DJ_Onslaught

Siolfir hit the proverbial nail on the head. Energy Melee used to be the highest dmg single target attack set in the game but that was about all it could do, whirling hands is a waste of a power (IMHO) and as such isn't taken by many people wiht access to the set.

Then they changed it by increaeing the activiation time of Energy Transfer, changing the mag stun of Total Focus, and then the change to barrage (it was either activation time or recharge time) and that killed the set for many a veteran who felt like they just had their toon gutted and hung out to decay in the sun.

Ok I was thinking about running it with no OG and with just CoF for my crowd control and the multitude of AoE from ELM and darkest night frm soul mastery.

I am still working on the io'd build and what not and seeing what i can do with it, but has anyone tried this combination and does it work?

Power Sink + Lightning Field is a great way to keep a opponent at low end. Couple that with being dark consumption from DM (if you took the power that is) and you will have no end issues but your oppoennts wil definately be sucking wind.

soul masery. Darkest night FTW! Not only does it provide a to hit debuff, but it also drops the inc from any affected mob. In a build that relies on not just solid resitance but also defense to survive thats a combo that is definately dot pass up.

why would you placate afte the smoke bomb anyways. back off a few seconds to let hide kick back in and then go in and AS again and placate again.

*/nin gets basically a second placate in the form of smoke bomb if used correctly. That in and of itelf imho makes /nin right at the top of stalker secondaries.

As for primaries had you asked me several months ago about DM i'd have called you insane for even suggesting it. i'd tried it on tankers, scrappers, brute and a stalker or 2 and couldn't stand it. When MA came out a frined of mine told me ot get creative and pick 2 power sets for a tanker (this isn't the tanker forum but i'm making a point here) I hadn't considered before. That in turn lead to the creation of the toon i've had the most fun leveling to date in the high 40 month count low 50 month count i've been playing for. DM these days is insane, not only does it have utility (heal and fear goodness anyone) but it also puts out solid dmg which caught me off guard at first but i've came to really like about it.

DM basically makes my Ice Armor/DM tank unkillable. If your going to select a defense based secondary for the stalker DM is your best choice especially if you select a set with no heal in it already. combine it with the tools from /nin and you literally have a killing machine. i've gone into hidden mode and gotten off AS's mid fight just becuase stuff went so long without hitting me.

But hopefully that helps some.

Here is a build I threw together just a couple minutes ago, to use as a example. I did use a purple set, hecatomb in TF is fun and i used hami-o something i don't see alot of people do with builds now.

Hami-o's make great frankenslottig tools since like set IO's they an cover multiple enhancements sometimes with better results then the set IO's do

