Call Me Awesome

Indeed, I didn't ever loose connection last night but I did have the power flicker twice during the evening... we got hit by about 1/2" of sleet and freezing rain yesterday and last night.

I went out this morning and our lightly snow covered driveway was frozen hard enough that I didn't even leave tire tracks. We joked because the dog was walking on top of the snow, but it's one thing when a 25 lb dog doesn't leave tracks, it's another when an SUV doesn't.

I don't think I'm going to be going very far in the near future.

Hmm, well I got my warshade, rolled up on day 2 of issue 4, from 44-50 figuring it was about time I actually completed him... he'd been stuck at 44 for over a year. I got my Ice/Elec tank from 29-34; got my Fortunata from 32-41 and moved blueside along with a few other alts.

I also noticed the little bonus that DXP was still active yesterday and took my Fort on an ITF... 38-41 in 1 hour, 30 minutes.

I doubt it, the devs seem happy with the way phase powers work nowadays. However, if you're needing Hibernate more than once or twice per mission there's probably something out of kilter with your build... a good Ice tank build shouldn't be that squishy. Mine at 34 is surprisingly tough and I rarely use hibernate... of course he's softcapped to S/L/E/N damage. It wasn't cheap getting that done, and he's been that way since level 30. Still, it makes for a quite sturdy tank, and I'm working toward roughly 35% F/C defense... I should get there by 40 on my current build plan.

All Incarnate buffs act like an SO slotted into all of your powers that can take one of that type, and they are subject to ED... the higher tiers being less so than the lower. The way I'd look at the Alpha slot is to look over the build and think of powers that could benefit from more enhancement. Chances are most if not all of your attacks are already at the ED cap for damage so Musculature won't give you a lot of return... roughly 12% more enhancement for the uncommon if I remember the figures. On the other hand the Cardiac could be very useful... how many of your powers are fully slotted for endurance reduction? I'll bet the answer to that is "not many". Spiritual for recharge is another useful one because again it's likely that the majority of your powers aren't already slotted fully for recharge.

To make a long story short the alpha slot is a "ghost" SO enhancement in every power that can slot that type of SO. It does nothing in itself, it only enhances existing powers. Well, the Rare and Ultra Rare abilities do have a level shift making you effectively level 51.

I'll agree with a Shield/Fire being a great AOE damage dealer... for a tanker. Yes, it's damage can approach the bottom end of scrapper damage which is quite an accomplishment for a tank.

Still, if you're looking for an AOE farming build you'll be better served by a scrapper; they bring considerably more damage to the table and if built right offer "enough" durability. My 50 BS/Shield scrapper for example deals much better damage than my Shield/Fire tanker and being soft capped to all positions it's about midrange on the tanker scale in durability. I love tanks, but it's a case of using the right tool for the job. If the job you have in mind is farming large groups of moderate enemies then you really want a scrapper. If the job is tanking for a large team and managing aggro then you really want a tanker. Sure, some scrappers like the aforementioned BS/Shield can do a decent job of tanking in the right hands but they aren't as good as a true tanker. Likewise some highly offensive oriented tankers can kill mobs quickly they aren't as good as a scrapper at that either.

I've taken that BS/Shield scrapper solo into +2/ x8 missions filled with Carnies, Arachnos and Nemesis and cleared the maps; he has enough durability for the task and he kills faster than the tanker.

I'm enjoying my Ice/Electric tanker; I just hit 31 and I've been soft capped to S/L/E/N damage since 29. I just got off of a Citadel TF and had no difficulty whatsoever with durability; twice I used Dull Pain... er, Hoarfrost, other than that I had no problems and didn't even use a single inspiration.

Yes, I've seen high level Ice tanks who were flimsy as a wet paper bag but they had to have build issues; this tanker is just fine. Yes, it's going to come in below Shield and certainly Invuln for durability but it surpasses them in aggro management... I've never played a tank that grabbed aggro faster or held it better.

Ice has it's good points and bad points; on the whole it's probably a mid range tanker in survivability... it's a long way from the worst.

It's a tricky question depending on what you really want to do. Do you want to solo 8 man spawns of middling difficulty mobs? For dealing with something like +2/x8 setting you're probably looking at an AOE heavy scrapper; something like an Elec/Shield, Spine/Dark, Fire/Shield or the like.

