Call Me Awesome

Stone Melee offers hard hitting single target attacks with knockdown/knockup and the heavy hitter, Seismic, is a MAG 4 hold. You also have two AOE knockdown attacks, one that deals roughly Stone Fist damage and one that's a MAG 2 stun. It's not a big AOE damage dealer but it has tons of mitigation and it's single target damage is quite respectable. Be prepared to slot for endred though, it's a bit heavy on the blue bar. My Inv/Stone tanker, CMA, is still one of my favorites. Of course he's also my first 50 so that also has something to do with it.

Fire Melee offers a ton of damage, both single target and AOE, and works very well with Shield... I just finished taking a Shield/Fire tanker to 50 and it's nearly as durable as my Inv/Stone tank and does nearly scrapper level damage. It was a good ride most of the way; once you get your defenses in order around the mid-20's it was quite tanky all the way to 50. Fire Melee is also the lightest endurance set I've played and I've taken it to 50 twice, once as Stone/Fire and once as Shield/Fire.

I haven't played Ice melee to any significant level but it's damage is lower than most other sets, although it's tier 9 recently was buffed to Foot stomp levels. It does have a lot of mitigation built in as compensation. Since my highest Ice melee only got to the late teens my knowledge here is mostly theoretical.

Electric Melee has really good AOE but it's single target damage is somewhat lacking... my highest Elec Melee tanker is around level 30 and I've been impressed with the AOE but a bit disappointed in the single target damage. All things considered I think Fire Melee works better; it doesn't have quite as much AOE (although they recharge faster) but it's single target is much better. Still, it isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination and I've been working on two electric melee tanks, one Ice/Elec at 30 and one Dark/Elec at around 25.

That's all the sets I have personal experience with other than /EM... as you well know /EM isn't the set it used to be a few years ago, my Stone/EM has been shelved at 50 ever since shortly after the changes in issue 10? or so. I wouldn't recommend it for any tanker; I can't see that it has any real advantages anymore.

While I agree with the idea I'd be concerned that if they gave Granite the ability to jump they'd nerf something else, or even turn it into a click power. After all, I think Granite's the only godmode toggle power in the game; I'd hate to loose that.

This is strange, I ran an Apex a few days ago with CMA and didn't have a lot of trouble getting her to follow me once I figured out a method, and I know she was using her sword when I was close... she dropped one of the scrappers with whirling sword. You may try getting her into the center of the map, there's several obstructions around there that you could use to break LOS.

I do agree that she's frustrating on a melee heavy team since you'll have only a few seconds to attack between having to move out of the blue zones. Still, we had 1 tank, 3 scrappers, 2 controllers (I think Ill/Rad & Fire/Rad) and 1 blaster... I can't remember what the last person was, and we pulled it off. Yeah, it took awhile, and it took me a bit to figure out the best way to get her to move; she does tend to go to her bow. I would jump into melee, nail her with a couple of attacks and taunt then jump out when the blue circle of death formed and hit her with Laser Eyes and taunt again. If she went to her bow I'd duck behind something to force her to move and repeat the process.

Wow, this would be a bonanza for long time vets. Roll up a new level 1, claim vet merits, mail to yourself, delete level 1 and repeat. Assume it takes about a minute & a half for each cycle @ 11 merits per... yeah, it's just slightly exploitable.

It will work, you'll just have to pull her out. One thing, she's apparently pretty easy to immobilize; nobody on the team tossed one her way did they? The blaster has an immob and the defender, scrapper & tanks have one available in the APP.

I've found that when you attack her in melee and she grabs her sword she'll tend to stay with melee and follow you. If you can't get her to move then either move out of her range or break LOS, she'll come to you then. There's several areas on that map where you can duck behind something and force her to move to you.

I'd suggest they get the Going Rogue complete; it includes the game and access to all three sides (hero, villain, praetorian). In order to play they need to buy some version of the game; the different versions are all in the NCSoft store with a description of the goodies each comes with.

Well, I'm currently working on two /electric tankers, one an Ice/Elec at around level 30 and one a Dark/Elec at level 25. At this point the Dark/Elec may have a slight edge but I see the Ice getting really good once it matures and I get some sets into it.