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Invulnerability
Secondary Power Set: Energy Melee
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Temp Invulnerability <ul type="square">[*] (A) Reactive Armor - Resistance: Level 40[*] (45) Reactive Armor - Endurance: Level 40[*] (46) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Recharge: Level 40[*] (50) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance: Level 40[/list]Level 1: Barrage <ul type="square">[*] (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage: Level 35[*] (33) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance: Level 35[*] (37) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge: Level 35[*] (40) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 35[/list]Level 2: Dull Pain <ul type="square">[*] (A) Doctored Wounds - Heal: Level 50[*] (3) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge: Level 50[*] (3) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance: Level 50[*] (43) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (46) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50[*] (48) Doctored Wounds - Recharge: Level 50[/list]Level 4: Bone Smasher <ul type="square">[*] (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage: Level 35[*] (5) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance: Level 35[*] (5) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge: Level 35[*] (46) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 35[/list]Level 6: Resist Physical Damage <ul type="square">[*] (A) Reactive Armor - Resistance: Level 40[*] (7) Reactive Armor - Endurance: Level 40[*] (7) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance: Level 40[*] (43) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Recharge: Level 40[*] (43) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%: Level 30[/list]Level 8: Unyielding <ul type="square">[*] (A) Reactive Armor - Resistance: Level 40[*] (9) Reactive Armor - Endurance: Level 40[*] (9) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance: Level 40[*] (40) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Recharge: Level 40[/list]Level 10: Taunt <ul type="square">[*] (A) Perfect Zinger - Chance for Psi Damage: Level 50[*] (11) Perfect Zinger - Taunt/Recharge: Level 50[*] (11) Perfect Zinger - Taunt/Recharge/Range: Level 50[*] (13) Perfect Zinger - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50[*] (17) Perfect Zinger - Taunt: Level 50[*] (17) Perfect Zinger - Taunt/Range: Level 50[/list]Level 12: Combat Jumping <ul type="square">[*] (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range: Level 50[*] (13) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance: Level 50[/list]Level 14: Super Jump <ul type="square">[*] (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range: Level 50[*] (15) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance: Level 50[*] (15) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points): Level 50[/list]Level 16: Swift <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 18: Health <ul type="square">[*] (A) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery: Level 50[*] (19) Regenerative Tissue - +Regeneration: Level 30[*] (19) Miracle - +Recovery: Level 40[*] (37) Numina's Convalescence - Heal: Level 50[/list]Level 20: Stamina <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Modification IO: Level 50[*] (21) Endurance Modification IO: Level 50[*] (21) Endurance Modification IO: Level 50[/list]Level 22: Invincibility <ul type="square">[*] (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense: Level 50[*] (23) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 50[*] (23) HamiO:Cytoskeleton Exposure[*] (34) HamiO:Cytoskeleton Exposure[/list]Level 24: Whirling Hands <ul type="square">[*] (A) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 30[*] (25) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 30[*] (25) Eradication - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 30[*] (29) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50[*] (34) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50[*] (34) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge: Level 50[/list]Level 26: Tough Hide <ul type="square">[*] (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense: Level 50[*] (27) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 50[*] (27) HamiO:Cytoskeleton Exposure[*] (29) HamiO:Cytoskeleton Exposure[/list]Level 28: Boxing <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 30: Tough <ul type="square">[*] (A) Reactive Armor - Resistance: Level 40[*] (31) Reactive Armor - Endurance: Level 40[*] (31) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance: Level 40[*] (31) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Recharge: Level 40[/list]Level 32: Unstoppable <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (33) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (33) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 35: Energy Transfer <ul type="square">[*] (A) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50[*] (36) Crushing Impact - Damage/Endurance: Level 50[*] (36) Crushing Impact - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50[*] (36) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50[*] (37) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 50[/list]Level 38: Total Focus <ul type="square">[*] (A) Hecatomb - Damage: Level 50[*] (39) Hecatomb - Damage/Recharge: Level 50[*] (39) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50[*] (39) Hecatomb - Damage/Endurance: Level 50[*] (40) Hecatomb - Chance of Damage(Negative): Level 50[/list]Level 41: Weave <ul type="square">[*] (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense: Level 50[*] (42) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance: Level 50[*] (42) HamiO:Cytoskeleton Exposure[*] (42) HamiO:Cytoskeleton Exposure[/list]Level 44: Hasten <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (45) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (45) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 47: Conserve Power <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (48) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (48) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 49: Focused Accuracy <ul type="square">[*] (A) HamiO:Cytoskeleton Exposure[*] (50) HamiO:Cytoskeleton Exposure[*] (50) HamiO:Cytoskeleton Exposure[/list]------------
Level 1: Brawl <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Sprint <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 2: Rest <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Gauntlet
------------
[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]5.5% DamageBuff(Smashing)[*]5.5% DamageBuff(Lethal)[*]5.5% DamageBuff(Fire)[*]5.5% DamageBuff(Cold)[*]5.5% DamageBuff(Energy)[*]5.5% DamageBuff(Negative)[*]5.5% DamageBuff(Toxic)[*]5.5% DamageBuff(Psionic)[*]18.6% Defense(Smashing)[*]18.6% Defense(Lethal)[*]4.56% Defense(Fire)[*]4.56% Defense(Cold)[*]14.3% Defense(Energy)[*]14.3% Defense(Negative)[*]3% Defense(Psionic)[*]10.8% Defense(Melee)[*]13.3% Defense(Ranged)[*]6.13% Defense(AoE)[*]1.8% Max End[*]40% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]22% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]4% Enhancement(Heal)[*]77.3 HP (4.13%) HitPoints[*]Knockback (Mag -4)[*]Knockup (Mag -4)[*]MezResist(Immobilize) 12.1%[*]MezResist(Stun) 2.2%[*]MezResist(Terrorized) 4.95%[*]4% (0.07 End/sec) Recovery[*]52% (4.07 HP/sec) Regeneration[*]3.78% Resistance(Fire)[*]3.78% Resistance(Cold)[/list]
your prolly gonna have to open up mids to see the totals but your over soft cap on s/l defense and resistance and with the bulk of attacks in the game having one of those 2 types as a component needless to say you will be able to stand in there and get pummeled on like a good meat shield.

