INTRODUCTION
This guide is an update of my earlier version, done prior to Issue 5 and Enhancement Diversification (commonly referred to as ED). Ive spent the past year or so finishing off badges, teaming, doing TFs, etc. with my stone/stone tank, and have gained much more knowledge and experience since the writing of the last guide.
So why did I play a stone/stone tanker? I initially began playing this tank for several reasons: 1) I honestly didnt know of any other stone tanks on my server; 2) I absolutely refused to play an invulnerable tank due to their insane popularity at the time; 3) I wanted a challenge; 4) Stone secondary gives the feel of power. About the only thing I can remember complaining about stone/stone through the entirety of my tanks career was the endurance costs for the secondary. Its always been a very endurance-heavy set.
With Stone Armor, you get a great amount of flexibility. Prior to 32, you rely primarily on defense, although you have access to some resistance. You also have a power unique to tanks of any sort, a toggle health regeneration power (Rooted). One other unique aspect of stone armor is its the only tank primary that has any sort of protection to psionic damage. While its not necessarily a large amount of protection, any psionic protection is better than none.
Brutes always speak of SMASHing their foes, however, stone melee users have been experiencing that feeling from day one. Granted, tanks dont SMASH to the same extent a brute can, but theres nothing like using attacks that have hard-hitting sound and screen-shaking effects. From Stone Fists to Seismic Smash, youll have a hard time not feeling powerful throughout your tanks lifetime.
One thing I want you to keep in mind as you read through this guide, though, is that this is written from a PvE standpoint. Ive done very little PvP, and I know little of the intricacies of PvP builds and how most powers work in that setting.
You many also wish to grab this
Hero Builder to help you along in planning your build, as well as keeping track of it.
Changes/Updates from the previous Guide:
1) Added more numbers for resistance, defense, recharge, damage, etc. for all applicable powers.
2) Added a piece under each power in an attempt to describe what the power looks like.
3) Updated activation times with those found through testing.
4) Added more information to the section regarding Granite Armor, including effects of the penalties and how to work around them, if possible.
5) Updated the descriptions of each power to match what is on the live servers.
6) Increased information regarding power pools.
7) Updated Ancillary Power Pool section to include all 4 pools.
Common terms & abbreviations used in this guide:
*Cost = Endurance cost for each power (for toggles, it is endurance per second; for click attacks, it is endurance per activation). The number following the cost in parentheses is the cost of the power with endurance reducers slotted in it.
*Activation time = Time for each power to activate
*Recharge = Time for each power to recharge without the use of hasten. The numbers following in parentheses gives adjusted recharge times with recharge enhancements.
*Range = The range at which a certain power can be used. Melee range is 5, all other ranges are considered ranged attacks.
*Brawl Index (B.I.) = Damage of the power compared to the tanks brawl attack when the power being discussed is un-slotted. The number following the B.I. in parentheses is the B.I. with build up.
*Usefulness = My personal rating scale on the usefulness of each power on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being the least useful, 5 being the most useful.
*Slotting= Various ways of slotting each power for desired outcomes (additional note: any slotting or percentages I give assumes +2 single origin enhancements, as that is the most common and easiest to achieve at level 50). The suggested slotting is based on two things: 1) How I would slot these powers if I were to use them myself assuming #2; 2) Not everyone has access to Hamidon Enhancements.
*My Slotting = Having access to Hamidon enhancements (HOs), my actual in-game slotting will, in most cases, be different than what I am suggesting
*Animation/Visual = My attempt to describe what the animations of each power is like
STONE ARMOR
You can transform your skin into various forms of rock and stone. Stone Armor is one of the only Tanker Defensive Power Sets that offers defense to Psionics. Stone Armor offers amazing defense, but a few stone armors are mutually exclusive to each other. Some Armors, although offering superior defense, also slow you down due to its enormous bulk.
One of the cooler looking primaries of the tank sets, at least in my opinion. You will be quite tank, regardless of your secondary. Stone armor is wonderful in that it gives you several options for use, granting you a flexibility that no other set gives you, at least not to the same degree.
