Assuming you slotted defense into your enforcers, your thugs were probably softcapped with /traps. Throw in /traps' plethora of debuffs and it's a powerhouse. It is one of the most overpowered sets in the game, and there's a reason people gravitate to it when trying to build for AVs or +4/x8 play.
I can only speculate on /thermal's end usage, as I've never played the set. Make sure you're slotting the resist powers well, the more your boys resist the less you'll have to heal. After that it's like most sets, slot a reasonable amount of -end in powers, and look to I/Os for the rest.
Be sure to slot defense in enforcers; assuming you take maneuvers and slot the +def uniques, they should be around 30% def to all, which while it isn't softcapped is still nothing to sneeze at.
Yeah, I'll definitely have to drop some defense into my Leadership and into the Enforcers. Can you softcap the thugs with non-set IO's in Leadership and Enforcers?
A major culprit is probably the PBAoE heal Warmth, it's a bit of an endurance pig. And if you are running Leadership toggles that'll slow your recovery of the endurance Warmth eats up. If you slot more endurance reduction into Warmth and have an endurance reduction in your leadership toggles, I expect you'll see a significant improvement.
Arc #40529 : The Furies of the Earth
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Yeah, I've got one Endurance SO dropped in Warmth, but nothing in the toggles. I'll try that.
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Originally Posted by Obscure Blade
A major culprit is probably the PBAoE heal Warmth, it's a bit of an endurance pig. And if you are running Leadership toggles that'll slow your recovery of the endurance Warmth eats up. If you slot more endurance reduction into Warmth and have an endurance reduction in your leadership toggles, I expect you'll see a significant improvement.
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A single endurance SO in each of the toggles makes a surprising amount of difference. You'll like it.
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Originally Posted by Warlocc2
Yeah, I've got one Endurance SO dropped in Warmth, but nothing in the toggles. I'll try that.
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You might as well not bother trying to softcap them for /thermal. You'll need all the end you can get to keep them healed. |
Originally Posted by Warlocc2
Yeah, I'll definitely have to drop some defense into my Leadership and into the Enforcers. Can you softcap the thugs with non-set IO's in Leadership and Enforcers?
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Enforcers' leadership powers are about a 7.5-8.5% boost each (for a total of 15-17% def if the thugs stand in both auras), depending on what level they are. More if you enhance them (23% would be quite average I think). If you have gang war, then you can slot both Edict of the Master +5% defense and the Expedient Reinforcement +5% defense, bringing the total up to 33%. But you're not going to close the gap from there to 45%. Your own leadership power only adds maybe 3.5% if you enhance it well, but costs a ton of endurance.
For /Traps, the needed 12% to reach softcap is easily gained from FF generator.
/Traps is not OP'ed, its just much more effective than others in most situations. 
The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
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Getting it into the 30s actually seems pretty decent, particularly if you can heal on top of it. Is there anything else that can be done to bring it up? As I hit 50, I can frankenslot for recovery, if need be.
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Originally Posted by Berzerker_NA
You might as well not bother trying to softcap them for /thermal. You'll need all the end you can get to keep them healed.
Enforcers' leadership powers are about a 7.5-8.5% boost each (for a total of 15-17% def if the thugs stand in both auras), depending on what level they are. More if you enhance them (23% would be quite average I think). If you have gang war, then you can slot both Edict of the Master +5% defense and the Expedient Reinforcement +5% defense, bringing the total up to 33%. But you're not going to close the gap from there to 45%. Your own leadership power only adds maybe 3.5% if you enhance it well, but costs a ton of endurance. For /Traps, the needed 12% to reach softcap is easily gained from FF generator. |
The 30's is about all you can hope for, and while it makes a difference, it's no soft-cap. My thugs/poison thugs are ~33% when in range of me and the enforcers. That's with 2x lvl-50 defense IO in enforcers, moderately slotted maneuvers, and both defense uniques. Short of taking a defense-boosting alpha power, that's about as good as it'll get. And even doing that would take you maybe to 38 or so, still a good ways from the cap.
So, I rolled myself a new MM, and I decided to try thugs/thermal. I've used thugs/traps to endgame before and it was great, but I wanted to try /thermal to see if they would be even better with a heal.
For one, I don't remember them dropping so fast- is my memory bad or is the FF generator really that significant?
For another, it seems like I'm always out of endurance, I think mostly from healing. Is that a problem with thermal that goes away as you get your IO's and slot Stamina (or Bruiser), or am I doing something wrong?