Both tankers seem pretty capable as far as I've taken them, when I get time to play them the rest of the way I'll have a better idea. Ever since i19 hit I've been playing my 50's and haven't touched the lowbies

It's fairly expensive, but I've found this build to work quite well; this is my current live setup:

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.90
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Sword of Damocleve: Level 50 Natural Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Broad Sword
Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Medicine
Power Pool: Leadership

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Hack -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(3), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Mako-Dam%(5), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(7)
Level 1: Deflection -- GftotA-Def(A), GftotA-Def/EndRdx(7), GftotA-Def/Rchg(9), GftotA-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(9), ResDam-I(11), ResDam-I(11)
Level 2: Slice -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(13), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(13), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(15), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), RechRdx-I(17)
Level 4: True Grit -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Heal(17), ResDam-I(19), Heal-I(19), ResDam-I(21), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(21)
Level 6: Combat Jumping -- Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(A), Zephyr-Travel(23)
Level 8: Parry -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(23), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(25), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(27), Mako-Dam%(27)
Level 10: Active Defense -- HO:Membr(A), HO:Membr(29), HO:Membr(29)
Level 12: Super Jump -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(31)
Level 14: Battle Agility -- GftotA-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(A), GftotA-Def/Rchg(33), GftotA-Def(33), GftotA-Def/EndRdx(33)
Level 16: Against All Odds -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 18: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 20: Whirling Sword -- Sciroc-Dam%(A), Armgdn-Dmg(31), Armgdn-Dmg/Rchg(31), Armgdn-Dam%(39), Armgdn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Armgdn-Acc/Rchg(48)
Level 22: Tough -- ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg(A), ImpArm-ResDam(36), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(36), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(39)
Level 24: Weave -- GftotA-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(A), GftotA-Def/Rchg(34), GftotA-Def/EndRdx(34), GftotA-Def(34)
Level 26: Disembowel -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(36), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(37), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Mako-Dam%(39)
Level 28: Grant Cover -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 30: Phalanx Fighting -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 32: Head Splitter -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(40), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(42), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(42), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42), RechRdx-I(43)
Level 35: Shield Charge -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(43), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(43), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(45), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), RechRdx-I(45)
Level 38: Build Up -- AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg(A), AdjTgt-Rchg(46), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 41: One with the Shield -- ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(46)
Level 44: Aid Other -- Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(A)
Level 47: Aid Self -- Numna-Heal/Rchg(A), Numna-Heal(48), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(50), H'zdH-Heal/Rchg(50), IntRdx-I(50)
Level 49: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(40), EndMod-I(48)

I'll throw my 2 cents in on a Shield/Fire as well; I just took one to 50 and it's highly durable, cheap to soft cap and deals near-scrapper level damage.

You could go with a Fire/Shield scrapper if you like; you'll have the same strength aggro aura with a lot more damage. It will cost more to soft cap but for a duo it's plenty tough enough to tank for your buddy. If you're just going to duo then a tanker's overkill on durability.

I found that the Stone/Fire combination worked very well; it of course lacks any mitigation in the secondary but once a stone tanker matures it has all the durability it'll need so you really don't need mitigation from the secondary.

I'll definitely second the suggestion for TP... it's almost mandatory for a stone tanker to have mobility in combat without toggling off the mez protection. I personally really don't like TP as a travel, but I still have it on my Stone tanks for combat mobility. It's either take TP, build for massive runspeed IO bonuses or always team with a kinetic for speed boost.

By the way, Stone Melee doesn't have knockback, it has knockDOWN instead. Look at Mids, any power that lists knockback of MAG 0.67 will not KB even level foes unless they're weak to KB like Clockwork. Looking over the Axe set I don't see any knockback powers there either; everything's either knockdown or knockup (which will send mobs straight up, then straight down at your feet). You'll only get knockBACK if you're fighting lower level mobs or a very few specifically weak to KB.

You have Rad blast X-Ray Beam, Tanker/Scrapper Energy Mastery APP power Laser Beam Eyes and the Peacebringer's Glinting Eye... those are the only ones that I can think of offhand.

Stone/Fire is a great combination, I took one to 50 back in issue 7 and it was a great ride. Fire has better recharge than Stone Melee and it's lower on end use as well as outputting more damage, particularly AOE.

On the other hand Stone Melee has superior mitigation with knockdown in both hammers and the greatness of Fault. It's almost totally a single target focused set however, the only damaging AOE is Tremor and it does about Stone Fist damage. Both Fault & Tremor however are AOE knockdown powers so you have metric tons of mitigation.

Having played both secondaries to 50 and having played the Stone/Fire pairing to 50 that's the way I'd go; once you hit 32 you won't need the additional mitigation of Stone melee and the better recharge and damage of Fire helps out with the penalties of Granite. In my opinion it's probably about the best overall pairing for Stone Armor.