Empathy Defender discussion...

[TeanninBramblefeet]

Figured I might as well post what my build is/is gonna be, and give some advice from the mistakes I've made, and give some tips to would-be emp-defenders! =)

Archetype: Defender
Primary Powers - Buff/Debuff : Empathy
Secondary Powers - Ranged : Radiation Blast
Slot[01] Level 1 (Starting Primary) : Healing Aura
Slot[02] Level 1 (Starting Secondary) : Neutrino Bolt
Slot[03] Level 2 : Heal Other
Slot[04] Level 4 : Absorb Pain
Slot[05] Level 6 : Hasten
Slot[06] Level 8 : Recall Friend
Slot[07] Level 10 : Resurrect
Slot[08] Level 12 : Hover
Slot[09] Level 14 : Teleport
Slot[10] Level 16 : Swift
Slot[11] Level 18 : Health
Slot[12] Level 20 : Stamina
Slot[13] Level 22 : Recovery Aura
---------- I am here now ----------
Slot[14] Level 24 : Clear Mind
Slot[15] Level 26 : Fortitude
Slot[16] Level 28 : Regeneration Aura
Slot[17] Level 30 : Teleport Foe
Slot[18] Level 32 : Adrenalin Boost
Slot[19] Level 35 : Undecided
Slot[20] Level 38 : Undecided

The last two abilities leave some room for me to grab a couple attacks, maybe, which I don't really feel is necessary. However, one mistake I made was in taking the fitness line. I know a healer not taking stamina sounds like murder on a group, but by the time I was able to take Stamina, I could have already had Recovery Aura and a total of 3 slots in it. Recovery Aura essentially makes your entire group unable to use stamina for about 1.5 minutes.

Currently, with 3 Single Origin enhancements reducing reuse time on both hasten and recovery aura, I have about 3ish minutes of downtime between uses of recovery aura. From what I've heard, downtime on Aura with hasten and 6 single origin enhancements is about 40 seconds (10 seconds after hasten wears off, if used at the same time). These two abilities, in my opinion, make this template not only work, but work amazingly well in a group.

Without recovery aura, my tankers, scrappers and blasters were running out of killing-juice faster than we were killing enemies. With recovery aura, we, err... "arrest " evil-doers with amazing efficiency. Without hasten, many a group member would be dead due to the fact that my heals, even loaded with DO recharge reducrs, still take quite a while to come back. Hasten prevents those incredibly frustrating moments where you have to either choose who to save when more than one person is about to bite the bullet, or times when you just dropped absorb pain and heal other on one or two people, and suddenly the squishy blaster's HP drops into the red and they drop to their knees and pray that that Tank Slicer misses them with their next attack... all while you pound on heals praying you can keep them alive.

If I got the chance to respec, I would likely remove the Fitness line and take Recovery Aura earlier, although I REALLY like swift, as it allows me to get to the wounded faster if they're out of range, as well as lets me make an expedient retreat after I'm sure all the dumb melees have already started running in the case of a really nasty fight. I also have no idea what I would take in place of Fitness, since this build is meant to have no offense whatsoever, so I can focus entirely on people's health bars and not on what enemy I should be attacking. Plus, even with neutrino bolt, I've had times where a blaster was taken from full health to 0 in just over the time it would have taken me to heal them back to full, in the middle of the animation.

So... opinions?

[Meddik]

I know, it would probably be more efficient in an 8 person group to avoid the few offensive powers I have, But Generally I tend to group with a much smaller group, so I do aqhve some time and leftover endurance to nuke a little bit. If I had it to do over again, I'd probably skip Subdue until later, after I have All the stuff I currently have. It is a nice root to stop runners in melee centric groups.

Archetype: Defender
Primary Powers - Buff/Debuff : Empathy
Secondary Powers - Ranged : Psychic Blast
Slot[01] Level 1 (Starting Primary) : Healing Aura /Empty
Slot[02] Level 1 (Starting Secondary) : Mental Blast /Empty
Slot[03] Level 2 : Subdue /Empty
Slot[04] Level 4 : Heal Other /Empty
Slot[05] Level 6 : Psionic Lance /Empty
Slot[06] Level 8 : Hover /Empty
Slot[07] Level 10 : Absorb Pain /Empty
Slot[08] Level 12 : Recall Friend /Empty
Slot[09] Level 14 : Teleport /Empty
Slot[10] Level 16 : Fortitude /Empty
--I am here now--
Slot[11] Level 18 : Recovery Aura /Empty
Slot[12] Level 20 : Hasten /Empty
Slot[13] Level 22 : Clear Mind /Empty
Slot[14] Level 24 : Resurrect /Empty
Slot[15] Level 26 : Maneuvers /Empty
Slot[16] Level 28 : Assault /Empty
Slot[17] Level 30 : Tactics /Empty

