tips for a new emp defender please

Took me awhile but I finally found a defender I like playing enough to want to keep playing him but I feel like I'm only so so if that. I have a a hard time tracking buffs and having to click on your target is a pain, any tips?

binds binds binds!

My empath has the numpad 1-8 for each team member.
9 is heal other
subtract is Clear Mind
Multiply is Fortitude
Divide is Adrenaline Boost.

Speed everything!

EDIT: you can bind targeting through numpad directly at Options Keymapping.

/bind subtract "powexec_name Clear Mind"
/bind multiply "powexec_name Fortitude"
/bind divide "powexec_name Adrenaline Boost"
/bind numpad9 "powexec_name Heal Other"
The other powers will need some writing down. Brb

Thank you Tormentoso, what I failed to mention is that I play with a razer naga. So while that helps with the targetting I was hoping for a way to set up some sort of macro system to stream line it a bit. Mouseover macros would be awesome but I don't know if coh supports that. If not I'll figure something out but my bigger concern at this point is tracking who i've put what buff on. The icons are sometimes difficult to differentiate.

I came to CoH after years of playing "healers" in other MMOs, and that experience affected how I play Empathy. My Empath has Fly running 100% of the time, largely for thematic reasons. He has a +Stealth IO that makes him less likely to attract random aggro, and he hangs back or above the team. Pretty-much all attacks, heals and buffs are slotted with a Range IO. Once battle is joined I use my mouse to target and I keep one hand on the hotbar 1, 2 and 3 keys. I tend to be stationary during combat but long range ensures that I can manage a large area. If someone needs a heal and I'm not within range, I punch F to auto-follow until the heal goes off.

Macros work well for buffs, but I find that I must keep my finger on Heal Other at all times, or I may miss that emergency heal.
Heal other is Button #1 on my hotbar, with my attacks occupying 2, 3, 4 and 5.

The combination of long range heals, single-target attacks and stealth means that I can use Absorb Pain freely without getting killed, and I can use it a lot, especially on a team without a strong tank to control aggro. Multiple team memebers may be getting hurt and need heals simultaneously, and there is no substitute for a second heal.

I don't really have any tricks for tracking buffs. I keep Fortitude on whoever I have to keep healing, and Adrenal Boost on the guy who obviously isn't slotted for good endurance efficiency. Between fights I spam Clear Mind on the squishies. Modern teams of 50s seldom need the auras and I rarely implore the team to "Gather for RA".

Let idiots die.

Good advice all around. I have a few more suggestions. My primary is an Empathy Defender who hit 50 back in May 2005, so you could say I've been around the block a bit.

Keep an eye on the archetypes in your team. Tanks, Brutes, and Scrappers can usually survive on Healing Aura, Heal Other, and Absorb Pain. Try to hit Controllers, Blasters, and Masterminds with Auras, Adrenalin Boost, and Fortitude. Basically, the "squishier" the archetype, the more they need boosts.

I really wish Clear Mind worked like Kinetic's Increase Density now does (getting multiple allies). It doesn't, however, so you have make do. If things are going too fast to keep the buffs going, I tell my group "Say 'ZZZ' if you get held" and then I free them up.

With some slotting, you can have up to three team members under Fortitude at once, though you probably will only manage two. I usually pick two team members (the squishiest) and keep Fortitude on them. As soon as I see Fortitude has recharged, I hit one of them with it. When it recharges again, I hit the other.

The advice of staying with the largest group is excellent. You can't do anything for team members who insist on running off to the next group. Focus on the ones you can help.

Concentrate on keeping rez and purple inspirations. There are macros that will automatically combine your inspirations to make them, put them on your screen somewhere. You can generally hit the soft cap for defense by taking three Luck (the smallest) inspirations, or two Good Lucks, (the middle one.) Do this before running into a battle with an AV or EB or a particularly large number of enemies. This lets you mostly ignore the bad guys while you focus on healing your party. Five percent of attacks will still get through, but you can't avoid that. The ressurection inspirations are so you can get back on your feet and start rezzing everyone else.

Get the Leadership Pool and run Maneuvers and Tactics. Defenders have the best stats for that pool, and every bit helps.

I find the Teleport Pool also useful, especially for Recalling Friends for rezzes after a TPK.

My primary travel power is Super Speed. Slotted with a Celerity: Stealth IO (it stacks with Super Speed's own stealth) I can become invisible to most mobs (except for Elite Bosses, Archvillains, Snipers, and mobs that can specifically see through stealth like Rikti Drones.) One toggle that lets me move fast and stealth missions... it can also help me avoid some aggro.

You can blast, but try to do it only when your group is doing well. I have a level 50 Empathy/Radiation Blast Defender. I usually only fire off Cosmic Burst (which disorients) and Irradiate (which debuffs opponents Defense). Basically, fire off a blast if no one needs healing and you've got Endurance to spare.

Anyway, that's enough rambling on. I know some of this isn't what you asked, but I hope that you find it useful.

A mistake I see even veteran empaths making: Fortitude is single target, but so is clear mind. Just as you keep clear mind on as many team members as need it, fortitude should be kept on as many applicable team members as possible. Without any recharge slotting, fortitude has a 120 second duration, 60 second recharge. That's two team members minimum; slotted with three recharge single origin enhancements, you can keep it on 4 team mebers at all times.

To be blunt, the best empaths are the aware ones, and fortitude use is one of the best litmus tests of a good empath. Its three values are defense, (less healing needed) damage, (foes die faster=less support needed, as threats are eliminated) and tohit. (Team having trouble hitting? Here's the solution!) If the defender is aware of their team, they can use these three values to greatly benefit their teams' performance.

