AnElfCalledMack

Well, you've got some options. You could take Cardiac, but your S/L Resistance is probably hard-capped if you have Tough, while your exotic resists are pretty pathetic. The EndRedux is nice, but that's pretty much it. You could take Musculature, but you're probably ED-capped for damage and you can't use the other components, so again it won't be massively efficient. Spiritual will get your attacks back faster, make Dull Pain recharge quicker and heal for more, and give you longer stuns in EM attacks, but with such long animations, you don't really need recharge in EM. Nerve is actually quite tempting. It boosts Incincibility, Tough Hide, and Weave, and also boosts the Accuracy of your attacks, meaning slotting four Kinetic Combats (or four Smashing Haymakers, if you're on a budget) won't screw over your attack's accuracy. Holds are useless to you, but Spiritual was the only alpha with no wasted components.

EDIT: SS, not EM. In that case, you still get the better stuns from Spiritual, but Nerve will now extend the Hold in KO Blow. Just FYI.

Frankly, Inv/EM gains surprisingly little from the Alpha Slot, so which one you pick isn't as critical as it might be for, say, a Warshade who desperately needs Recharge, Stun and Healing, or a Sonic/AR Defender, who would love EndRedux, Resistance Buff and Range enhancement to death.

Looks pretty good. I'd favor Acc/Dmg/Rech over Acc/Dmg in GFS, and Acc/Dmg/End in Scorch. KC sets do a decent job on damage, but are a little lacking elsewhere. I'd recommend Cardiac alpha for more resistance and easing up the endurance cost of Weave and your attacks, though Spiritual is also appealing for fire tankers.

Also, you might want to consider swapping the order of your powers if you plan on exemplaring at all. Consume isn't all that essential at level 8, but if you're going to take Fire Sword, picking it up early can really help if you decide to do a Positron or Synapse TF. Strictly optional, of course. It all depends on how you play.

I kinda ran with the spider theme on my Widow, so I made Orb-Weaver. But with the Brick Johnson missions in Port Oakes (where you get a costume slot), I actually put a little thought into my "hero disguise", and made her an alter-ego, Spinnerette. It's great for taking down thugs with artefacts or technology they don't know how to use properly, or if you ever need to do something that's technically against orders. And aside from that, shouting those cheesy lines about truth and justice is just plain fun.

Okay, first lose the Presence pool. They're utterly terrible compared to Taunt and the Gauntlet taunt inherent in all your attacks. Blazing Aura, Taunt and a good stream of ST and AoE attacks will let you hold aggro.

On that note, get Incinerate back into your build. Two ST attacks are not enough to keep a steady stream of Gauntlet taunts, and that build would be utterly useless at taking out a hard target. A Fire/Fire Tanker should be a significant part of the team's kill speed. And it seems utterly ridiculous to slot Fiery Embrace with three recharge IOs and then only have two ST attacks - you're not going to be able to do much damage, even with that sort of uptime. Taking Incinerate, and maybe Fire Sword, will let you put out good damage, and that's the secret to keeping an enemy's attention on a Fire tank.

And then you went and slotted those attacks with just Kinetic Combats. They're great sets, but being level 35 means they don't provide enough enhancement to things like accuracy and recharge. I'd recommend adding a fifth slot to GFS at least (and Incinerate if you take it). One of the Crushing Impact triples or the Mako's Bite quad at level 50 or thereabouts will help you use them often and well. You could also consider adding the Perfect Zinger: Chance for Psi Damage to Scorch - it's fast-animating and you want to use it for Bruising, so boosting its damage a little (especially with an uncommonly-resisted type like Psi) can be nice.

Finally, you're overslotting Physical Perfection and Health a little. PP has very low base values - chasing a couple of +regen, +HP, +recovery or +endurance bonuses will often do more than putting an extra slot in PP for endmod or heal. It's a great place for the procs, though.

Fix the offense back up, and it's looking pretty good. You might want to look at this great guide to Fire/Fire Tankers, as well as the Tanker mindset in general. I'm running a variation on the Offensive Wall of Fire build in that guide (Acrobatics and Recall Friend over Assault and Fire Blast, though I'm thinking I'll swap Recall Friend for Assault).

Play what you feel like. I've been here about 8 months. I have one 50, a tanker, who I'm very fond of, but I have a stable of 26 characters over 2 servers, most of whom I play semi-regularly, and I periodically clean out the ones I'm less keen on and roll new combinations. If you're enjoying the game, don't feel like you need to have a "main". Just play what you feel like.