Rock Armor: Your skin becomes stone while this power is active. Rock armor protects you from smashing and lethal attacks. They are less likely to land and affect you. Rock Armor also grants you resistance to Defense Debuffs. Cannot be active at the same time as granite armor. Recharge: Fast.
Cost: 0.24 (1 0.17)
Activation Time: 1
Recharge: 4
Usefulness: 5/5
Suggested slotting: 1 End/3 Def
My slotting: 1 Cyto/2 Def
Animation/Visual: A few rocks stick out of your body in various places. Not graphically intensive, as it leaves you able to see most of your costume.
Defense: Base - 17% (1 20.74; 2 24.41; 3 26.67)
This is one of your two options to take at level 1. The nice thing about this power is that it is not only useful early on in the game, but this will come in handy in the late game as well. You can use it when soloing or fighting smaller mobs when the damage you are taking can be healed reasonably quickly by rooted.
The way defense works makes this power really nice for the duration of the game. While the power provides defense to smash/lethal attacks, it CAN protect against other sorts of damage. Most damage has some sort of smash/lethal component to it. For rock armor to be effective, only a portion of the incoming damage needs to be smashing or lethal. For instance, if an attack is composed of fire and smashing damage, the attack will do a check against your smashing and fire defense. Whichever value is higher, that is the value the to-hit check is based on. So, having no fire defense and rock armor, you would still be protected against a fire/smashing attack.
Stone Skin: Your tough skin is naturally resistant to smashing and lethal damage. This power is always on and costs no endurance.
Cost: NA
Activation Time: NA
Recharge: NA
Usefulness: 3/5
Suggested slotting: 1-3 Res
My slotting: 1 Res
Animation/Visual: N/A
Resists: Base 12.5% (1 15.25; 2 17.95; 3 19.61)
The other of your two choices from your primary pool at level one. Stone skin gives a base of 12.5% resistance to smashing and lethal damage (for no endurance cost, since its an auto-power), making it the only passive to survive the global defense/resistance nerf. This is pretty useful early on, as it is your only source of smash/lethal resistance. Now, you can get smash/lethal defense from rock armor, but in order to have resistance, you will need this power.
The nicest thing about stone skin is that it stacks with granite armor. The default slot WITHOUT an enhancement in it is enough to cap your smash/lethal resistance when combined with granite armor (assuming you 3 slot granite with resist enhancements).
Earths Embrace: You are so connected to the earth, you can draw upon its power to add to your own health. Activating this power increases your maximum hit points, and grants you resistance to toxic damage. Recharge: Very Long.
Cost: 10.4
Activation Time: 1
Recharge: 360 (1 263.5; 2 208.17; 3 183.22)
Duration: 120
Usefulness: 5/5
Suggested slotting: 3 Rchg/1-3 Heal
My slotting: 3 Rchg/1 Heal
Animation/Visual: The animation starts off with the same animation as recall friend. However, instead of recalls pulling motion, rocks are pulled up from the ground with a green glow (the green glow also stays around after the animation finishes for the duration of the power). Very nice animation.
Heal & Hitpoint Boost: Base 40% (1 54.65; 2 69.17; 3 78.59)
This is stone armors version of dull pain, and has by far the best animation for a dull pain-type power Ive seen. Earths embrace boosts your number of hit points by at least 40%, more if you slot heals in it. This is good for several reasons: one, more hit points are always good; two, combined with rooted, it will increase your regeneration of hit points over what rooted will do on its own. Also, early on, this will give you a large heal as well as help you in your fights against the Vahzilok, as it provides some toxic resistance.
Three recharges is pretty standard for most dull pain-type powers. Since ED, its no longer able to be kept permanent, but with 3 recharges, it can be used quite nicely as an emergency heal, and quite a large one at that. Each heal enhancement added to earths embrace not only adds to the overall heal of the power, but also the number of hitpoints you will have for the duration of this power.
