Template advice? Empathy/Energy Defender

[Mr_PeaCH]

*** If this should go under the old but stickied "Template Thread" just say so or move it.  But that looks defunct and this is more a request for comment and advice about a template than my sharing per se. ***


Being a non-beta CoH player, I'd like to try and solicit advice.  I've rolled a Natural Defender and took at creation the Empathy and Energy powers and then Leaping at 6 for the 3rd power pool.  I'm up to lvl 9 and this is what I've done so far:

1.  Healing Aura + Power Bolt (bolt 2 socket)
2.  Power Blast (3 socket)
4.  Energy Torrent (4 socket)
6.  Jump Kick
8.  Heal Other

So as you can guess, I've been trying to be a bit more self-sufficient a Defender than 'party friendly' at least in the early goings.  In fact, I've never been teamed with anyone yet and soloing (up to groups of 3-4 'evens' with yellow leader) isn't really ever a problem unless the leader is a 'true' boss.  But at 8 I did take the Heal Other so now I would imagine that any team would have me for that alone.  But Energy is fun and crowd control is a blast (uh, pun intended) what with knock-back on my Power Blast and Jump Kick and cone-range knock-back on the Energy Torrent.  I tend to socket accuracy and damage first; then an endurance reduction and reduced recharge time.  Range isn't bothering me much; I like getting close and using Jump Kick while my three blasts recharge.

OK, my question is:  Which way would you recommend I take my character for the next 10 - 11 levels (up to 20)?  Also, at which level can I take another power pool and is it widely recommended or will I risk being too diluted?  I'm looking at the following powers still available or opening up (till 20):

2.  Absorb Pain
6.  Ressurect  (get at 12?)
8.  Clear Mind  (at 16 or 20?)
10.  Power Burst   (Think this is the way I'm leaning for my next opening at 10; more Energy Blasting goodness.)
12.  Fortitude
14.  Super Jump  (get at 14)
16.  Sniper Blast  (or this at 16 or 20?)
18.  Recovery Aura  (get at 18?)
20.  Aim
20.  Acrobatics
.... nothing new till 26 (Regen. Aura) but plenty to choose from until then.

I guess what I'm most trying to weigh is; since I'm semi-gimping myself as a 'true' Empathic Defender; which are the 'must haves' in this line?  How do I decide between Absorb Pain, Ressurect, Clear Mind, Fortitude and Recovery Aura when I'm probably only going to pick up 2 or 3 in the next 5 selections/10 levels?

Also, give me your impression about Super Speed vs. Flight vs. Super Jump for this type of template.  Obviously I've chosen the Leaping route; mostly because I think it will be the most fun to operate while getting around.  meh.

Your collective thoughts appreciated.  And keep your min-maxxer comments to yourselves, kthx.

[Alrindel]

My main is also Empathy/Energy, but I have put the emphasis on getting the party-friendly skills first, so I started with Heal Other and Power Bolt, then added Power Blast, Absorb Pain, Resurrect, Teleport Friend, Combat Jumping and Clear Mind, in that order (currently 13).  Since my character is kind of the opposite of yours (yep, sure enough, I'm kinda gimpy solo) I'd say your choices look good for what you want to do.  One thing: you might want to get Sniper Blast earler (if possible - I don't remember where it is exactly on the list) - for soloing, it's good to be able to lead safely with a high damage, long distance attack.

[Murgos]

I hear absorb pain is a must to be an effective empathy healer as the AE heal isn;t very strong and having two strong targeted heals can really save the day.  Resurrect is a time saver more than anything, it saves people from having to run back from the hospital.  Even so it is a high demand skill.

As far as the travel powers go, knock yourself out.  They are all fun and effective (which is amazing).  I don't think there is a 'best' travel power.

My personal opinion is that you can't pick a bad power, if you find your not using something try and figure out why, or what will make it more effective?  Often all a mediocre power needs to be a 'can't live without' is the right combo of enhancements.

[Alrindel]

I hear absorb pain is a must to be an effective empathy healer as the AE heal isn;t very strong and having two strong targeted heals can really save the day.

Correct.  I still don't have the AE heal, actually.  But it is a very group-oriented skill and useless for soloing, so it might not be Peach's top priority.

