A proper guide to min maxing/builds?

Many of my builds settle for 32.5% to something but for me it's not a budget issue, more of an "I need room for recharge, etc. too" sort of thing. Basically building up something like ranged defense is very cheap, use full Thunderstrike sets in your ranged attacks, full Mako's Bite sets in your melee attacks, full Gaussian's sets in Aim or Tactics, and the new Defender/Troller ATO sets offer ranged defense bonuses for 6 slots also I believe. Just get a calculator out if you can't use Mids, add up the bonuses, and then go to your combat attributes in game and add up the defense you're already getting from Combat Jumping, Weave, Maneuvers, and any defensive toggles you might have in your primary/secondary such as Arctic Fog.

Another common defense goal to build to the softcap is smashing and lethal. This is equally easy but often more expensive. If you play a support class character, you have the option of Scorpion Shield, which I personally never take because I prefer to build my defense through pool toggles and set bonuses and use an epic shield that will give me resistance for layered survivability. Once again for s/l defense you'll want Weave, Maneuvers, and Combat Jumping/Hover. The good thing about Weave on a support class character is that it also gives you access to Boxing and Kick. Those two plus Brawl provide you with three places to mule Kinetic Combat sets which combined with toggles will do a lot to bridge the gap between no defense and reaching the softcap.

Kin Combats are a bit more expensive than things like Thunderstrikes which are so cheap they might as well be free, but you have the option of saving Villain merits to get the Kinetic Combat pieces you need, and if you're just using them as set mules you can skip the tri and use the chance to KD proc in order to save yourself some cash. Another useful way to add on to your s/l defense is 2 slotting Rectified Reticles in Tactics, Aim, and anything else that will accept the set.

Edit: And don't forget about Steadfast: 3% defense. This isn't that expensive especially compared to its counterpart, the Gladiator's Armor 3% defense, but again you can use Villain Merits to pick it up if your funds are limited. This can be placed in Tough, and any other resistance power you might have. It's useful for any defense goal.

Pretty much anything is possible. I threw a build together for a /Time Mastermind that softcapped all positions, but it was pretty expensive. That wasn't all due to the defense, it was also due to wanting perma Chrono Shift and layered resistance and defense. Don't forget that things like pool toggles and the Steadfast unique are helping to bring up all of your defenses though. After that, it's just a matter of reaching your goals with a smart build plan and using your slots wisely.