Mud Pots: While this power is active, you draw upon the geothermal power of the earth to create a bubbling pool of hot mud around yourself. All foes within melee range will become snared and entrapped in the mud, immobilizing some and slowing others. The boiling heat from mud pots also deals some damage over time to the snared foes. Damage: Minor (DoT), Recharge: Fast.
Cost: 0.98 (1 0.72; 2 0.57; 3 0.5)
Activation Time: 2
Recharge: 4
Brawl Index: 0.42 fire damage per tick (0.8); [1 0.57 (1.0); 2 0.72 (1.1); 3 0.82 (1.2)]
Usefulness: 5/5
Suggested slotting: 2-3 End (after the endurance reductions, you can add any combination of damage, taunt, slow, or accuracy as you see fit)
My slotting: 3 End/3 Dam
Animation/Visual: Starts with the same animation as recall friend, and then surrounds you with a bubbling pool of mud.
I really like this power, mainly for its ability to taunt anything in melee range and keep its attention focused on me. Ive never really noticed the slow or the immobilize effects on the mobs (mostly because I am too busy beating them down), but I dont see that as the biggest reason to take this power. The main reason to take it is to keep the guys in melee range of you mad at you. I highly recommend this power, but being the endurance-heavy power that it is, I suggest that it be put off until after you get stamina.
Recent changes to mud pots may influence your slotting. The damage portion of this power now requires a to-hit check for each mob within range. However, the debuff (slow, immob) portion does not require the to-hit check. So, if you wish to use this power as a damage dealer, you may want to add an accuracy enhancement. The taunt will still take effect, though, because the debuffs are still occurring.
Rooted: While this power is active, you merge with the earth and draw forth its power to become resistant to knockback, immobilize, sleep, hold, disorient and endurance drain effects, and increase your hit point regeneration rate. You must remain in close contact with the earth, so you will move extremely slow and you cannot activate fly powers, sprint, super speed, or jump powers while this power is active. Rooted also grants you resistance to Defense Debuffs. Recharge: Fast.
Cost: 0.19 (1 0.14)
Activation Time: 2
Recharge: 4
Usefulness: 5/5
Suggested slotting: 1 End/3 Heal or 3 Heal
My slotting: 1 Golgi/2 Heal
Animation/Visual: The lower portion of your legs are covered in a dark layer of stone. The one thing I have against this power visually is that it is a different color than granite, but, overall, its not bad.
Heal: Base 100% (1 136.63; 2 172.95; 3 196.48)
Dont let the negatives stop you from getting this power, in fact, take it right away. Stone armor is the only tank primary that has the ability to regenerate its own health outside of taking the fitness pool, and rooted provides a base heal rate of 100%. According to Rexpendable, it will fully heal you in 55 seconds with unslotted health. The movement speed can be countered by taking swift and 3-slotting it. I have yet to be drained of endurance while running rooted, which makes sappers and carnies less of an issue. Use with granite and youll be amazed at what you can tank.
Brimstone Armor: While this power is active, your skin becomes encrusted with cracked magma. Brimstone armor makes you highly resistant to fire and cold damage. Cannot be active at the same time as granite armor. Recharge: Fast.
Cost: 0.24 (1 0.17)
Activation Time: 1
Recharge: 4
Usefulness: 3/5
Suggested slotting: 1 End/3 Res or 3 Res
My slotting: N/A
Animation/Visual: Your body is covered is molten rock. Its a dark coloring, with red glowing lava coming through the cracks in the rocks. Covers a good bit of your body, a bit more than Rock Armor, but youll still be able to see your costume.
Resists: Base 25% (1 30.5; 2 35.9; 3 39.23)
This armor grants you a base of 25% resistance to fire and cold attacks, and 3 even level SOs will give you 40% resistance to those two types of attacks. This armor looks really cool on top of the decent resists that it grants.
Crystal Armor: While this power is active, your skin becomes encrusted in various quartz crystals. Crystal armor makes energy and negative energy attacks less likely to hit. This power also grants you resistance to Defense Debuffs. Cannot be active at the same time as granite armor. Recharge: Fast.
