Dark/Dark Defender @28 - Build Critique & Guidance
So... no replies. Does that mean I'm brilliant and didn't make any mistakes, or are you just humoring the noob?
Be Well!
Fireheart
*Cracks knuckles*
Okay, for an SO build it looks ok so far. There are a few things I would suggest changing though.
Firstly, try to get one if not two To Hit Debuffs in Darkest Night. It's by far your most potent debuffing ability and even at your level can cripple most mobs if you get it up fast enough.
Ditto for Fearsome Stare. Easily your best control, if you get even one To Hit Debuff enhancement in it, that and Darkest Night will floor most mobs' chances of hitting you.
Where to get these slots from? I'd drop Moonbeam to get one, take one out of Howling Twilight and your Endurance Reduction from Dark Blast to get three at least. Although Moonbeam will become more useful with the coming snipe changes, you don't have Tactics slotted enough yet to make it fire like a normal blast (if you have more than 20% To Hit, which you will with Tactics slotted, snipes will fire with no interrupt or wind up time). Howling Twilight is a great control but you don't have the recharge yet to make it a great weapon. And Dark Blast is hardly an Endurance hog.
As for simple IO tricks, the only ones I can think of would be to get a knockback reduction IO into Shadowfall or Combat Jumping (Steadfast Protection or Karma) or in Fly (Blessing of the Zephyr). Knockback can be annoying but just one of those may make a difference. Also, if you get a Stealth IO such as Unbounded Leap or Celerity, you can slot them into Sprint. This, with Shadowfall, will give you complete invisibility against most mobs, allowing you to position for your cones better. Anything else, I'd have to see a full build to see what you're trying to achieve. But in general, D3s benefit from Endurance Reduction and Recharge. They pack so much -To Hit that a little Defence is nice but you don't need to try and soft cap them.
For what it's worth, my main is a D3 and I run a very cheap set IO build with no purples, PvPs or excessively expensive IOs and he's very effective. 
I hope that helps!
@Dante EU - Union Roleplayer and Altisis Victim
The Militia: Union RP Supergroup - www.themilitia.org.uk
I did intend to reply earlier but the Soldiers of Arachnos forum, where I live, has been hit by a rash of new builds recently.
Being level 28, this DDD build is faced with an unfortunate shortage of enhancement slots. Even so, I think that by level 28, at least a few of your powers should be slotted like you really love them (and none currently are).
In the old days, when fights were slower and more deliberate affairs, I would wait for the tanker to pick a spot to fight. Then I'd throw down a Tar Patch under the mobs, and begin hitting the group with the cones - Fearsome Stare, Tenebrous Tentacles and Night Fall.
These days fights are often over very quickly and the mobs die in place rather than being herded into a neat pile. I find that I don't use Tar Patch unless the fight promises to be a tough one. I just start in with the cones, always leading with Fearsome Stare so that any retaliation will be blunted by the accuracy debuff.
The point of this story is... what is your attack chain? You have slots added to Dark Blast, Gloom, Moon Beam, Tenebrous Tentacles, Night Fall, Fearsome Stare and even Air Superiority. And that's not even mentioning other powers that you're likely to use every fight, like Twilight Grasp. I would pick a few really good attacks and slot them for high performance. The not-so-good attacks can be dropped from the build entirely or, if you are forced to take them, left unslotted and off your hotbar.
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At level 28 I would try to be good with your attack chain, which I would define as Fearsome Stare, Tenebrous Tentacles, Night Fall and Twilight Grasp. Some other useful powers will have to languish without slots. An enhancement in one of your main cone attacks is simply worth a lot more than a slot in Dark Blast.
