Only if you intend on farming Incarnate trials, and even then, not really, as there should be plenty of defense buffs to spare. 45% defense is the sweet spot. Another percentage point or two would be helpful to pad against defense debuffs, but more than that is overkill.
@Celestial Lord and @Celestial Lord Too
The only character I've bothered getting to the "Incarnate softcap" is an /SR Scrapper, just because I could. I don't count my VEATs; I could hardly avoid doing it. As CL said, usually you can depend on the kindness of strangers for the extra bit. (Edit: I forgot I have a Shield/ Tanker build as good as the /SR.)
I also have a DP/MM Blaster, and rather than add more defense to those areas, I added more areas. Something to think about.
'I don't like the look of it at all,' said the King: 'however, it may kiss my hand if it likes.'
'I'd rather not,' the Cat remarked.
'Don't be impertinent,' said the King, 'and don't look at me like that!' He got behind Alice as he spoke.
'A cat may look at a king,' said Alice.
Yes, but only if you can do so while also maintaining high recharge (to abuse the crashless nuke and maintain perma-DP), not skipping any mandatory powers and not crippling your enhancement values.
Also trials have a lot of exotic damage in general, and energy damage in particular. 45% S/L/E in trials will be a lot more survivable than 60% S/L and 20% everything else. I do not consider pure S/L defense builds worth playing if that is the main mitigation the character has.
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I would say that if you have the influence to spare, it's generally worth it.| (Could re-name this thread to; "is Gladiator's Armor: +3% Def bonus worth putting on a blaster? if it will take you to 60%+?) |
On the other hand, be aware that there's nothing magical about 60% defense compared to 57% defense. It's just slightly better. Highlevel (?) Praetorian base tohit is 59%, yes, but they also come with multiple tohit buffs and numerous defense debuffs. Without DDR, much more defense or active mitigation, if you're the sole target you're likely to suffer some kind of defense debuffage.
Thank you all! I have played around with the build a bit after listening to you all, and decided to go with a lot less defense spread around more, and to focus more on the clicky powers that increase survivability. But mostly I want to ramp up the single target dps over the build I was testing as that proved to be too tasty to pass up in testing.
Here is the build that prompted me to start this thread, though I have since started working on a different concept for myself.
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((Dropping pistols from my build and trying Dual Wield + Executioners shot with Piercing Rounds for my ST attack chain made a surprising improvement.))
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Actually, if you like fighting Romans with a character who has no DDR I'd shoot for more than a couple percent over... if you can still be at or very near the softcap after one sword hit it greatly reduces the chance of cascading failure. On the other hand, just reaching 45% on a Blaster often involves build sacrifices so whether another 6-8% or so is worth losing out on more damage or recharge is debatable.
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Originally Posted by Celestial_Lord
Only if you intend on farming Incarnate trials, and even then, not really, as there should be plenty of defense buffs to spare. 45% defense is the sweet spot. Another percentage point or two would be helpful to pad against defense debuffs, but more than that is overkill.
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Cascade, level 50 Blaster (NRG/NRG since before it was cool)
Mechmeister, level 50 Bots / Traps MM
FAR too many non-50 alts to name
[u]Arcs[u]
The Scavenger Hunt: 187076
The Instant Lair Delivery Service: 206636
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But on a dp/mm, he should be wiping out anything less than +4s in a matter or seconds, then just have a boss or two left. At that point, even if he got dropped to 38 (Don't know the debuff number for one sword swing, just ballparking), he should still be able to kill it before it kills him. Especially since /mm has regen to help it survive as well.
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Originally Posted by StrykerX
Actually, if you like fighting Romans with a character who has no DDR I'd shoot for more than a couple percent over... if you can still be at or very near the softcap after one sword hit it greatly reduces the chance of cascading failure. On the other hand, just reaching 45% on a Blaster often involves build sacrifices so whether another 6-8% or so is worth losing out on more damage or recharge is debatable.
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DP/MM is going to flatten spawns fast when HoB is up, but that's not going to be every spawn (or even every other spawn without very high recharge). On non-HoB spawns he's going to probably need about 10 seconds to clear the minions (7 or so if only fighting even cons), which gives time for quite a few sword or gun attacks. 45% S/L defense will do the job most of the time, but there will be cases where he takes a couple of hits, gets debuffed down to 30% or so defense while clearing the minions, and then gets flattened by a lucky boss hit before he can regen the damage or take down the boss(es). Whether it's worth trying to stack an extra 8-10% defense to make that scenario far less likely is going to depend on the OP's playstyle and tolerance for faceplanting... it's a question of whether you want to die less often or kill things a bit quicker.
Cascade, level 50 Blaster (NRG/NRG since before it was cool)
Mechmeister, level 50 Bots / Traps MM
FAR too many non-50 alts to name
[u]Arcs[u]
The Scavenger Hunt: 187076
The Instant Lair Delivery Service: 206636
Would taking S/L defense up to 60% be worth it for my blaster? For just standard playing around doing trials and taskforce stuff? Obviously overkill for farming, but I was messing around with Mids..
dp/mm
(Could re-name this thread to; "is Gladiator's Armor: +3% Def bonus worth putting on a blaster? if it will take you to 60%+?)