Casting and stun resistence

[jpark]

As a healer I get great economies from using area effect heals.  However, the rising incidence of area effect attacks that knock me down repeatedly  during some combats interfere with my ability to cast.

I see my options as:

- get hover, to avoid ground based knockbacks
- forget AoE heals - move away from group and use single target heals.

That's it - am I missing any options that could aid a (defender - empathy) caster against stun/knockback?

[Sable Blaze]

Acrobatics for knockback. Not much you can do about stuns in the power pools.

Another alternative are defiance inspirations. Just be sure to use them BEFORE the fight starts. They help quite a bit.

[boley]

Check the description of your heals, some of the single target ones help prevent stun temporarily.  Healing flames (fire tanker heal) and one of the defender heals does that I am aware of.

[jpark]

Ah the great Defender / empathy conundrum - yup I have a power to grant stun resistance - but like most my powers it cannot be used on myself lol.

Acrobatics is an idea - thanks.

[Sable Blaze]

I play a fire tank and I can tell you healing flames is only of very limited value, and even then only on disorient. Better than nothing, but only just.

Personally, I rely on knockdown from axe (heh) and defiance inspirations. That and a ton of hps so I can ride out the inevitable mezzes and sleeps. There's a reason invul tanks are so popular--well, two really--and this is one of them.

No easy answer to this one.

[Sky]

My radiation defender has an AE heal, and hovering out of melee range doesn't impact it's effectiveness. Not getting hit by those big swords and hammers is very nice.

[boley]

I play a fire tank and I can tell you healing flames is only of very limited value, and even then only on disorient. Better than nothing, but only just.
.

Actually I have found Healing Flames to be invaluable as a fire Tanker.  I currently have it slotted with 2 recharge reducers, and 2 stamina reducers.  I then place it on autofire (ctl-leftclick) which allows me to keep the anti-stun effect up permenantly.  Until  I started using this technique, the Freakshow packs were impossible thanks to the stunner and tank bosses.  My tank would get stunned at least once per battle, now it happens almost never (once is all I can recall).

The combination of acrobatics and healing flames leaves my Tanker immune to just about everything except sleep and mez.  Therefore I simply leave the devouring earth and their sleep happy mushrooms alone.

[Grind]

Question for someone who has explored this already. If you are invisible or stealthed, or around the corner from an attacker can you be targeted and hit by AoE spells?

Also, the range on AOE heal is good, slotting one or two slots with increase range and standing back might work too.

Grind

[ClydeJr]

Question for someone who has explored this already. If you are invisible or stealthed, or around the corner from an attacker can you be targeted and hit by AoE spells?

If its a targetted AoE power, then most likely not. You can't target something you can't see. Now if its an AoE power that uses a ground target like Rain of Fire, you probably hit anything in the power's radius.