Here's a quick overhaul. Attacks are better-slotted, defenses are still softcapped, and I dropped RT - you really don't want to knock people out of Invincibility. I even snagged Conserve Power to make sure you don't have any major endurance problems.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.91
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Shatter-Starr I19: Level 50 Mutation Tanker
Primary Power Set: Invulnerability
Secondary Power Set: Kinetic Melee
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Medicine
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Temp Invulnerability -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(3), RctvArm-EndRdx(3), RctvArm-ResDam(5), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(48)
Level 1: Quick Strike -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(7), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27)
Level 2: Body Blow -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(11), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(15), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(17), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33)
Level 4: Smashing Blow -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(17), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(21), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29)
Level 6: Fly -- Frbd-Stlth(A)
Level 8: Unyielding -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(9), RctvArm-EndRdx(9), RctvArm-ResDam(11)
Level 10: Taunt -- Mocking-Taunt(A), Mocking-Acc/Rchg(13), Mocking-Rchg(13), Mocking-Taunt/Rchg(29), Mocking-Taunt/Rchg/Rng(33), Mocking-Taunt/Rng(34)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 14: Dull Pain -- Mrcl-EndRdx/Rchg(A), Mrcl-Heal/Rchg(36), Mrcl-Heal/EndRdx(36), Mrcl-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(43), Mrcl-Heal(48)
Level 16: Kick -- Acc-I(A)
Level 18: Invincibility -- Rec'dRet-ToHit(A), Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(19), LkGmblr-Def(19), LkGmblr-Rchg+(21), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(34)
Level 20: Power Siphon -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(37), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(37), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(37), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(39), GSFC-Build%(39)
Level 22: Tough -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(23), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(23)
Level 24: Weave -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(25), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(25), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(27), RedFtn-Def(45), RedFtn-EndRdx(46)
Level 26: Aid Other -- Heal-I(A)
Level 28: Burst -- Erad-Dmg(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(40), C'ngBlow-Acc/Dmg(40), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx(48), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg(50)
Level 30: Tough Hide -- S'dpty-Def/Rchg(A), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(31), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx(31), S'dpty-Def(31)
Level 32: Resist Physical Damage -- Aegis-Psi/Status(A), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(46), Aegis-ResDam(50)
Level 35: Focused Burst -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(40), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Dev'n-Hold%(42)
Level 38: Concentrated Strike -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(43), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(43), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45)
Level 41: Resist Elements -- GA-3defTpProc(A)
Level 44: Resist Energies -- ResDam-I(A)
Level 47: Aid Self -- Heal-I(A)
Level 49: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- RgnTis-Regen+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(33), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(50)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(34), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(36), P'Shift-End%(46)

EDIT: Forgot the data chunk

While I might not agree with DeathKitty's choice of words, I'm certainly right with him on the sentiment. I ran my first STF earlier this week on my Fire/Fire Tanker, and I'm sure I couldn't have handled him without the help of my team. But with Fortitude, a set of FF shields, and the Wedding Band temp power from Stephanie Peebles, I could comfortably tank him standing in the middle while the other seven people piled on the towers. I had 66% defense, so not quite softcapped through the blue tower, but I used two small oranges per minute to cap my resistances to S/L/E until the red tower dropped, then hit Healing Flames whenever I saw my health bar move.

I did have AM and Speed Boost, which helped how often I could do that, but it really wasn't a challenge compared to something like the patron fight (the pull went badly, and I had to scramble to get aggro on all four of them. Not easy when Ghost Widow lands her massive Immobilise in the first few seconds. Luckily, I didn't get held.)

All in all, Lord Recluse is manageable if you work together and use what's available to you. HVAS and Shivans aren't the only temp powers you can call on when things get tough - the Wedding Band is a great tool for Resistance tankers, as the difference between 45% resistance and 75% resistance is less than half as much damage actually getting through.

I slotted my Total Radial Revamp after an extrememly fun STF with no real lag problems on my Fire/Fire Tanker. Later in the day, I ran a tip mission with the boost slotted, and I did notice a little lag, but I assumed it was my system reacting badly to the heat (I'm Australian and play on a laptop, so hot weather happens in February and really cuts into my performance). No mapserving or crashing, though there was one point where the game froze up for a couple of seconds.

I did notice one other thing, though. When I used Burn, the first tick of the DoT wasn't being credited to me. The upfront damage was in orange, but the first DoT tick was always in grey. I thouhgt it was a little odd, but now I hear that level-shifted pets are causing problems for other people and I thought they might be related.

This is a weird thing to harp on, but I don't like Recharge in Rise of the Phoenix. It comes back plenty quick if you only need it occasionally, and if you need it more than once in a fight, one IO isn't going to help much. Personally, I slot RotP for Stun. This gives it a 21-second duration, so if the team wipes, I can RotP, everyone else uses a wakie, and anything without the PTOD is doing the drunk walk for long enough for the rest of the team to come to their senses. I've also considered an EndMod IO, so RotP + Healing Flames doesn't leave me needing to Consume to get back in fighting shape.

