. That leaves AoE, which is less commonly seen in bonuses.
Now the easiest AoE bonuses come from Scirocco's Dervish, which is slotted in PBAoE powers. Stalkers don't get too many, but you only need 2 to cap, and only 5 slots of SD to cap it. Elec, BS, Kat, Claws, DB, and Spines all have 2 or more PBAoEs for you to slot it in, but other sets only have one, or in some cases none.
There are other ways to do it, but in my opinion, that would be the quickest way.
It's also worth noting that sometimes "softcap" doesn't necessarily mean all positional defenses.
I intentionally left mine with an AoE hole to get more damage in the build. This is because nin has a nice heal and nice mez protection, and because AoEs fire far less often than targeted attacks from most things. Not only that, but in full hide you've already got gobs of AoE defense.
Nin survives quite well with just a ranged/melee softcap if you want to skip the AoE because you've got various other mitigation to prevent massed AoE (Placate, alpha the worst from hide, confuse the mob, etc.) and a heal that'll patch up those suicide-nukes from boss+ mobs. That's what makes /nin a bit of a special set for stalkers. It's designed around a lot of active mitigation versus passive.
Of course your mileage may vary, and it's completely possible to just slot for the AoE if you want to go that route, but if you're interested in being active the other tools from your primary and secondary and knowledge of the mobs you're fighting can make the AoE softcap something you can trade for other slotting considerations.
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I actually think the softcap is overkill for normal content. If you want to do extreme things, like Dechs keeping agro on all the AVs in Reichsman, or Silverado soloing every GM known to man, then yes, the softcap is something you should shoot for. But for almost any teaming environment, any mitigation set survives just fine without being capped. The OP just asked for a way to softcap a nin so I showed how. Doesn't mean it won't survive without it.
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Originally Posted by Shadestorm
Nin survives quite well with just a ranged/melee softcap
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Oh, sure, I survive as-is. But I'd like some more. I likely won't wind up capped but I can get some more defense at least.
This wasn't mentioned: nin (at 50) can slot the purple confuse set, which is relatively cheap as far as purples go and gives 5% ranged defense.
Some good sets with sizable defense bonuses:
Touch of Death
Mako's
Coercive Persuasion
Gaussian's Synchronized Fire Control
Obliteration
Scirocco's Dervish
Thunderstrike
Razzle Dazzle
Miracle
Lockdown
Siphon Insight
Enfeebled Operation
Shield Breaker
Blood Mandate
Numina's Convalescence
Stupefy
Cloud Senses
Expedient Reinforcement
Blessing of the Zephyr
The Inspiration Maker's Guide [i12] UPDATED with POPMENUS and Movement Binds!
A Flash in the Dark: The Electric/Ninjitsu Stalker [i23]
Kheldian Inspiration Macros UPDATED with POPMENUS and Movement Binds!
Guide to the Katana~Ninja Blade/Electric [i23]
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Coercive Persuasion also offers 10% recharge and a 4% damage buff and 4% recovery. The best set of IO bonuses out there in my opinion.|
Originally Posted by Microcosm
This wasn't mentioned: nin (at 50) can slot the purple confuse set, which is relatively cheap as far as purples go and gives 5% ranged defense.
Some good sets with sizable defense bonuses: Touch of Death Mako's Coercive Persuasion Gaussian's Synchronized Fire Control Obliteration Scirocco's Dervish Thunderstrike Razzle Dazzle Miracle Lockdown Siphon Insight Enfeebled Operation Shield Breaker Blood Mandate Numina's Convalescence Stupefy Cloud Senses Expedient Reinforcement Blessing of the Zephyr |
Aegis is a nice one to slip into Tough or Kuji-In as it offers AoE protection with only three slots.
If you want to do Hero/Villain Merits, run about 330 missions and you'll be able to pick up Gladiator's Armor +3 Def, +res (teleportation). Then spend another couple mil for the res/end and res/rech/end sets and you can get +3 global def, good endurance cost reduction and knockback protection with just triple slotting.