Cost: 0.24 (1 0.17)
Activation Time: 1
Recharge: 4
Usefulness: 3/5
Suggested slotting: 1 End/3 Def or 3 Def
My slotting: N/A
Animation/Visual: You put your arms straight up in the air, much like youre summoning a rain-type power, then a bunch of light-blue colored crystals come out of your body. Its similar to Rock Armor in terms of body coverage, but in my opinion, the ugliest of the armors.
Defense: Base - 17% (1 20.74; 2 24.41; 3 26.67)
This armor acts much like rock armor, only crystal armor provides a base 16% defense to energy and negative energy. Defensively, it will work like rock armor, protecting against any damage that is partly energy or negative energy. I originally picked this armor up with the intentions of using it to deal with the enemies that drain endurance, as those attacks tend to be energy attacks. But with the changes to rooted, crystal armor became obsolete to me, so I got rid of it with my first respec, and Ive never missed it since.
Mineral Armor: Activating this power summons several rare earth rock minerals to orbit around you. These minerals can disperse though patterns and make psionic attacks less likely to hit. They also bring clarity of mind and increase your perception to see hidden foes, and grants resistance to confusion. Cannot be active at the same time as granite armor. Recharge: Fast.
Cost: 0.24 (1 0.17)
Activation Time: 1
Recharge: 4
Usefulness: 4/5
Suggested slotting: 1 End/3 Def or 3 Def
My slotting: 1 Cyto/2 Def
Animation/Visual: The visual on this power is 3 purple/pink colored rocks swirling around your head. The rocks are not very big, and the overall visual isnt too intensive, though. When I have it on, I tend to not notice it after a little bit.
Defense: Base - 17% (1 20.74; 2 24.41; 3 26.67)
Yet another armor with a base defense which is the same as rock armor, but this time to psionic attacks. Yes, thats right, psionic attacks. Stone armor is the only tank primary that grants any kind of psi protection. Get it, definitely, but you could probably wait until the early 40s if you so wished. With the number of psionic villains in the late game, you should really take this power.
In the past, Ive awed people by what I could do with this armor combined with rooted and earths embrace. Ive herded up 40+ psi villains and stopped to have a conversation with teammates. While this is no longer the case due to the agro limitations and the lessened defense offered by minerals, I still suggest taking this power. It will come in handy. Fortunately, stone tanks are still sought after for tanking psi villains in the late game, so dont miss out on the extra experience and fun of tanking what few others can tank.
Granite Armor: When you activate this power, you are transformed into a massive bulk of unyielding granite. Your incredible mass makes you almost completely invulnerable. However, you become quite heavy, cannot fly, your attack and movement speed are slowed and you do less damage. Granite armor also grants you high resistance to Defense Debuffs. Cannot be active at the same time as the other armors in the set, fly powers, sprint, super speed or jump powers. Recharge: Slow.
Cost: 1.5
Activation Time: 1
Recharge: 8
Usefulness: 5/5
Suggested slotting: 3 Res/0-3 End/0-3 Def
My slotting: 2 Ribos/1 Cyto/1 Res/2 Def
Animation/Visual: The animation begins by you puffing your chest out a bit, then you are transformed into a solid mass of granite. No matter your heros size, you will be transformed into an 8 foot tall mass of granite. You will look like the minions of the Devouring Earth known as Boulders.
Defense: Base 20% (1 24.4; 2 28.72; 3 31.38)
Resists: Base 50% (1 61; 2 71.8; 3 78.45)
Finally, the level 32 power, your reward for 31 levels of hard work. Granite has a base resistance of 50% to everything EXCEPT psionic attacks and a base defense of 20% to everything EXCEPT psionic attacks. Some will say that this power is all you need from here on out, and others, like myself, prefer to use it as a situational power as opposed to a 24/7 armor. While you are able to use this armor 24/7, I wouldnt suggest it, because the penalties will get to be annoying. You are certainly able to survive very well with the armors other than granite, far better than some people seem to think.