[kaid]

I strongly recommend for defenders grabbing your sniper power as soon as you can. In general we are usually to busy defending to really do sustained nuking so the ability to do assloads of damage on an attack here and there usually works out better.

Sniper powers are also excellent pulling powers and buy you more time to run if you grab more than you wanted to.


Energy in general is great for all the knock backs.

Kaid

[geldonyetich]

Hmm...

It's too late for me to recommend going with Combat Jumping instead of Jump Kick, so I'll skip that. It's not that Jump Kick is an absolutely lousy power (even though the execution time on it is a tad long for my liking) so much as your energy defender ideally doesn't need to get into melee range to begin with.   Also, Heal Other from the Medicine line isn't necessarily needed when you already have superior healing abilities from empathy.

But enough bemoaning the past. I hear there's a later quest that allows you to pretty much re-do your power picks anyway. Lets move on with the future.

Absorb Pain is a very good pick if you want to be healing Defender as it heals *massive* damage from the target (think triple digits right away) at the cost of preventing you from healing yourself temporarily.

Resurrect is always a good one to have. It pretty much eats all your endurance when you cast it, but it rezes the target, fully ready for combat. So if combat is going poorly you can pop an endurance inspiration to top out your bar and rez your best tanker/scrapper to help get things back under control. Of course, there's also the issue of inconvenience of having a group member have to walk back without resurrection.

If it were my character, I'd focus mostly on those secondary offencive ranged abilities, grabbing each power as they come available.  I like nukin' em, and Energy Blast is my favorite set to do the nuking.  Throwing back waves of enemies is just plain therapeutic.

[Drubear]

I've done Empathy/Dark Power for my Defender and usually duo with an Energy/Energy Blaster. Having the sniper (Moonbeam) available means I usually pull/first nuke with my partner following up with his own sniper attack. At that point, if we both hit, there's usually no need for me to worry about that (normally dead at that point or about to go down with a cone/aoe attack) mob and I move on to the next one.

The cast time on it is so bad tho, that even if we pull multiples, I'm not able to cast it again that fight unless I jump >>way<< out of range or go after a runner.

[CmdrSlack]

I'm currently using flight on my controller, and while it seems to be the slowest moving of all the powers, it's certainly faster than running.

Being able to move in 3D space is great.  Flight doesn't provide the precision movement of hover, but it does swap back and forth seamlesslyl from fly to hover.  Swinging the camera to dive in/swoop is really fun.  If I ever manage to find a dual or single origin enhancement, I'm guessing I can ramp up the speed nicely.

[Sky]

I put a dual origin on flight, but not for speed (why? impatience?), but for energy conservation. It's still a decent draw on power, but nothing like it is unbuffed.

Hover, otoh, I slapped with 3 speed buffs. I decided to buff it again after doing all of 14-15 without touching the ground. Regular enhancements, though, I haven't found a flight speed origin enhancer in the shops yet.

Is it too overboard to have almost everything buffed with dual-origin enhancements? :P

[schild]

No, I have everything I use, including 'rest' with DOs.

[eldaec]

I put a dual origin on flight, but not for speed (why? impatience?), but for energy conservation. It's still a decent draw on power, but nothing like it is unbuffed.

Worth noting that afaik the same level/type of flight speed enhancement on fly will get you where you are going for exactly the same end cost as if it had a end usage enhancement on there.

This is beacause the end for fly is a fixed cost per time. Setting your self up to fly further in a given time is just as end effeicient as setting yourself up to use less end in the same amount of time.

And faster flight also means teleporters get to show off less.

[schild]

Teleporters? Super Speed and Super Jump can outrun fliers by a wide margin.

[Sky]

My point is, I'm never in a 'hurry' to get anywhere. I don't just use flight for travel, I use it all the time as my main playing style, so distance travelled isn't as important as the end. costs. The reduction in end. cost is extreme and imo made Fly a much more useful skill.

Also, I can easily find dual-origin enhancements for energy conservation, I haven't seen any for flight speed.

And faster flight also means teleporters get to show off less.

