let's say SI dr. strange has perplexed up his own defense on his first click to a 20, and afterward is single-targeted with pulse wave--would the attacker have to hit that 20 d, or would the pw ignor his perplex power, therefore making it an 18 to hit? thx...

The use of Perplex is ignored. The attacker only needs to hit the 18.

Pulse wave will ignore all powers, team abilities and feats. AFAIK, the only only thing that still affects it is any defense bonus from hindering terrain.

Although, under the new rules I am confused to all heck about pulse wave being used when the character that has it is based by an opposing piece (regardless of if the character with pulse wave is a flier or not). I have heard conflicting reports that pulse wave can and cannot be used under these circumstances. I always remember that it could be used, even when based. Could someone clear this up for me?

OLD NEWS: can use PW when based with opponents (adjacent).

NEW NEWS: can not use PW when based with opponents.

However...if Dr Strange is outside the PW's range and the adj friendly to Dr. Strange is inside the PW's range...their defenses will be 20, not their normal defense value.

If Dr. Strange is inside, then all back to normal defenses (Dr. Strange's 18 and others....lower or whatever it is).

You only ignore the perplexed combat value if the perplexer is within the pulse wave radius.

from my understanding, you can only replace the unmodified defensive values via defend... therefore at the most strange can only give out 18 unless otherwised defended (I.E Jakeem Thunder)

QFT

This is true.

So, if Prof X perplexes up Dr. Stranges Def by +1. An attacker with pulse Wave targets Dr. Strange but Prof X is outside of The attackers PW range. In this case I think Dr. Strange keeps the modified Def value vs. the PW attack. True?

True.

From the Player Guide (Pulse Wave entry):
"Powers ignored by Pulse Wave are not considered countered. Powers out of the range of the Pulse Wave attack still affect it normally. If a character using Perplex or Outwit is within range of the Pulse Wave attack, that power is considered “in range” and is ignored during this attack."