armors question

Hi all. Ok, I been around for a bit and have had some fun with many archetypes. But, since I ahve never been nor will I ever be a numbers cruncher, I pose a question to those who are...
Out of all of the AT's, which armor types work the best in ITF's and other hi -def attack TF's/Sf's? I had considered Regen since, well, it realy doesnt evade or stop attacks, you just ya know, regen the damage. Any opinions?
Thanks in advance for any and all opinions.

Well, I don't have a straight forward answer for you. I can only tell you what I do and that is to not stay still. The longer I'm standing around, the more chances those guys have to take a swing at me and load me down with -def debuffs. I don't mean to lead them on a chase all over the place. I just jump back and forth over a particular kill spot to force them to keep tracking me. All while taunting and tossing out something like Fireball of course. I might pause for 2 secs to let them gather around me so I can use my PBAOE, but I'm immediately getting out from the crush. Every second that I'm not getting hit is time for the -def debuffs I'm already suffering from to fade.

Super Reflexes can be softcapped (45%) to positional defense pretty easily, and can hardcap Defense Debuff Resistance (95%). This means that enemies will have a 5% chance to hit you (assuming they have no ToHit buffs), and when their debuffing attacks do hit you, the debuff will be at 5% of its original value. SR can actually get above the defense softcap depending on your slotting, so even if you do get hit with some debuffs you could still be sitting at a 5% chance of being hit.

Moving around isn't a bad idea either. I believe all the Cimeroran -Def attacks happen with their swords, which are of course melee attacks, so the less time you spend in melee the less chance you'll have of even being attacked (never mind being hit) with a debuffing attack. I like Claws for this, Focus and Shockwave are good powers to use when you're out of melee range. I also use Ninja Run on my Claws/SR, it keeps me agile in a fight so I can bounce around and reposition myself easily.

Super Reflexes is a beast in an ITF. It has so much defense debuff resistance that you literally have to be hit by 10 of them to even move your defense by 1%.

Shield can be pretty good too, if you slot Hami-Os in Active Defense you can get pretty close to SR levels of DDR.

Ice tanks are alright, as are Energy Aura.

Invuln is absolutely godly in that TF, it gets decent DDR and it resists 90% of the damage in the TF anyway, so the rare hit that gets through is barely going to tickle you.

And just about any secondary paired with Broadsword or Katana will fare pretty well. If you have a moderate amount of defense to begin with, you can get your melee/lethal defense into the stratosphere by leveraging Parry/Divine Avalanche.

Regen actually isn't the best bet. It has no DDR at all, and your ability to soak damage is very dependant on how much is coming in. The Cimerorans will be at 95% chance to hit you very quickly, and regen can't heal that much incoming damage fast enough to live through it.

Claws has it.

Anything with high DDR and/or S/L resistance is going to slaughter the ITF. My shield brute laughs his way through it.

Regen not so much. Heavy stacks of -def or -rech (tangent) are downright brutal to that set. I do love me some regen, but it's lack of debuff resistance (the new -regen resist notwithstanding) is, imo, it's largest weakness.

Debuffs can take you into negative values, so Cimerorans attacking a meleer with 0 defense will have you at -45% defense (95% chance to be hit) in seconds. This applies to basically every type of debuff except for Regeneration and Recovery rates, which floor at 0 hp or end per second.

I24 Proc Chance = (Enhanced Recharge + Activation Time) * (Current PPM * 1.25) / 60*(1 + .75*(.15*Radius - 0.011*Radius*(360-Arc)/30))
Single Target Radius = 0. AoE Non-Cone Arc = 360.

Thanks for all the helpful info and replies guys. It gives me a couple of things to consider for my next 50. I had already had a ss/invuln brute which was 50, but the end was so horrible that I ended up deleting him (The crash not withstanding which killed me everytime it did crash) But /Sr huh? I never tried to get one over 10th lvl before. I have read tha tyou can soft cap them by 18th lvl or so...hrmm...So much to consider. If it does end up being Invuln, I think I am going to have to farm for another 2 weeks for the extra inf to get my end down. but in the mean while I will roll both and see which one I will stick with.
I also have to agree about the claws. I had a claws/ElA (CEBr) up to 40 before I deleted him, was too much easy mode and in AE there isnt much of a challenge farming. But I may give it a go once again in the real game this time. maybe my opinion will differ this time around. How is Km paired with /Sr or /Invuln?


BTW DarkGob, I LOVE your sig;
"You don't lose levels. You don't have equipment to wear out, repair, or lose, or that anyone can steal from you. About the only thing lighter than debt they could do is have an NPC walk by, point and laugh before you can go to the hospital or base." -Memphis_Bill

I just had a thought...How are ?dark or /ElA for ITF? I hear it can rip through preatorian content and first ward (Which I still have yet to find a toon that doesnt get dead the instant I start playing it) Electric offers some nice extra options in it, but dark would have the extra mitigation wouldnt it? How are they comparable to Sr or invuln?

Well, haste, Rage, the Invuln t9 PLUS tough/weave. I made and played that toon before the alpha's so I didnt get a chance to get into them.
So, no words on electric armor or dark? hrmm....

Dark Armor's mitigation isn't too helpful on the ITF. I took my Dark/Dark Brute through it once, didn't go too well. S/L resistance is mediocre for an armor set, the stun from OG isn't going to do much against most of the Cimerorans, who have mez resistance. I think the bosses can buff the minions to give them resistance against the Fear from Touch/Cloak of Fear.

Mind you, I still haven't come up with a satisfying build for my Brute. I'm sure whoever it is who trumpets Dark Armor as an awesome set (Dechs Kaison?) will come in here and say different.

It's nice verses the Cysts in that you can ignore most of the attacks from the guarding mobs if you are rushing the second mission.

Its a good set, but not great in general for the ITF I'd say (and i like Dark Armor - my tank with my name that was WP/DB, and he got exiled in favor of a D/D blaster )

Ok, so that narrows it down to invuln (Super squishy in the first 20 lvls) and electric armor. Both have good heals. Both have good resists. electric has the added bonus of end management (Both taking from mobs and giving back to you).
Invuln I believe has end management as well...Since I am taking claws definately because of the speed and low end usage, neither case would do much until I started on epic powers.
I remember how expensive it was 2 years ago to slot up invuln. It was horrible back then and I still couldnt get my end usage under control with tough/weave running plus rage/haste crash ( Not to mention the invuln t9 crash which ALWAYS killed me). I do remember that I was usualy the last man standing in alot of content with invuln, but if no one was around to take agro from me because of the taunt in invuln I would quickly die...kinda odd how that worked for me LOL.
I like the resists in both electric and invuln. Electric has the added benifit of the aoe damage aura, but is it expensive to properly slot up like invuln used to be?
ugh, I think I am just going to have to try them both out up to So lvl and figure out which would work best for me. thankfuly I have a ticket farmer for just such a problem LOL

45% s/l defense fiery aura. Just kill everything in 2 hits and you won't reach the point of having to worry about cascading defense failure.

Ok, I just had a thought...What about Ea? I got a Km/Ea brute to 45 before the KB annoied me too much, but Ea seemed pretty good since the revamp. Anyone know how it fares in ITF? I never took it there as I never finished slotting him.