Resistance is all well and good especially if you run with a kin all the time. but which would you rahter have happen. Be the large majority of the time (whic can and wil eventually kill you if something take sthe kin outa the game, which can happen) or having near capped resistances and near ar at the soft cap for defense's and being hit less then 10% of the time (not tking streak breaker into account) and letting that kin make your life that much easier with debuffs and dmg beause he/she doesn't have ot heal ya??

lol McBoo. I have to agree though, or taking the best shots from multiple AV's and barely flinching.

Ice/Dark is my most fun tank right now and the character isn't even 50 yet but such a joy to play.

Thing is clearly a side switched brute acutall, just like the hulk could technically be considered.

super man is a SS/Inv scrapper (his dmg clerly outshines his dmg taken)

wonder woman is the only tanker of the 3 and she's wp/ss like stated by someone else.

Invuln is IMHO the second best primary over all for tankers after Stone Armor. (Notice the IMHO in there) Because it has a solid mixture of defense and resistance plus a solid heal and doesn't have the deragatory debuffs like stone armor does.

Inv/DM is definately a super solid option, with the to hit debuff from DM plus the heal and end recovery powers your have solid survival. you even have the option to take a fear power to make use as a great oh crap button.

I was a end game tank in wow on both a warrior and a DK. I tank becaue it's what i'm good at be it solo or in a group.

Of the sets you mentioned I throughly suggest givng /DM a shot, until i really knuckled down and gave it a worthy play (on a ice armor tank) i thought it was mediocre and quite frankly sucked. But now it's actually my favorite melee set and i'm even playing threw it again on a stalker and will likely eventually make a x/dm tank with x being any primary i feel like since the tools in DM can make any set better survival wise.

[ QUOTE ]
Just out of curiosity... I like having all of the following pools on my stoner:
speed,
fitness,
teleport,
fighting

Obviously you can't give up fighting or fitness since that would kind of defeat what you were trying to do with the build above.... so which of the other two do you skip to get leadership.... or do you just skip both?

[/ QUOTE ]

Speed pool is the one i skipped. That build was just a example of what can be gotten with IO's and weave/manuevers for defense.

My granite tank is built to tank the MOSTF and is perma granite so i've negated alot of run speed debuff and some of the recharge and damge debuffs so it preforms really well.

Here is the numbers fresh from mids, to show just how good granite gets with weave and manuevers added, keep in mind this is wtih stone skin 3 slotted for resistance and 2 resistance io's in granite and all IO's are lvl 50.


Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Level 34 Natural Tanker
Primary Power Set: Stone Armor
Secondary Power Set: Stone Melee
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fighting

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Stone Skin <ul type="square">[*] (A) Resist Damage IO: Level 50[*] (3) Resist Damage IO: Level 50[*] (3) Resist Damage IO: Level 50[*] (5) Empty[*] (5) Empty[/list]Level 1: Stone Fist <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 2: Earth's Embrace <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 4: [Empty]
Level 6: Mud Pots <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 8: Rooted <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 10: Maneuvers <ul type="square">[*] (A) Defense Buff IO: Level 50[*] (11) Defense Buff IO: Level 50[*] (11) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (13) Defense Buff IO: Level 50[/list]Level 12: [Empty]
Level 14: [Empty]
Level 16: [Empty]
Level 18: [Empty]
Level 20: Weave <ul type="square">[*] (A) Defense Buff IO: Level 50[*] (21) Defense Buff IO: Level 50[*] (21) Defense Buff IO: Level 50[*] (23) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 22: [Empty]
Level 24: [Empty]
Level 26: [Empty]
Level 28: [Empty]
Level 30: [Empty]
Level 32: Granite Armor <ul type="square">[*] (A) Defense Buff IO: Level 50[*] (33) Defense Buff IO: Level 50[*] (33) Resist Damage IO: Level 50[*] (33) Resist Damage IO: Level 50[*] (34) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (34) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 35: [Empty]
Level 38: [Empty]
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Sprint <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 2: Rest <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Gauntlet