Fortitude first priority: damage prevention. Healing may fix the trouble your enemies give your team, but you can't help them in between heal recharges. Enter fortitude. If one ally is receiving lots of damage, fortitude that sucker and give your healing some breathing room. Do not automatically fortitude the tank: automatically fortitude the person taking most damage. Fortitude's defense is awesome on players with some defense-based protection, but not a lot. This complements such defense, making them FAR less vulnerable.

Second priority: killing stuff. The damage boost is based on the targeted ally's base damage, so this is the very best on allies that kill things quickly. Blasters/dominators take priority, as they have less to no protection, and very high damage. Make them high damage and less squishy? Yes please. Dominators have controls that need to hit, so they then make the team safer for them too. Second place goes to scrappers, squids, stalkers, Arachnos and corruptors, IF everyone is fine. Again, fortitude the those TAKING lots of damage first, then those MAKING lots of damage.

Stuff that needs to hit: This is only somewhat a problem, but can be a bit difference in special circumstances. Controls/targeted buffs/debuffs make this important. Controllers, dominators, kineticists, dark miasmists, and many such will appreciate the better chance at hitting a target, and when they do, both they and you and the team are safer. Lowbies on the team will also like the boost to accuracy, if they can't slot for it well yet. Also important when facing a foe that has very high defense, like crey boss' defensive godmodes. In such circumstances, prioritize the ally that has defense debuffs that must hit, then damage dealers. They are more likely to get through the defense and kill those bosses.

Other important buffs: Adrenalin Boost is another triple value power. Huge regen, recovery, and recharge.

First priority is the regeneration: if somebody on your team has trouble staying alive, this will fill their health quickly, between healing.

If nobody his getting hit with a lot of damage, second priority is recharge. If someone on the team has strong abilities on a long recharges, hit them. They perform better, helping the whole team. Controllers/dominators lock down better, dominators get domination faster for boss lockdown. Other defenders, corruptors, controllers, and masterminds get faster buffs/debuffs for team survival. You may have no enemy debuffs, but if someone on the team does, this allows them to weaken a tough foe more quickly. Blasters, corruptors, and defenders get their big damage powers/AoE's faster.

Last is recovery. Use this on someone who is truly gasping, and extra endmod slotting makes it counter a nukes' crash. By higher levels this is less of a concern, and this only allows the ally to do more of what they do, not do it any better. Exception being when facing endurance draining foes, target the player that is most likely going to be hit with those draining attacks. (Fighting Arachnos mu, malta sappers, carnie ring mistresses, melee allies fighting carnies, etc. are all good times to negate the endurance drain.)

RA auras: it's tempting to use these as soon as they recharge. Don't! Use them when you need them, or just before. Regeneration Aura fills in the health lost before you heal it, or if damage taken isn't that high, negates the need for you to heal. Recovery Aura works with adrenalin boost to negate a nuke crash, or to fill up a friend who is getting sapped dry by a sapping enemy, or just to help a high endurance use ally. Get used to the range, or hit healing aura before firing them. This way you can fire them and hit the team without a huge "GATHER FOR RA"S!" shout. Why do they need to gather, if you can hit them more quickly in a fight or as you are going toward the next fight? The "GATHER!" tactic slows down the team, and focuses all the attention on you. (Granted, the latter might be part of why so many do it)

Pool powers that help empaths:

Leadership: Every power in this pool stacks with your powers. Assault is the clear winner: you have no way to make enemies weaker, thus die faster, but defenders have the strongest assault in the game, and this stacks well with the fortitude boost to make allies more dangerous to your foes. Manuevers is low on defense, buts its bit of extra defense goes with fortitude for less damage taken. The high tohit of tactics makes fortidue hit even more often. Vengeance heal more, boosts more damage, Gives a large defense boost (Less healing needed!) and resistance to mez. (less clear mind needed!) I you use your resurect at all, this is a great power to use just before it.

Speed: hasten. All your powers are based off of their recharge. Hasten is handy as it makes your powers come back faster if you need them to. Just be warned, without recovery aura, this may make your endurance usage go up. But since vigilance (your inherent power) works directly with empathy, if your team is taking lots of damage, you'll have endurance to spare. A warning: hasten is UGLY, and conflicts with many costumes.

Teleport: teleport ally. If you need to resurrect an ally that's died in a dangerous place, or have vengeance and want to buff the team on a dead team member before resurrecting them, this lets you teleport the ally to a better place before waking them.

*EDIT to add:*
Empathy benefits more than other buff/debuff sets from knowing how other powersets work. If you have to choose between healing a super reflexes ally and a regeneration ally, heal the super reflexes, especially if the regeneration hasn't used their heal yet. The SR ally can't heal themselves, the other can. Kinetics needs to connect, and can be squishy, especially if they jump into melee to benefit from their buffs. They need more clear mind and fortitude, and adrenalin boost makes their fulcrum shifts faster. Traps has lots of long recharge gadgets, so adrenalin boosting them gives way better debuffs in a stationary fight. And so on. Knowing what needs healing more, what needs more recharge, what needs more defense. All this plays a part in choosing what powers to use on who when.

Between the thread overall (specially concerning binds and/or hot keys) and Seldom's excellent post ... not much to add.

Quote:

... To be blunt, the best empaths are the aware ones, and fortitude use is one of the best litmus tests of a good empath. ...

First sign I see that I've let my offender side get the better of me and I've come down with scrapperlock is when my brain finally sees the number of teammates under Fort is less than 4. Happens way too often some days

Quote:

... Empathy benefits more than other buff/debuff sets from knowing how other powersets work. ...

QFE