A Defender disguised as an SoA

If you're duoing, I'd definitely go with Dual Huntsman and as much -resistance as possible. Maybe take one Mace with Shatter Armor and an ST focus, and the other Shark with Arctic breath and an AoE Focus.

For AVs that love to run, make sure between the two of you that your team can stack a minimum of 6 perma, perferably 9, immobilize magnitude vs +4s, which means duration double of that required for perma at +0. If you both take call reinforcements, then the pets can probably do this passably. You may also be able to stack Call Reinforcements with Carnies Lore for the same effect*. AV Marathon Mileage may vary. I hate AV runners. "You're an AV trying to take over the world, why do you run like a chicken with it's head cut off ?"

At that point, you'll be able to Duo Most if not all the TFs in the game, and likely do it at +4x8. You'll each be capable of soloing most +4x8 content with only a few exceptions, most notably Cheat DE and Carnies.

If you went the Fortunata route with confuse, you'd be able to solo those exceptions as well, but at a slower pace, and your Duo speeds on anything harder than a boss, and teaming speeds on all content, would be slower due to the lack of -resistance. On the positive side, the Fortunata psy attacks, if one of you goes ranged and one goes melee, would bypass most T9s. Back on the negative side The Fortunata path also means you won't be able to dual build for a tank build to power through the tougher content, as a NW isn't really any more durable than a Fort, where as a crab alternate build* can be considerably more durable than all other veats at the expense of offense.

* My Soldier (Huntsman Bane/Crab Tank Dual Build)is currently trying to solo a +4x8 ITF and ran into the immobilization problem with Rommy. Rommy's a marathon runner. I'm working up an alternate build with more immoblize and then I'm going to use the carnies with the Reinforcement pets. It should be enough to overcome his immobilize protection and inherent Boss protection. Then he's toast and I win. With his running a marathon the best I managed was to get him to half health, I've got to stop his running.

** Why +4x8? Because I know I can do it at +0, as can almost anyone. However, +4x8, that's a challenge.

Just a general SoA question:

I'm already level 18 but I haven't done my costume mish with Brick Johnson. Can I still go to him to get the mish or will a higher level contact in Cap give it to me?