<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>| Copy &amp; Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;805;376;752;HEX;|
|78DAA591DD4AC33014C733ED28DD3AE7A88C31C459BC1A8C8 2777E5CC8700A834D8|
|60EAFD4D2D5B8056B3BD22AEECE07F0157C10F155FCB8F041 624E928D6D7EDC7868|
|7EFF9C7F729A43D2BE6F98083DECA194B91F7871EC76BDF01 A53FDC84B6EA917201|
|D2154969EDBC057388CB17392442176EBF426A225B5D4C601 1E2F8879A1190E30C5|
|61E28C27F94E14054E0B7B9798C60332CC89FC90F4070909F B5999059016C4BC19D|
|E9198F448409291753024BE53A77E427CB7EDC509A6A312EF ACCAC7ABC191E20331|
|0DD5B86CA28519D1180FC58D0C52C1F807CE9BA1AAB993120 E80BD733BADECB4B03|
|FB8A3CB73902E9C02BF1C433A8BC69A382BA3C41662CA8CFD 101AAFB554AD25B7AD|
|CC48D1FEB556C4276FA7227F90AEC8927525B569B1ED69617 FC6AA367F3BAD6F4E4|
|79BBFAFAA3679807FC5B3393ECB388667EA023A8053C019E0 1C7001F0003D800F60|
|2F93EAFC1634B40DD801EC021E61939EE5C8024C400EB004C 803960116A00828039|
|E00EC0BDAA01557|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre><hr />


With that slotting in mids these are the numbers we end up with.

Defense:
S/L - 41.5
En/Neg - 41.5
F/C - 41.5
Psi - 11.5
Melee - 11.5
Ranged - 11.5

Resistance:
S/L - 90
En/Neg - 74.9
F/C - 74.9
Tox - 74.9
Psi - 0

Thats with just regular lvl 50 IO's no sets used or anything, when you start factoring in sets you can easily be pushing defense caps and achieve sheer raw unkillability.
AoE -

Each set has it's strong points and weaknesses. I'd say figure out more specifically what you want other then being able to tank any TF and the leveling curve variations from 22-50

What is to say that some of the things people are whining for. Game Engine overhauls and what not aren't what these new "r-type" programmers aren't doing among things like discovering more limits to the graphics engine????

Until we get confirmation from a Dev one way or the other who can say what is going on inside the studios.

Stone Tanks are the ones that get called in when no other tank can do the job effectively. granted it all comes down to build and the person playing the toon that causes those situations ot occur.

I remember a time when people wouldn't consider doing certain TF's wihtout a stone/ tank or even toinclude villian TF's a /stone brute. That in and of itself should say something about the powerset.

you don't need tough except for the single slot, but ya never have to turn it on. Weave on the other hand is a must take. just 4 slotting weave can allow you to cap or achieve close to cap number for defense with the help of IO sets, and even without IO sets will make a already solid defensive wall into a fortress.

Least we have pictures so we know it happened lol

lol

Sailboat summed it up expertly.

I play a tank because tanking is what I do best, i've tried every other AT and nothing suits me quite as much as a tank does, regardless what anyone says my tanks do their jobs expertly and can even dish a decent level of punishment on top of it.

it's all about knowing your toon and what it can do, then taking it the next step.

I think my most fun combo right now.... Ice Armor/Dark melee it's not 50 yet but it's crazy on the survivability scale even rivalling my granite tank.

for tanks I have:
WP/SS - 50
SA/SM - 47
IA/DM - 34
SD/SS - 32
Inv/FM - 10ish
DA/DB - 10ish

Only tank primary I haven't tried is FA and i honestly have no reason to.

I'm one of the tanks that doesn't like SB except under x circumstance, but thats because i am not a slow moving tank i tend to stay a step ahead of the team and know the archtype really well.

I do have a stone tank though and i have a kin i run with that sb's me and they know it's he only toon that gets sb and keeps sb. i sympathize with kins though and thats one reason i don't get the buf is so they have more time to do things other then SB.