Non soft cap numbers..
By
Boomie,
Posted on: 2011-02-04 19:31 in Archetypes and Powers General Discussion
Low 30s would work very well; it'll cut down on about 60% of the incoming attacks normally, and a single (small) luck will be enough to temporarily softcap against really nasty crowds.
Rule number six of an empathy defender is NEVER underestimate a blaster's ability to die. I don't care if he has CM, Fort, both RAs, bubbles (both FF and Sonic), and is fighting next to a Storm defender with hurricane on. If there is a way to die in that situation, the blaster will find it.
A lot depends on what you plan to fight. Both FA and DA rely a lot on heals... your defense and resists just need to slow down damage enough for Healing Flames or Dark Regeneration to deal with it. Very heavy burst damage (like alphas from 8-man spawns) will require higher defense to deal with, with less defense needed for smaller spawns.
Also, it depends on if you plan to mostly solo or group. In a group you probably won't be taking all the aggro and you'll generally have buffs or heals, but soloing the same spawn will require extra defense to keep you alive until you can heal yourself.
Unless you have a specific goal in mind, like soloing +2/x8 or something, I'd suggest getting whatever defense you can work in without compromising your damage or recharge slotting and then adjust your difficulty as needed while soloing. Recharge bonuses can help you more than defense, since healing again quicker is probably more important than dodging a bit more often. And of course dead mobs do no damage, so the quicker you can kill them the squishier you can get away with being. 
Cascade, level 50 Blaster (NRG/NRG since before it was cool)
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I haven't tried softcapping /DA but it is possible to softcap /FA to S/L while still getting other good bonuses. If you want to shoot for all types then like Doc said low 30's is good.
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Dark Armor is easier to softcap thhan Fire, because it includes Cloak of Darkness. I can't remember if its defense suppresses at all, but it still provides enough defense to account for one set bonus that fire would have to pick up.
Agreed with the others: you'll never softcap a resist-based character to everything (maybe an Invuln tank, but they're more of a hybrid anyways). But softcapping S/L on a character with high resistances will make a massive difference.
And ignore the "Cascading Defense Failure" whiners. First, the enemy has to hit you to start the cascade, which doesn't happen as often as they'd have you believe. Second, even when a cascade happens, when the 45% debuff drops you to 0% def and gives enemies a 50% chance to hit, the character with 0% base is now at -45%, and enemies have capped (95%) chance to hit. Finally, if your defense cascades to -45%, you'll still have your resistances to fall back on, and you'll have taken less hits while getting that low on defense.
@Roderick
Quote:
This is what I normally do.|
Originally Posted by Doctor_Kumquat
Low 30s would work very well; it'll cut down on about 60% of the incoming attacks normally, and a single (small) luck will be enough to temporarily softcap against really nasty crowds.
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And yes, cascading defense failure IS your enemy, WILL happen very often and when it does, resistance will mean little (especially when fighting Cimerorans, Kheldians, Arachnos or Longbow; and DE too will be problematic for their quartz)
Yeah, you'll certainly notice a difference if you have around 30% defense. Like Silverado said, defense debuffs are the main problem. However, you can get more use out of purple inspirations and it will be easier to softcap. So, if you're good with using inspirations, defense debuffs aren't too big of an issue.
[U][URL="http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=251594"][/URL][/U]
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Going from 0% defense to -45% defense doesn't quite double the amount of incoming damage. Going from 45% defense to 0% defense creates a twenty-fold increase in incoming damage.|
Originally Posted by Roderick
Second, even when a cascade happens, when the 45% debuff drops you to 0% def and gives enemies a 50% chance to hit, the character with 0% base is now at -45%, and enemies have capped (95%) chance to hit. Finally, if your defense cascades to -45%, you'll still have your resistances to fall back on, and you'll have taken less hits while getting that low on defense.
