I have literally every kind of defender except...

except empathy. I love being a defender. I love taking care of the team and everyone around me. I love all of my different types of defenders. They all have they're little thing of awesomeness, but I haven't made a permanent person with empathy power.


I had one that got to about 31, but because of my altinitous and some cousins who wanted to make take some spots on my main server, (grr you evil spawns from satan) I lost this toon amoung others. (r.i.p.)

She was a empathy/energy...and even though it went amazingly well (concept wise) for my toon, (white-lighter esk) I want to make it a great toon now.

Now granted I have one of every kind of defender. Here is my list of combos I currently have. I want to try a different secondary, because I want to branch out

sonic/sonic
Dark/dark
Cold/dark
Strom/ice
Forcefield/rad
Kinetics/sonic
Rad/electric
Trick arrow/dual pistols ( p.s. the drawback on the weapons really isnt that bad at all, especially since as a defender on a team you rarely have time to attack when using the trick arrow set and by the time the weapon change happens there is not that much down time at all I promise. try it. fun set. Super versatile if you know your enemies weaknesses and gives you that extra edge )


but basically want to try other secondary effects that might be good. Was looking into psychic because I've never used it on a defender, but I can only imagine the horror stories trying to solo the carnies.

I try to solo with all my defenders, so this will need to be important information because I do solo a lot...but being an empath, I could see not getting that chance much. lol.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
( I have been trying to make this toon for a while...and I decided who better to help then you guys! )

I have every kind of defender except...

Time manipulation

BP will also give /psy fits, but I think certain mobs being an issue is rather low these days since you can pick and choose what missions you do.

Its a bit of a contradiction isn't it?

On the one hand, the ability to strengthen and foritfy, and on the other, the ability to destroy with unbelievable efficiency!

I like

Empathy / Fire FTW

Emp/Psi is fine. You sound like me when I was at a similar point where I had all Defender primaries except for Emp and I also had never used Psi, so I paired them.

Yes, certain mobs are to be avoided solo. That's easy enough and a fair tradeoff to be able to do full damage to Statesman, Maurader many more through their T9s.

okay cool thank for the adivce

It's really really hard to wait till I can get fire. plus with time manipulation and thermal i'm already gonna have a lot of work on my hands.

I guess i'll go with psychic then Thank you!

This is exactly why I need to post more. Little things like this run through my head all the time

I have a Fire/thermal corruptor, so the combo has been done, if not defender-style. I hope I hope I hope they proliferate poison to corruptors -- the glee factor would be off the chart.

Emp/psi is my main, and both carnies and robot ANYTHING but clockwork will make you want to tear your hair out. However, being able to land said parting shot on unstoppable or MOGed paragon protectors is just sweet too. Soloing anything is doable on an empath, being doing it off and on for 7 years, but do not expect it to be fast, and against resistant enemies can be mind numbingly slow. Wouldn't change her for the world though, fear them pink bubbles!

I wish they put poison for defenders. Oh that would be grand.


I think i'm gonna make that toon very soon now. empathy/psychic. i likes

You seem to have an interesting bunch of Defenders. Kin/Sonic never occurred to me... that sounds pretty interesting.

As for your Empathy Defender, I think Psychic Blast is probably the most interesting secondary that you haven't listed. There's also Archery and Assault Rifle, but neither of those really have strong secondary effects. As for soloing, I essentially never soloed my Empath, so I can't help much there. But I had a ton of fun soloing my FF/Psy, so hopefully you get some of that.

And now, because I can't help it, here's what I've got:

Empathy/Electric/Power
Force Field/Psychic
Trick Arrow/Archery
Radiation/Radiation
Kinetics/Energy
Dark/Dark
Cold/Ice
Kinetics/Dual Pistols
Sonic/Sonic
Sonic/Dark
Traps/Assault Rifle
Storm/Electric
Trick Arrow/Sonic

And currently planned for I21:
Time/Beam
Thermal/Radiation
Storm/Fire

Good luck on all things Defender-y! They are awesome!

There's guy in my SG that runs an Empathy Defender.

He has a Patron Pet and and 2 offensive Lore pets. He spends his time healing and buffing them.

Before level 50, he kept himself stocked with back-up radios.

He does extremely well for himself solo.

I'd personally recommend Empathy/Sonic over /Psy. I think it'll benefit more from the -res than the -rech, in teams and solo. I've a Kin/Psy at 50, and she's pretty much retired, as the longer activation times for some of the Psychic Blast powers eventually got on my nerves. After that, I'd opt for Empathy/Dark, for the -tohit/control.

As for the band wagon:
Dark/Dark/Dark (My main, 50+3, nothing else is nearly as fun)

Storm/Elec (50+3, was built to tank an all-'fender MoSTF)
Rad/Rad (50+1, semi-retired, only used on request)
Kin/Psy (50, retired and working on Dark/Kin 'ruptor, to make use of higher damage cap)
Cold/Ice (37, will likely be my next Incarnate project)
TA/A (22/remaking as 'ruptor)
Emp/Elec (37/retired thru boredom, sadly)
Traps/AR (x2 haven't decided which account to use, nor got a concept I'm happy with yet)
Sonic/Sonic (14, currently on perma-hold due to GFX/noise)
FF/various (haven't settled on a secondary, /Elec of late, /DP next - I wonder if the name Bubblegun's taken..)

In i21:
Time/Energy (I think the effects will look nice together, and fly at 4 will mean the rooting won't annoy me like it did when I had FF/nrg)
Thermal/Fire (have avoided Thermal until it was a 'fender primary, as I've always had something else on the go)
Traps/Freem Rifle (possibly a fine AV/GM soloer - soft-cap, debuffs and lots of ST attacks)

Distant Future:
Hoping for Poison/Thorn Blast

I think Empathy is the only defender primary that I can't enthuse myself about. Lower levels are quite busy, but I found as I went higher, more and more of my powers were becoming less and less effective. It's probably the only one that I'd prefer on a Controller, and I'll eventually go for Ill/Emp I think, just as I can't decide what else I want with Illusion (concept-wise, not synergy). Even then, I doubt it will be used very often.

Well, I made a toon for the empath and i've delted her twice now. I think i might also consider sonic. My sonic defender does great damage all on her own so that's good for refrence. I was thinking of getting a patron pet withm my empath as well. you're right. with the patron and the lore pets i'd do really well healing my own team....also considering to possibly make a mm with pain domination for easier solo and playing.
Dark sounds good too, but i'm afraid of over using dark because it it amazing. I love my dark/dark (and soon/dark) defender and catch my self plying that toon and all my other toons say 8 days last played. haha



p.s. I want poison for defender )))


p.p.s. Sonic/sonic gets a lot better as you go and I would suggest you play this "extinct" defender if not only for the fact that there are only a few of us. I know two other sonic defenders and let me tell you...it gets crazy whenever all three of us team.

Don't forget you could also try a /Empathy Controller.

turning off the sounds helps. I haven't actually play with sound in years. I just turn on some good music and jam out. I agree though. sonic is ugly. just ugly sounding.


I have a controller...I dont know ho wI like them. I like the idea of controllers, but I need a little more damage than that. I love my ice/sonic toon, but I could see where this may not have been the best choice for damage. I guess I should probably try soomething along the lines of gravity/kinetics then....but I love my defenders and tanks so much. I know soon I will probably expand into other playstyles. Been quite fond of SoA lately as well as dom.