<div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=98195.msg4279752#msg4279752">Quote from: Hikari on 19-02-2011, 15:36:52</a></div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">Little late, I know, but in terms of Defenders you really have several choices in how to go about it (though race does limit you, somewhat, to what choice you make):<br/><br/>The Offensive Lineman: This type of Defender basically exists to get in the damn way.  They specialize in preventing enemies from moving, moving them back away from where they don't want to be, and abilities that allow them to move into spaces that facilitate these actions.  They protect other party members by not letting opponents attack them in the first place.  Fighters work well in this niche with the right weapons (shields, blades, spears/polearms, and flails in particular).  This is basically what I'm playing.  Eladrin and Elves are somewhat better at this style because of their high mobility.<br/><br/>The Brick: This type of Defender is just really hard to kill.  They specialize in high defense, self-healing, and survival.  They have abilities that allow them to gain temporary HP, make free use of healing surges, completely ignore damage from attacks, make additional saving throws, etc.  Their concern is not on keeping enemies from attacking effectively, but rather on making enemies attack them (because that, in itself, is ineffective) and they often need to supplement class features with a few other powers (Come and Get It, for example) to make this happen.  A Fighter can do this role well if they use an axe or hammer; not surprisingly, Dwarves and Dragonborn tend to be best at it.<br/><br/>The Punisher: This type of Defender doesn't <em>literally</em> force opponents to attack him, but rather focuses on making it so miserably expensive <em>not</em> to attack him that it simply isn't worth it.  They concentrate on abilities that do a lot of damage to enemies, especially in punitive form for attacking others when marked or otherwise ignoring the defender.  Obviously, they tend to need supportive powers that supplement their ability to mark/maintain marks on targets.  The Battlemind does this almost exclusively, and Paladins can be very good at it as well.  Fighters generally are not very good at this style of defending because their mark-punishment ability is not usually as damaging and they have fewer punitive-type exploits.  Punishers generally want to use two-handed weapons and usually have the least defense of the defender types.  Dragonborn, Genasi, and Tieflings make good punishers.<br/><br/>The Cockblocker: This type of Defender is basically a specialized form of the Offensive Lineman.  This OL wants to control the battle-space and prevent movement on a broad scale; the Cockblocker really just wants to completely fuck up one or two enemies' day.  The Cockblocker is nigh-inescapable once he's got his teeth into an opponent, and generally is quite good at performing all the above tasks in a one-on-one fight, he just lacks the ability to 'spread the love' as efficiently as other defenders.  Basically, instead of trying to corral large numbers of enemies, the Cockblocker just completely takes one enemy out of the battle and renders them a non-factor.  This is an area where Swordmages really excel since even ranged opponents can't really escape them and they have a lot of versatility in dealing with an opponent.  Halflings make excellent Cockblockers, but only at the pub.<br/><br/>The Warden: Umm...  I don't know?  I've never played a Warden.  They've got some interesting powers, but there's a lot about them I'll flat-out say I don't like and don't think works well for defending at all.  I'm not really sure what you'd plan to do with one, so hopefully someone can show me and then we'll both know.<br/></blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>See, that's how I thought bout them. Good explanations. ;)<br/><br/>@Zame: We just got your creativity flowing a little more. Whip it up in story form for me, put it down the background area, and after I take a look you can get started. :)