While it shares a few penalties with rooted (and the penalties stack), there are a few more associated solely with granite. While in granite, you also have a recharge penalty, slowing the recharge rate of all your powers (a 70% recharge penalty, which is about the same as hastens bonus). You will also have a damage penalty, roughly equal to that of 1 SO damage (if I remember correctly, its a 30% damage penalty).
I highly recommend this power with 3 resist enhancements slotted in it at least. The last 3 slots can be filled as you see the need to. Its endurance drain isnt too bad, roughly the same as running the other 3 armors, but adding an endurance reducer isnt bad. A common 6-slotting of this power is something like 3 resist, 1-2 end reducers and 1-2 defense. That slotting will give you great resists, decent defense and a lessened endurance cost.
Now, while the penalties may look harsh, think about what you are getting in return for granite: high resists to everything except psionic attacks, some defense, status protection
all for a total of 3 slots in this power. The damage penalty isnt all that bad, especially if you like to team, and considering tanks arent meant to be the damage dealers. The recharge penalty can get a bit annoying, but it can be countered to some extent with hasten, or more fully with recharge enhancers.
Unfortunately, there is really no way to work around the damage penalty of granite, aside from outside buffs. However, as I mentioned, you can somewhat offset the recharge penalty with hasten or recharges in your powers. After ED, I chose the latter, as hasten is up less than half the time now and the end drop at the end is annoying. With 2 recharges in my attacks, they will recharge at almost the same speed in granite as they would outside of granite if they had no recharges.
Just what does a 70% recharge PENALTY look like? Well, heres some numbers for you too consider. The number in parentheses is the base recharge time for each power. The following 3 numbers represent the recharge times (in seconds) in granite with zero, one and two recharges, respectively.
Stone Fist (4): 13.3; 6; 3.89
Stone Mallet (8): 26.7; 12; 7.77
Heavy Mallet (13): 43.3; 19.5; 12.63
Taunt (10): 33.3; 15; 9.72
Build Up (90): 300; 135; 87.5
Fault (20): 66.7; 30; 19.4
Hurl Boulder (8): 26.7; 12; 7.77
Tremor (14): 46.7; 21; 13.6
Seismic Smash (20): 66.7; 30; 19.4
Basically, what happens is that granite more than TRIPLES your recharge time for you powers unless you slot them for recharge. One recharge alone will drop the penalty from a 200+% increase in recharge time to only a 50% increase in recharge time. Two recharges allows you to overcome the recharge penalty, but only slightly when compared to the powers recharge time outside of granite and without any recharge enhancements slotted.
Now, this will present you with a bit of a problem. If you choose to take hasten and not slot for recharge, youll be fine for about half the time. However, when hasten is down, youll be in a world of hurt when youve cycled through your attacks and youre waiting for another one to recharge. If you choose to skip hasten and slot two recharges, youll be golden while in granite, as your powers will recharge slightly faster than the unslotted version outside of granite. However, if you spend much time outside of granite, youll be wishing you had the endurance pool of an AV. Unless you pace your attacks, youll go through your endurance faster than you can imagine.
The third option is to slot your powers with one recharge. While in granite, this will give you slightly slower recharges on your attacks, however, outside of granite, you wont run through endurance quite as fast. Slotting for one recharge also gives you the chance to slot for endurance reduction as well, further increasing the length of time youre able to fight both in and out of granite.
The jump, fly and running penalties can be made up for with a couple different power pools, teleport and fitness. With the running debuff from granite and rooted, swift (slotted with 3 run speeds) is almost required in order to move at a decent pace with either one running. Counteracting the fly and jumping penalty is almost going to require teleport. Teleport is the ONLY travel power that you can use with either granite or rooted running. The nice part is that you can get 3-dimensional movement, and either a team friendly prerequisite (recall friend) or a pulling tool (teleport foe).
For PvPers: Granite cannot be detoggled by any power that has a chance to detoggle an opponents powers. Granite can, however, be detoggled as a result of lack of endurance or having enough mezzes stacked to overcome granites mez protection.
