on /SR

[Wiregeek]

How did you Soft Cap S/L?

The approach I took was Combat Jumping, Tough with a Steadfast
Protection unique, Weave, Maneuvers and all defense from my secondary.
Then I just slotted everything up with SOs, and poof, soft cap. I was
too lazy to try to put together any sets. Working on that now that I'm
50.

"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Shader]

SR is all about -Positional- defenses not typed defense. You can soft cap you're positional defenses easily, hitting the magical 45% figure through a
variety of methods. However on the other hand you can have extremely poor -typed- defense. Here I go trying to explain the dynamics of an attack... and off the
top of my head to boot.

Most attacks have two tags, type and position: say Smashing and Melee. The game then checks which defense you have the most of, either Smashing or Melee, and
uses that as your defense figure. In /SR case it -should- almost always be position. There is an exception, but we can deal with that later. Take the previous
example, if you have 5% Smashing defense and 30% Melee defense, the game will use the 30% Melee defense when working out if the attack hit or missed.
That's why /SR should focus on softcapping their positional defenses.

The exceptions? The exceptions that I know of: Psi attacks - they have a type but no position. Crystal Titian & Hamidon - Untyped and No position attacks.
And the curse of /SR: Streak-breaker and Bad Luck - Nothing can protect you against a run of bad luck when you can't hit the even level mob but all their
attacks will cut through your defenses like they were wet tissue paper..

Jelidan's defense's 5% for S/L/F/C/E/N. 14.5% for P 45.3% for Melee, 45% for Range, 45.6% for AoE. But Jelidan's build uses sets to get to the
magical soft-cap. As a Kat/SR scrapper just running SS, Stealth, and the first 2 toggles from /SR was enough drain on the end to worry about dipping into other
power pools.

Hope it helps and is understandable.

Shader.

[Wiregeek]

I learned more about the positional vs. typed, that's for sure!

and holy massive psi-hole.. bleargh!
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Morganite]

I'm not sure about this psi thing.

Arcanaville's defense guide says "SR defenses do not work against attacks that are not positionally typed. Some attacks, like dominate and mesmerize
in the Mind control set (which includes attacks from critters like Rikti Mesmerists) are not positionally typed. They therefore bypass all SR defenses."

But nothing I've read leads me to believe that *all* psi damage is non-positional. (In fact, I'm pretty sure in one of Arcanaville's huge powerset
analysis projects, the subject of psi damage being divided into positional and non-positional came up. I *think* it was the multi-archtype one, but I can't
*find* the thing now. -.- )

-Morgan.

[Ankhani]

They way I see it, most of the Psi Blast/Assult/Mental Manip. are positional (Mostly ranged and AoE), where as some of the the mez attacks from Mind control
aren't positional. I put it this way, as SR does state that you can avoid things before they hit you -even psionics-.
---

The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI

[jpub]

Here's what I'm doing on Senoku, who is DB/SR. Depending on your power sets, your choices may vary. Positional DEF bonuses are pathetically easy to
find, though.

Use these sets:

Serendipity (Defense Set) - 5 - 1.25% AoE

Red Fortune (Defense Set) - 6 - 2.5% Ranged

Multi-Strike (PBAoE Set) - 5 - 1.88% AoE

Multi-Strike (PBAoE Set) - 6 - 1.88% Melee

Scirocco's Dervish (PBAoE Set) - 5 - 3.13% AoE

Touch of Death (Melee Set) - 6 - 3.13% Melee

Mako's Bite (Melee Set) - 6 - 3.75% Ranged

I'd love to use Gaussian's on my buff attack, but I'd be dreaming if I could get it. Those above are at least *feasible* without grinding for cash.

Ideally, you can expect to get (13.9%+5.63%)x1.57=31.11% from your base powers. Take at least one travel power, that adds 1.88% (3% if you bother to slot), to
bring you up to roughly 33% (or 34%).

Doesn't leave much for the sets, does it?

Here's what I plan to have for sets at least:

2xSerendipity

1xRed FOrtune

2xMako's Bite

2xTouch of Death

2xMulti-Strike

1xScirocco's Dervish

For total set buffs of: 10% Melee, 10% Ranged, 9.39% AoE.

Or, final defenses of 43% Melee, 43%Ranged, 42% AoE.

Now, here comes the choice. If I take CJ, I can tack another 2-3% on that, which brings me over the cap in one power.

Or, I can take Maneuvers, which also tacks on another 2-3%, eats endurance I don't have (seriously, it's more than one of my armors), and launch over
the cap.

Or, I can take Stealth, which IIRC combines with my Stealth IO for near-Invis and gives 3.75-5%, eats endurance I *really* don't have (as much as 1.5
armors!), and launch well over the cap.

OR, I can take my weapon mastery plan, and slot Web Grenade with Enfeebled Op (Melee 3.13% at 6), Shruiken with Thunderstrike (2.5% Ranged at 6), and Exploding
Shuriken with Detonate (1.88%AoE at 5), but that means I delay Elude (aka nyah, nyah, AV, you can't hit me) until 49.

OR, I can take Boxing/Tough/Weave, which can launch me *WAY* over the cap, and also give me some S/L Resistance, at the cost of a wasted power.

Fun choices, yes? I'm probably just going to take Web Grenade and Shuriken, and finish off with CJ.

[Wiregeek]

[table]