Do you want to MANAGE the aggro of 8 man spawns on a team? You're looking at a tanker hands down, and one with a good taunt aura. If you want to manage aggro for 8 man teams running the most difficult things in the game then you want a really sturdy tanker; Invuln is, in my admittedly somewhat biased opinion, the best all around choice. Stone is the toughest tanker but it's loaded down with penalties. Shield, Electric, Fire and Dark offer more damage but absent considerable IO bonuses they'll be weaker that Invuln. They'll do the job in competent hands but they won't be as durable... again absent massive IO investment. Willpower can be quite durable, but it almost completely lacks an aggro aura making it a poor choice for this.

Do you just want to mow down large groups of really easy mobs? There's several Controller builds that do this well... the infamous Fire/Kin being perhaps the most popular example.

Do you want to be part of a team steamrolling everything in your path? It's very hard to beat a group of Fire/Rad controllers at this.

I'm not as familiar with redside AT's so I won't comment on them other than to say that Brutes are fairly interchangeable with Scrappers and Dominators being a cross between a Controller and a Blaster are capable of some quite amazing things.

Your slotting is certainly all over the place here as is your power order. First, the slotting.

Stone is based on typed defenses, not positional. Therefore the Obliteration set is a fairly poor choice; it offers melee defense primarily, not S/L which you're really after. You're slotting Stone Skin but leaving Tough, a high endurance toggle, at the base slot. You're putting that highly expensive Regen Tissue unique into Earth's Embrace where it's only active when you click the power. You're slotting Rooted with a very expensive PvP set using up a lot of slots that could be better used elsewhere. Combustion should be frankenslotted; stop Eradication at 4 slots and finish with Scirocco's Dervish for the regen bonus. Oh, and you're putting a 400 million inf Microfillament HO into Hurdle??? You realize a level 50 jump SO will do the exact same thing? And another in Boxing? The only thing that's doing for you is to give you 1 SO of endred for another 400 million.

Oh boy, and then there's Granite. There's two things you want from slotting Granite Armor... first you want to slot to the ED cap RESISTANCE; something you're completely neglecting. This is HUGE. Second, you want to slot to ED cap in defense. Granite really must be frankenslotted to get full benefit out of it; the way you're slotting it you're ending up about as tough as a shield tanker and nowhere even close to what a mature stone tank should be.

Yeah, I agree that build needs help, you're spending at least 4 billion inf on it and ending up with a less effective character than you could build with pure SO enhancements.

I don't agree with going full time Granite armor; in a lot of situations, particularly on small teams Granite's overkill so why load yourself down with the penalties when you don't need them. That's why I spend probably 50% of my time in Rock Armor/Rooted with Tough/Weave; at the 45% S/L defense cap you've enough durability for most medium tanking... if things turn nasty Granite's only a click away and it's (slotted right!) a great big fat "youuuu can't huuurt meee" button.

Building a Stone tanker I'm looking for three things in order: Runspeed bonuses, Recharge bonuses and finally typed defense bonuses for use outside of Granite.

My Stone/Fire tanker's current build isn't perfect; it's currently a compromise between what I'd really like to make and what I could do with my last respec without throwing away a lot of IO's and HO's. This is how he sits right now; I need a couple of respecs to get to what I really want. I built to maximize durability outside of Granite while also getting good runspeed and recharge bonuses. It wouldn't be cheap in today's market but it's in a transitional state between the 50+ HO's it had when issue 9 released and the final set IO build I want to end up with. Even so, it's far more effective than yours right now and it's far cheaper. You'll notice I skip Crystal and Brimstone Armor... if I had room I'd consider Crystal for more E/N def outside of Granite, although I've never had it on any Stone tank and never really missed it. Brimstone on the other hand is by far the most skippable power in the entire set being minor resistance to a very rare damage type. By the way, I'm a 60+ month vet so I have the City Traveler bonus and can choose a travel power without a prerequisite.

I'm leaning towards leveling my two new tankers; I want to get the Ice/Elec from 31 into the mid-40's and I'd like to get the Dark/Elec from 24 into the mid 30's.