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Just like how every point of defense is worth more as you get closer to the softcap, each point of debuff hurts more the closer you get to the softcap. Even being debuffed by 5% from the softcap is worse than being debuffed from 0% to -45%.
Code:
This is my ss/fire build, I've got fire/cold def to 41% on a brute... I put on veng since I'll mostly farming with this guy, most the time with friends and a lowbie here and there. Fire armor is far too squishy for my liking for normal content.
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Originally Posted by Silverado
This is what I normally do.
And yes, cascading defense failure IS your enemy, WILL happen very often and when it does, resistance will mean little (especially when fighting Cimerorans, Kheldians, Arachnos or Longbow; and DE too will be problematic for their quartz) |
Cascading defense failure is a problem. But it is not a serious one, unless you're stupid enough to take a resist based set and not take any of the resist shields. Yes, the defense may quickly disappear, but you'll still take less damage than a character with the same sets and no defense. Remember, the resist-based sets were balanced to be as survivable as the defense-based ones. So even if you're stripped down to 0% defense, you'll have more defense than the person who started at 0%, you'll have taken less damage getting there, and you will survive longer.
Not sure where you get off saying that Resistance will do very little. Again, the resist sets are designed to be as survivable as the defense ones, and from the groups you listed, only Longbow has serious resist debuffs. Arachnos has a few, and has toxic and psi damage, but pure resist sets often have at least something to protect against one or both of those.
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Originally Posted by Katie V
Going from 0% defense to -45% defense doesn't quite double the amount of incoming damage. Going from 45% defense to 0% defense creates a twenty-fold increase in incoming damage.
Just like how every point of defense is worth more as you get closer to the softcap, each point of debuff hurts more the closer you get to the softcap. Even being debuffed by 5% from the softcap is worse than being debuffed from 0% to -45%. |
The softcapped character takes 50 damage out of the original hit. When debuffed to 0% def, they take 500 damage (that's 10x BTW, not 20x).
Conclusion: Until you stack enough debuff to bring the attacker's chance to hit to 95%, the character with any amount of defense will take less damage than the not-softcapped one.
And if my blaster, who is softcapped to S/L can run Council (who are rife with defense debuff) at x8 and survive, a tank, brute or scrapper (the only ATs that can take both of the powersets named in the OP) that already has resists and a heal to fall back on will do better while softcapped.
If you don't believe me, go find Dech Kaison's thread titled "Dark Armor Sucks!" and watch the video there.
@Roderick
Quote:
If you can't get to 45%, aim for 32.5%. That's the amount required to softcap with a small purple. Keep in mind that doing so will need you to keep a handful of said small purples in your tray. Of course, any team def buffs can easily bring you to the cap from that point.
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Originally Posted by eryq2
On something like FA and DA it seems impossible to reach the cap numbers. What %'s would make these two very sturdy? I was in mids on a spines/dark and am getting in teh mid 50's in resists, and upper 20- lower 30%'s in defenses. Would those %'s be good enough combined with the damage output to make me not faceplant every mob?
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Quote:
This is what I do. Once you get to know your enemies and what debuffs they tend to throw around, you can preemptively chomp the necessary inspirations to keep yourself moving right along. I usually stick with S/L def on resistance-based toons, which provides solid survivability through much of the game. There are factions and specific enemies that will be able to either ignore or completely shut down that defense, but you have to decide if you're willing to make the build sacrifices to get defense to more damage types.
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Originally Posted by YoumuKonpaku
If you can't get to 45%, aim for 32.5%. That's the amount required to softcap with a small purple. Keep in mind that doing so will need you to keep a handful of said small purples in your tray. Of course, any team def buffs can easily bring you to the cap from that point.
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On something like FA and DA it seems impossible to reach the cap numbers. What %'s would make these two very sturdy? I was in mids on a spines/dark and am getting in teh mid 50's in resists, and upper 20- lower 30%'s in defenses. Would those %'s be good enough combined with the damage output to make me not faceplant every mob?