I'm debating on getting hasten after clear mind. It kind of depends on how many Enemies I'm running into that can cause sleep, etc. If thats a huge problem, I'll defer Hasten another couple levels. I've never really ahd much problem with not being able to heal in time. If someone is really getting a beatdown, I can do a Heal Other/Absorb Pain/HealingAura/Heal Other (Generally refreshed by then). If that can't keep them alive, the whole group is fubared (For a tank), or they need a lesson in controlling aggro (For a Blaster).

Not sure what I'll do with my powers after 30. I definately know that Adrenalin Boost is out, and more than likely Regen Aura is too. I've ehard a lot of bad stuff about both of them. Regen Aura is only amrginally useful, and Adrenalin Boost is almost never Useful. It Gives a single person the same unlimited Endurance that Recovery Aura generally gives to the whole group, and it makes the caster incapable of doing anything for a while. I can't think of many scenarios at all that the benefit would be worth the cost.

The 3 Leadership powers, I'm not entirely certain about. I need to check into how much endurance they drain. I'm hoping that it will be low enough that I can really make use of them. No sense in taking all 3, if I will only ahve the END recovery to use 1 at a time.

Probably should have looked at the order I took some of the early powers, but the first 8 levels go by so fast, if you did take them in the wrong order, you only have to live with that mistake for a few hours.

[TeanninBramblefeet]

Honestly, with my recent revelation about Recovery Aura, I can really no longer say that healers should avoid offensive abilities due to endurance usage. At this point it's really more of personal preference and all that, heh... I just prefer not to attack, ever :b

As far as hasten vs. clear mind, I would definitely take hasten first, so you can begin slotting it earlier. Without hasten, the recharge time on recovery aura is quite prohibitive. Right now on Lemon, there have been times that I've thought Clear Mind might be useful enough, and that I should have gotten it earlier... but then we finish fighting the Tsoo and find ourselves something else to whack on :b

With my choices to take regen aura and adrenalin boost, I'm pretty much just taking those as space fillers... I could take an attack, but why bother? More group utility, whether situational or not, is always a good thing in my book! And by the level you plan on taking the leadership line, Med, I don't think you'll be having any problems with endurance since I can only assume that you'll have Recovery Aura and Hasten pretty fully slotted and have single origin recharge reducers in them, so you really shouldn't have any problems with endurance drain at that point. I can teleport 2.5 miles with hover and sprint active and not notice any endurance drain until aura wears off... if the 3 leadership abilities take that much endurance to run, then there's some serious problems with them :b

[DizzyKid]

Don't bother getting the Fitness line and get Recovery Aura at 18, you won't need Stamina after you 6 slot Recovery aura with SOs and I would really suggest Hasten and fully slot that up as well. I can run Maneuvers and Tactics, keep Super Speed and Sprint on, always keep on Hasten, heal my fing heart out while CCing mobs and not ever run out of endurance. I can't remember the last time I ever needed to use a catch breath.

Here's my build...

Archetype: Defender
Primary Powers: Empathy
Secondary Powers: Dark Blast

Slot[01] Level 1 : Healing Aura
Slot[02] Level 1 : Dark Blast
Slot[03] Level 2 : Heal Other
Slot[04] Level 4 : Absorb Pain
Slot[05] Level 6 : Hover
Slot[06] Level 8 : Recall Friend
Slot[07] Level 10 : Resurrect
Slot[08] Level 12 : Fortitude
Slot[09] Level 14 : Dark Pit
Slot[10] Level 16 : Tenebrous Tentacles
Slot[11] Level 18 : Recovery Aura
Slot[12] Level 20 : Hasten
Slot[13] Level 22 : Super Speed
Slot[14] Level 24 : Clear Mind
Slot[15] Level 26 : Regeneration Aura
Slot[16] Level 28 : Maneuvers
Slot[17] Level 30 : Tactics
---------- I am here now ----------
Slot[18] Level 32 : Whirlwind
Slot[19] Level 35 : Undecided
Slot[20] Level 38 : Undecided

I haven't decided weather or not to get Adrenalin Boost or not. With the fact I can keep Recovery Aura up almost all the time, I am not seeing a point of getting a second ability that does the same thing, but for only one person and disorients me.

--DK--