The other thing that's leaping out at me is the Gaussian set in Rage. If you focus on positional defense, it's quite good, though a little light on recharge for six slots. On the other hand, if you decide to chase S/L Defense, two Rectified Reticle (ToHit, ToHit/Rech) and two Adjusted Targeting (Rech, ToHit/Rech) gives more S/L defense, nearly as much damage bonus, and a little more recharge in 2 fewer slots. You do lose the speed buff, HP and recovery, bit it's worth considering. You might consider using those spare slots to put a little more accuracy in those low attacks with Kinetic Combats - unless Rage is covering for that; I've never tried to IO a SS character before.

Unlikely. IO set bonuses let you do things that are simply impossible on SOs. The Incarnate slots let you do other impossible things, too, but it doesn't take away the IOs' usefulness. You might see prices drop a little, and their importance drop a little, but in the end the only thing 53 SOs and Hami-Os had were the highest enhancement values available. IO sets are more than the sum of their parts, and offer better enhancement than 53 SOs to boot.

If nothing else, procs will remain useful. IOs let you completely change the functionality of some powers - Caltrops becomes a damage patch, Acid Mortar a control pet, or Dark Regeneration endurance-neutral as long as it's saturated. Things like that, along with the ability to build up large defense, HP or recharge bonuses to achieve certain build goals. The Incarnate system is going to give us some alternate ways to pursue some of these goals, and other entirely new goals to chase. And I, for one, am looking forward to it.

Well, this is something of a soft spot for me: Destriana, my first character and first to 50, is a demon-themed Fire/Fire Tanker. Bsic backstory is that a Hellion screwed up a summoning, then MAGI offered her a chance to stay in the mortal realms as a probationary hero. I find that unnaturally-colored flames did a pretty good job of getting the "demon" idea across, but I was aiming for something a little softer than what you.

If you do take a Fiery Aura or Dark Armor character, you're finding yourself a little squishy for your taste, and you're around blueside, go to Striga Isle in the mid-20s and do Stephanie Peebles' missions (also available through Ouroboros). The Wedding Band temp power she gives lasts for two hours, and it's a great help on hard encounters. With that power, my normal shields, a little defense from IOs, a Fortitude and a set of FF bubbles, I could tank Lord Recluse while the rest of the team took out the towers. And this was my first STF.

I must've lucked out. My first STF, I'm the tank, I'm Fire/Fire. Goes like a dream. Then again, we did have three controllers and a defender, providing us with Kinetics, Empathy, Radiation Emission and Force Fields buffs. The patron pull went kinda badly, and we just clumped right up, let three area heals do their thing, and beat them down one at a time. Similarly, Fort, bubbles and Mrs. Peebles' Wedding Band temp let even a Fire tanker go toe-to-toe with Recluse while the team handled the towers. All in all, it was a lot of fun, if a little hectic in places.

I guess it all depends on the team you find yourself in.

All the same, I agree that there really ought to be a solo path to the level-shift abilities. I was lucky enough to have two free hours in a high-traffic period today, but it's not something I'll necessarily get every week. Then again, you could probably get around this simply by setting one of the Ouroboros TFs as the Strike Target every so often - they all have no minimum team size, so if you can handle the encounters and are prepared to put the time in, you can get a Favor of the Well without ever joining a team.

It's preparation for Beast Run, the inherent power everyone suspects will be included in an upcoming Animal Booster. It's mecanically identical to Ninja Run, so they can't keep using icons based only on mechanical impacts. Sprint already has Inherent (three-tone gray) Run Speed Increase, so Ninja Run used to use the Jump Speed Increase icon in those colors. Now, it gets its own thematic icon so that any future, similar powers can have different icons and avoid confusion.

There are many different global channels available. Look on the Freedom forums - there should be a list of active channels for a variety of pursuits. I'm afraid I don't know Freedom's, but I'm mostly on Justice, and Justice United, Justice For All, and Australia are three very active channels there.

Just a minor thing - now that Gamma Shield's an auto-power, it should just take Resistance enhancements - it costs no endurance and can't recharge.

Rad Cloud is really nice, and it's interesting how itrewards stacking Rad Armor on a team - one Rad Armor will hold a couple of minions, while three can overlap their auras to fairly reliably hold bosses.

And no, you wouldn't be stepping on a Controller's toes by putting out 60% -regen. Lingering Radiation packs -500%, even on a Controller. Since -Regen is most useful on hard targets (EBs, AVs, GMs) and high-grade enemies resist debuffs heavily, the debuff's magnitude tends to be very very high. On the other hand, minions and lieutenants aren't very reliant on their regeneration to be challenging, so shutting down most of it won't be a problem.

EDIT: I'd definitely be interested in playing this. Not sure what I'd pair it with, but I know I'd want to try.