Using Single Origin enhancements, I would not worry too much about defense and would instread concentrate on crowd control as your best defense. For example, Dark Pit, which can stack with Howling Twilight, will keep you safer than Combat Jumping.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.956
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 49 Magic Defender
Primary Power Set: Dark Miasma
Secondary Power Set: Dark Blast
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Leadership
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Twilight Grasp -- Acc(A), Acc(3), RechRdx(3), RechRdx(5), Heal(19), Heal(19)
Level 1: Dark Blast -- Acc(A)
Level 2: Gloom -- Acc(A)
Level 4: Tar Patch -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(7)
Level 6: Howling Twilight -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(9)
Level 8: Darkest Night -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(11), ToHitDeb(11)
Level 10: Shadow Fall -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(13)
Level 12: Fearsome Stare -- Acc(A), RechRdx(13), RechRdx(15), ToHitDeb(15), ToHitDeb(25)
Level 14: Fly -- EndRdx(A)
Level 16: Tenebrous Tentacles -- Acc(A), Dmg(17), Dmg(17), EndRdx(23), RechRdx(27)
Level 18: Dark Pit -- Acc(A)
Level 20: Night Fall -- Acc(A), Dmg(21), Dmg(21), EndRdx(23), RechRdx(27)
Level 22: Moonbeam -- Empty(A)
Level 24: Maneuvers -- Empty(A)
Level 26: Assault -- Empty(A)
Level 28: Tactics -- Empty(A)
Level 30: [Empty]
Level 32: Dark Servant -- Empty(A)
Level 35: [Empty]
Level 38: [Empty]
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 4: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Health -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Stamina -- EndMod(A), EndMod(7), EndMod(25)
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I appreciate the feedback and thank you!
From what you're saying, I could reinforce those cone attacks and Should do so as I progress. Also, I should wedge Dark Pit into the build, for synergy with Howling Twilight. All of these should be enhanced for secondary effects - which makes sense, since every time I use Howling Twilight in combat, I earn a Ton of aggro and things get real tricky, until the teammates manage to take some of the heat, or the enemy dies.
For attack-chains... I actually run two 'loops' - ST and AoE, and mix-n-match depending on the shape of the crowd I'm working. I want to get some recharge into Fearsome Stare because, as you've said, that's looking like a real workhorse power. Next Respec, I may even prioritize F-Stare more, but I had other concerns when I was building this - basically, the single-target soloing core.
If I were planning a level-lock, TDB's build would certainly be prioritized well, but this is just a snapshot of a character in motion - I got L29 the other night, putting a 4th slot in F-Stare and one in Tactics, slotted with EndRed so I can afford to run it. I expect to look more closely at IOs and Sets when I get up to 30-something.
Again, thanks for the input!
Be Well!
Fireheart
I would disagree with chaining Dark Pit and Howling Twilight until later levels. It's a great combo and will certainly neuter a whole spawn but it requires both powers to be heavily slotted.
Howling Twilight has a very long recharge. Even fully slotted, it's going to be up say every minute. Dark Pit has very poor accuracy and a short duration. It really will need good slotting to make it powerful. At your current level, I'd say that combo is not viable without sacrificing too many slots elsewhere.
Certainly take them both but later when you've got more slots to play with. Dark Pit + Howling Twilight + Oppressive Gloom (if you go the full D3 route) is a joy to behold. 
@Dante EU - Union Roleplayer and Altisis Victim
The Militia: Union RP Supergroup - www.themilitia.org.uk
Alright, that makes sense. The low effectiveness of basic Dark Pit is the reason why I skipped it in the first place. I was just looking at having a response for when Howling Twilight earned me more aggro than I wanted. Tossing in another quick stun-bomb made sense, but I can certainly see holding off on that to the 40s... Or just waiting for F-Stare to recharge and stopping them that way.
Be Well!
Fireheart
I submit that if you are trying to avoid aggro as a Dark/Dark Defender, you're doing something wrong. Your multiple cone attacks should insure that there's always a dozen mobs angry with you. Your debuffs, crowd control, healing and defense should insure that they're helpless to stop you.
