Def or Corr?

Starting a new toon, and I was wondering what are the pros and cons of a Trap/AR Defender versus an AR/Trap corruptor. The obvious ones are; Corruptors get more damage, Defenders get more debuff/buff. Does the defenders pros outweigh more damage? Or is that just player preference?

I play a Traps/AR Defender but to be honest I would say that for Traps Corruptor is better. Of the 9 powers in Traps, 3 are actually the same for both ATs (Caltrops, PGT and Triage Beacon) and one (Trip Mine) is actually more powerful on Corruptors (ok, Time Bomb is also better on Corruptors but it's still useless). Another advantage of Defenders (being able to skip Web Grenade) goes away when you pair Traps with Assault Rifle since you want Web Grenade to setup Ignite anyway.

That means a Traps Defender only has four advantages over a Corruptor:
1. Longer duration on Web Grenade
2. An extra 6.6% resistance debuff from Acid Mortar
3. An extra 3.3% Defense from FFG
4. Slightly better debuffs from Seeker Drones

The Web Grenade and Seeker Drone ones don't make a lot of difference, Web Grenade has a pretty good duration anyway, especially if you slot it and I personally use Seeker Drones for taking the alpha more than for their debuff.

The loss of the defense is probably the most painful change going from Defender to Corruptor. The Defender is quite a it easier to softcap since in addition to the extra 5% form FFG he gets better values from pool defense powers as well.

At the end of the day it really comes down to personal preference but for Traps/AR I would say the Corruptor is a better choice than the Defender but at the same time it's not enough better to tempt me into rerolling mine .

I wouldn't underrate the Seeker debuffs. 26.6% for defs and the 2 drones can stack the debuff on one target. So you're talking about a 53% -dmg debuff for a Def vs 40% for a Corr.

They'll both play about the same really. I would say the defender will level in teams easier while the corr will level in solo/small teams easier. But if you overall idea is for a final io'd, incarnated out lvl 50 build, the Corr will probably give you the best mileage. But I'd go DP over AR, AR just feels clunky to me.

It really does come down to personal damage vs buff/debuff values. The higher base damage modifier + Scourge is nice, especially on hard targets. You also don't lose Scourge when you team unlike Vigilance. I went Defender myself (and Dual Pistols) myself for several reasons.

1 - Most of the population focuses on damage, it's really a dime a dozen. If I watch the global channels on Freedom, half the time people are waiting for buffs/debuffs to do the new trials (not there yet, only level 36).
2 - The Leadership pool is very desirable (for some builds/ATs) now that Fitness is inherent. And Defenders get the best numbers from Leadership of every AT in the game.
3 - Stacking solo Vigilance, Defender Assault, IO set damage bonuses, Achilles Heel procs, Chance for Build up procs and Acid Mortar, I have no trouble mowing things down solo.
4 - DP is extremely flexible once you resign yourself to the fact that it isn't top damage, and neither is a Defender to begin with. Remember, Defenders get the best buff/debuff numbers of all the ATs, even in the blast sets that have them. Seeker Drones + Bullet Rain/Empty Clips using Chemical Rounds just decimates a spawns ability to do damage. Switch to Cryo Ammo to slow em down if wanted as well. When solo however, I can squeeze a bit more damage using Incendiary Rounds.
5 - As mentioned, easier to softcap defense. I personally don't hit it as I account for the Seeker Drone debuff, but between FFG, Maneuvers, Stealth and a few set bonuses, I'm between 35-40% to everything. And about 25% of that goes to the team (always welcome).
6 - Once I played around with Mids, I was starving for slots with a Corrupter DP/Trap build, but just barely got what I was looking for with a Defender Trap/DP. This is purely subjective though for what I was looking for.

So once it got down to it, I designed a character that is perfectly suitable for solo play when I want to, yet brings a LOT in terms of buffs/debuffs to a team. And I get to blow #!$@ up with Trip Mine

For me it's:

Defender = Tank
Corruptor = Scrapper

If your main goal is soft capped defenses, it will be easier and cheaper on a Defender. Plus oddly Defenders solo quite well with their +30% self damage buff when solo. So wierdly, I think Defenders shine solo and on small teams, where their self damage buff can matter and their team buffs matter more. On a team of 8, either will be great, with the Corr doing more damage. Though on a fast moving team of 8, /Traps or Traps/ does not fully realize its potential.

I am playing my level 33 Traps/AR with a fellow Traps/AR and a Traps/Pistol. Lots of fun! We set up the kill zone and shoot it up. It's not that fastest team, but victory is always assured.

My Traps/AR is actually a remake of my AR/Devices. It's better (as a Corruptor would be) in every possible way. The Devs should just remove Devices from the game...

I went with a defender with ice secondary purely because it has no knockback powers which can knock the prey out of your acid mortar and poison traps range, plus watching the pretty numbers when the traps are planted, pushing aim and then Blizzard. fun fun fun

I do think Traps/Ice has great synergy. Better than AR. Very safe character to play. I only used AR as it was a remake of my AR/Devices Blaster.

Any trapper is great. Def, Corr or MM, I'm glad to see them join my team.

The small differences in numbers are quickly forgotten in actual play. They've all got the best regen debuff in the game, the same grade-A alpha soaker , the same un-interuptable PGT and Acid mortar laid on the toes of the enemy.

Oh and whatever AT you choose, if you set up traps and pull into them... you're doing it wrong.

I have a Traps/DPs defender. On a small team or even solo, a defender may outdamage a corruptor with the same combo for a defender has higher debuffs and almost +50% damage (with Assault; or could even be higher with set bonus).

On a large (fast moving) team, I still think a defender will do better. In that setting, damage is really not the main concern - other ATs will take care of that easily if not better since they won't need to spend time setting up various traps. Bringing better buffs and debuffs will benefit the team alot more and raise the overall damage and survivability for everyone.

I have not solo a tough target (EBs, AV) yet with that Traps/DPs since it is still at a low level. But I can jump into a sizeable mob and kill them; and the same mob would make a tank or scrapper screaming for 'healer'! Kill by debuffs is what a Traps/ defender aim to achieve.

I'm guessing he read your very first post as saying the defender has +50% damage compared to the corruptor (as opposed to +50% damage period), and he's subtracting 15% (corruptor Assault) to your 48.75% value ; which doesn't quite work, but that's how I read it.

If you're trying to have a discussion about the best/most damaging trapper I'd say bots/traps and thugs/traps are contenders.

That doesn't seem to be the discussion. So far everything in this topic was about "def vs corr".

Sure but if all you care about is damage DAMAGE DAMAGE you should give bots/traps a hard look.

Also, any def -vs- corr discussion needs to factor in scourging rain powers.

I said my piece earlier in the thread - no such thing as a bad trapper, pick based on powersets and ATs you enjoy. If we still want to beat the horse and find a definitive "winner" then bots/traps has gotta be in the mix.

There's a reason people still have this discussion after all these years - the devs did a decent job balancing, and your toon's awesomeness is mostly determined by
1) how you play
2) how you pick/slot powers

So when you're sitting at the character generator screen agonizing over red vs blue trappers, relax. They're all ridiculously powerful solo and on teams.