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Oh definately. Most hardline set slotting is overkill for nomal content on most toons. I was just presenting the AoE hole as a playable option for even extreme circumstances that people would commonly softcap for. Aside from situations like the end of the RSF where you might find yourself sucking up multiple AV level aoes at once you can still get that sort of extreme performance. In my case I took retsu specifically for hard AoE situations. Not only did it give me a free slot for a luck of the gambler +rech, but since the build normally operates fine without it, it's usually up and ready to go when I know I'm in that situation.|
Originally Posted by Pyro_Master_NA
I actually think the softcap is overkill for normal content. If you want to do extreme things, like Dechs keeping agro on all the AVs in Reichsman, or Silverado soloing every GM known to man, then yes, the softcap is something you should shoot for. But for almost any teaming environment, any mitigation set survives just fine without being capped. The OP just asked for a way to softcap a nin so I showed how. Doesn't mean it won't survive without it.
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As for the OP, even if you're not softcapping, more def is ALWAYS useful, as long as you're not delving in to the extreme diminishing return over the softcap. I'd have to find the post, but Dechs did a nice writeup about softcapping and def in general. Basically, even as little as 3% more def is actually useful mitigation, wheras 3% more resistance is a waste of time.
So if your survivability is good now, and you just want a little more, going for a bit more def slotting will absolutely show you a difference. Softcapping is more about going "tank mode" on your stalker, making him so ridiculously hard to hit that he's capable of sucking up a full mob's worth of aggro if a tank dies for a while provided his mez protection doesn't get overwhelmed. For stalkers, def softcapping also puts you in a situation where you can use placate-AS as part of an attack chain even in the middle of a huge mob because if you're not taking the hit, you're not getting interrupted. Unlike other melee ATs, for a stalker this directly translates to a larger damage output.
However it's only one way to build a stalker, and shouldn't be considered the only way to do it
Is this any good, then?
The couple slots I stuck in Rest would be going into Stamina, once we get that.
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Roughly speaking, 1% Def is worth 2% Res and 20% Regen*|
Originally Posted by Shadestorm
Oh definately. Most hardline set slotting is overkill for nomal content on most toons. I was just presenting the AoE hole as a playable option for even extreme circumstances that people would commonly softcap for. Aside from situations like the end of the RSF where you might find yourself sucking up multiple AV level aoes at once you can still get that sort of extreme performance. In my case I took retsu specifically for hard AoE situations. Not only did it give me a free slot for a luck of the gambler +rech, but since the build normally operates fine without it, it's usually up and ready to go when I know I'm in that situation.
As for the OP, even if you're not softcapping, more def is ALWAYS useful, as long as you're not delving in to the extreme diminishing return over the softcap. I'd have to find the post, but Dechs did a nice writeup about softcapping and def in general. Basically, even as little as 3% more def is actually useful mitigation, wheras 3% more resistance is a waste of time. So if your survivability is good now, and you just want a little more, going for a bit more def slotting will absolutely show you a difference. Softcapping is more about going "tank mode" on your stalker, making him so ridiculously hard to hit that he's capable of sucking up a full mob's worth of aggro if a tank dies for a while provided his mez protection doesn't get overwhelmed. For stalkers, def softcapping also puts you in a situation where you can use placate-AS as part of an attack chain even in the middle of a huge mob because if you're not taking the hit, you're not getting interrupted. Unlike other melee ATs, for a stalker this directly translates to a larger damage output. However it's only one way to build a stalker, and shouldn't be considered the only way to do it |
That's going for straight def, res or reg. At 40% def, 1% def is worth 10% res or 100% regen*. The reason that I have the asterisk on regen is because, while def and res have a level of mitigation that scales for groups, regen does not. So, v a single target 1-2-20, v two targets 1-2-40, v three targets 1-2-60... You get the idea. Unfortunately, this is problematic for regen builds because they do not have enough regen to come to the level of survivability achieved through res or def builds v large groups.
So I see the terms softcap thrown all over, and have figured out you mean getting to 45% or so Defense values.
My question, then, is how? I know there are IO sets that add bonuses and all that, but either I can't find them (staring at a screen only gets you so far) or they don't seem to be enough.
Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.