I love Howling Twilight and I do sometimes use it as an opener. It's still great if you hold it in reserve for those times you need to turn your crowd control up to 11. But in either case, you still have to apply your debuffs so that your victims are helpless to resist even after they snap out of the stun.
For the ordinary run-of-the-mill spawn that doesn't include a big boss worthy of Darkest Night, the backbone of your debuffing will be Fearsome Stare. With a bit of slotting, you can make Fearsome Stare deliver a huge cone of -25% or better To-Hit debuff.
Dark Pit isn't an amazing crowd control power, but it is your only AoE lockdown power that can be used every fight. Minions debuffed and terrorized by Fearsome Stare and immobilized by Tenebrous Tentacles can still shoot you. Minions stunned by Dark Pit cannot.
Heheh, okay, you're quite right about that and, since I often play Tankers, I should be used to it. I should clarify - it's not the Aggro that I mind, so much as the (somehow) still significant damage that they turn on me. I can throw out HT for the debuff, or to raise a teammate, and the next thing I know, I'm scrambling to stay alive. It seems like HT will override all other aggro... Or it could be that I'm just not running with a Tanker who can hold on to the hate.
In other news, Yes, I am seeing that I've underestimated Fearsome Stare. I Definitely need to pile on the Slots/Enhancements and make that a core part of my routine.
Be Well!
Fireheart
Let's pretend that I'm a Premium player and I could get an IO license for a little while, but I don't have a lot of money. One of my favorite characters is a D3 going on D4. I often solo, but do get small-team work, as well, and I have Zero interest in PvP, so this is just PvE.
Any IOs I get would have to be fairly common and inexpensive, though I am likely to buy recipes and craft them myself, rather than pay exorbitant sums for pre-made, so they don't have to be 'junk'. I'm absolutely open to seeing THIS build maximized, or one very similar, but I have no use for your Purple Incarnate. I'm not trying to say your awesome build is not awesome, but that I Cannot Use It, so please try to stay on topic.
Here's what I'm currently working with. I am interested in SO tweaks, discussion about what the powers can and can't do, and simple IO tricks to make things more fun.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.957
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Black Valkyrie: Level 49 Magic Defender
Primary Power Set: Dark Miasma
Secondary Power Set: Dark Blast
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Dark Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Twilight Grasp -- Acc(A), Acc(5), EndRdx(7), RechRdx(15)
Level 1: Dark Blast -- Acc(A), Acc(3), EndRdx(9), RechRdx(19)
Level 2: Gloom -- Acc(A), Acc(3), EndRdx(11), RechRdx(23)
Level 4: Tar Patch -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(5), RechRdx(11)
Level 6: Darkest Night -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(7)
Level 8: Shadow Fall -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(9), DefBuff(13), ResDam(34)
Level 10: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff(A)
Level 12: Moonbeam -- Acc(A), EndRdx(13)
Level 14: Fly -- EndRdx(A)
Level 16: Tenebrous Tentacles -- Acc(A), Acc(17), EndRdx(17), RechRdx(29)
Level 18: Air Superiority -- Acc(A), Acc(19)
Level 20: Fearsome Stare -- Acc(A), Acc(21), EndRdx(21)
Level 22: Howling Twilight -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(23)
Level 24: Night Fall -- Acc(A), Acc(25), EndRdx(25)
Level 26: Assault -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(27)
Level 28: Tactics -- EndRdx(A)
Level 30: Maneuvers -- Empty(A)
Level 32: Dark Servant -- Empty(A)
Level 35: Dark Consumption -- Empty(A)
Level 38: Petrifying Gaze -- Empty(A)
Level 41: Dark Embrace -- Empty(A)
Level 44: Soul Drain -- Empty(A)
Level 47: Soul Transfer -- Empty(A)
Level 49: Black Hole -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- EndRdx(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run(A)
Level 2: Health -- Heal(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod(A), EndMod(15), EndMod(27)
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Be Well!
Fireheart