Frisday 7 October 2005

Pic of the day: Other heroes may get the spotlight, but the Dark defender (left edge) likes to stand in the shadow. Literally.

CoH: Dark defenders

I have played a Dark/Sonic defender on the Justice server, he is 22 at the time of writing. And while the locals on Justice are a friendly bunch, they don't necessarily know quite what a Dark defender does. So for the benefit of all you who want to play City of Heroes (and you should if you have the time), here is the heads-up about Dark defenders.

Like all defenders, we have a supportive role. We can play alone, but it is usually slow going. Actually Dark defenders are among the most soloable, they and Radiation, but we are still most useful in a team. We have several powers to choose from, but our 3 signature powers are quite different.

Twilight Grasp is a heal. It heals every friendly player in a radius around the caster. But in order to do this, it needs to hit a living or dying enemy. (Yes, it still heals if the enemy is defeated after you press the button but before the power activates. The animation time is so long that this is seen fairly often.) We cannot heal after a battle, so you will simply have to rest in that case. Also we need a successful hit, which means the enemy have to be of a level that we can hit. Don't invite a baby defender if you don't want to sidekick him, because even with two enhancements it is hard to hit purples, and we can also miss reds. With only one enhancement of accuracy, we can't reliably hit much above our level. So the defender should be of roughly the same level as the villains. On the bright side, it doesn't cost all that much endurance so we can keep healing for a long time.

Shadow Fall is a stealth power, it makes every friend around us very hard to spot for enemies until you walk right up to them. Even when discovered, you are harder to hit, and we can also let the Shadow Fall absorb a little of the damage if we slot that way. It is a good idea to stay within the Shadow Fall if possible. Its radius is much the same as that of the heal, so you also know that you are within healing range. If you have to run away, run far away. Don't stop right outside the Shadow Fall and scream for help. Shadow Fall is help.

Darkest Night is a debuff. It makes enemies miss a lot, as if they are surrounded by dark smoke. This is what it looks like too, so should not be too difficult to remember. If we slot maximally on this power, the chance to hit is something like 1 in 20. That is pretty drastic. Of course, not all defenders slot that much in their defensive power. But it is still a great help. Darkest Night is "anchored" on one enemy. This enemy has a black or reddish cloud at his feet. If you defeat that one, the power stops working until it is cast again, perhaps half a minute later. It is a good idea to let that particular villain wait until near the end of the fight. Also if other villains run too far away from the anchor, they get outside the cloud and can hit again. So it is best suited for fighting in close quarters rather than drawn out in a long line.

Most Dark defenders have these powers, but just to be sure you may want to right-click on their name and press "o" for infO. There are also a couple other popular powers.

Howling Twilight is used to revive a fallen comrade, or even a whole lot of them. It can be used on heroes who are not on your team as well. But it requires to hit at least one living enemy. If there are several enemies, all of them in a radius near the first victim will be hurt quite a bit. This draws some aggression so the defender may need to run after the revive, unless there is a tanker to distract them with Taunt.

Tar Patch slows down the motion of enemies and also keeps them from flying or jumping. It slows them down a lot, although not completely like Ice Patch, and it doesn't damage them like Caltrops. But the no- fly zone effect is kinda nifty when used with care. Ask your defender to put a tar patch in a doorway and the enemy will be jammed in it and can be taken down by concentrated fire.

That's basically it. A Dark defender can have another power set for attacks, not necessarily Dark, although that is one alternative. But remember: You only see green numbers float over your head when you are healed. But if you could see all the times you are not hit at all because of the darkness, you would be very eager to keep a Dark defender nearby. Ask for a demonstration today! ^_^