So let 'em, I say. Fly > Teleport for blasters, imo. Since I'm a blaster, go ahead and show off, I have the skills I need to function as my character, not to peen wave. ^^

[Mr_PeaCH]

Thanks all for the advice and comments.  I wanted to respond to geldon in particular for just a moment.  When I took Jump Kick I knew that Combat Jumping was probably the better pick long-term... but as it has turned out, using Jump Kick as I have been is working out wonderfully as yet another way to knockback foes and take them out of action for just a second longer.  However, if I'm able to later on I'd probably have no problem changing that pick as I don't see being a frontline fighter forever; but for now its fun.  You also alluded to my Heal Other skill as being from the Medicine Line... I don't have it from there, it *is* from my main Empathy line.  Not sure if I was unclear there or they happen to be named the same.

Regarding 4th+ pools... does anyone have a really compelling reason to take more?  The way I looked at it; you probably want one from Flight, Jump (edit: Teleport) and Run... only Leadership after that seemed worthwhile at least to me.  Or are people doubling and tripling up from those or how often can you open other pools up?

[Valmorian]

My point is, I'm never in a 'hurry' to get anywhere. I don't just use flight for travel, I use it all the time as my main playing style, so distance travelled isn't as important as the end. costs. The reduction in end. cost is extreme and imo made Fly a much more useful skill.

I hope you're not trying to fight while flying as opposed to hovering.  

Not only do you not get the defensive bonus from hover, but your accuracy is also decreased when using fly.

[Sky]

You can switch between them instantly. So yes, I use flight during combat, extensively. I just don't activate attack powers while in Fly mode ;) But for manuevering, it's invaluable imo.

As far as Pool Powers, my theory is to take as few as possible, and stick to my main powers. I only plan on taking Hover and Fly as of this time.

[Xilren's Twin]

Energy in general is great for all the knock backs.

I'll give that a "Hell Yes".

I'm a Storm/Energy Defender and knockbacks are my way of life.  Between all my energy attacks having knock back potential, plus Gale (early) and now my new favorite power Hurricane, I've stopped using Hover at all in indoor missions and mostly outdoor hunting too.  I didn't even take the Energy area attack. The accuracy debuff from Hurriance plus the blowback and knock down means melee attacks on me are very rare, and even when executed, they miss.   If I get a high dam blaster opponent, i just bumper car them to a wall and keep them off their feet.

Just dropped a DO end reduction on Hurricane and am getting ready to add more slots to it.  Cant' wait for sniper shot at 16. Me like.

Xilren

[kaid]

Hehe in beta I had 4 so end reducers on hurricane so I could keep it up at the same time as steam. One funny thing is with hurricane slot up some of the knock back powers and watch it really fling folks around.


kaid

[Valmorian]

You can switch between them instantly. So yes, I use flight during combat, extensively. I just don't activate attack powers while in Fly mode ;) But for manuevering, it's invaluable imo.

That may be, but manuevering is secondary to defense, in my opinion.   Since this isn't a FPS, you can move all you want, but you'll be harder to hit with hover on than with flight. ;)

[Alluvian]

Not really.  Movement can get you out of line of sight (and most blaster secondaries have holds) and movement can get you INTO line of sight.  Many skills are positional as well.  Like the cones or the AOE around caster.  Getting into and out of those positions fast is a HUGE boon.

I use superspeed myself.  Not because flight isn't cool, but it just does not fit my character.

[Sky]

I have a sniper attack, which is long range. I use this from max range to open. Then I switch from hover to fly, get in range, hover, and unleash my two normal attacks. Then fly down to the just-out-of-melee range of my final beam attack. Then fly back out of range to pop another sniper shot. Or zoom in to melee off a straggler.

Hover simply is too slow for combat maneuvering, I'm not sure what you're doing with it. I have it triple buffed for speed and still need fly to maneuver in a timely fashion.

I actually decided to try giving it another slot and now I have two DO enh for endurance cost reduction on it, and it barely draws any END at all to use. One REALLY NICE benefit is that when I'm almost out of energy, I can turn on fly and get out of dodge without fear or running out of energy.

To each their own, but I'm very satisfied with my cost reduced Fly.

[DarkDryad]

yer gonna love the fact that with a lvl 19 DO enhancement on fly you will  actually gain enh while flying then :P