STONE MELEE
You can use the power of earth and stone to do battle with your foes. Stone Melee allows you to strike with fists of stone, summon earthen weapons, and even quake the very ground itself.
Stone melee is a very powerful looking and sounding set of attacks. Slamming enemies and shaking screens is what a tanks attacks should do, and you wont be disappointed in that aspect of this set. However, like most tank secondaries, it is endurance heavy. All damage is smashing damage from this secondary.
Stone Fist: Your stone covered fists attack swiftly for moderate damage and may disorient your opponent. Damage: Moderate, Recharge: Fast.
Cost: 5.2 (1 3.81)
Activation Time: 0.8
Recharge: 4 (1 2.93; 2 2.31)
Range: 5
Brawl Index: 2.78 (5.6)
B.I. @ 3 damage enhancements: 5.46 (8.2)
Usefulness: 4/5
Suggested slotting: 1 Acc/3 Dam/1 Rchg
My Slotting: 1 Acc/3 Dam/1 Rchg
Animation/Visual: Your hands will be covered in stone, then a quick punch at your opponent.
This is your basic starting attack, pretty good damage with a chance to disorient. Take it cause you have to.
Stone Mallet: Your control over the earth allows you to form a mallet of solid stone. This stone mallet deals heavy damage, and can knock down weak foes. Damage: High, Recharge: Moderate.
Cost: 8.53 (1 6.24)
Activation Time: 1.3
Recharge: 8 (1 5.36; 2 4.63)
Range: 5
Brawl Index: 4.56 (9.1)
B.I. @ 3 damage enhancements: 8.95 (13.5)
Usefulness: 5/5
Suggested slotting: 1 Acc/3 Dam/1 End/1 Rchg
My Slotting: 1 Nuc/2 Dam/1 End/1 Rchg
Animation/Visual: A large mallet of stone materializes in your hand, then you swing it with two hands in a downward motion on your opponents head.
The mallets are what make this set sound so powerful. You rip a mallet out of the ground and slam it on the heads of your foes with a chance to knock them down. It hits pretty hard, sounds great and will be one of your staple attacks throughout the game.
Heavy Mallet: A more impressive form of stone mallet, the heavy mallet deals more damage, but is slower to swing. It has a greater chance of knocking down opponents. Damage: Superior, Recharge: Slow.
Cost: 11.86 (1 8.68)
Activation Time: 1.3
Recharge: 13 (1 8.78; 2 6.94)
Range: 5
Brawl Index: 6.3 (12.6)
B.I. @ 3 damage enhancements: 12.44 (18.8)
Usefulness: 5/5
Suggested slotting: 1 Acc/3 Dam/1 End/1 Rchg
My Slotting: 2 Nuc/1 Dam/1 End/2 Rchg
Animation/Visual: A larger, slightly different looking version of stone mallet, materializes in your hands, and you use what looks like a combination golf/baseball swing to hit your opponent with an upward swing.
Similar in looks to stone mallet, but that is about it. Its an uppercut-type attack with a knockdown effect, but it hits really hard compared to stone mallet. The chance to knockdown a foe is greater than that of stone mallet, but its end cost is higher as well.
Taunt: Taunts a foe, and all foes around him, to attack you. Useful for pulling villains off an ally who finds himself in over his head. Taunted foes tend to ignore other heroes and focus on you for quite a while, so use this power cautiously. An accuracy check is not required to Taunt your foes. Recharge: Slow.
Cost: NA
Activation Time: 2.8
Recharge: 10 (1 7.32; 2 5.78)
Range: 70
Brawl Index: NA
Usefulness: 4/5
Suggested slotting: 2 Rchg/1-3 Taunt
My Slotting: 2 Rchg/1 Taunt
Animation/Visual: This has a grunting sound, and with your hand youre motioning toward your opponent to come at you.
Well, its taunt. Its autohit and has an area of effect that ticks off everything close to the guy you used it on. Those affected by this will focus their attacks on you and is a great help in keeping agro on you.
Build Up: Greatly increases the amount of damage you deal for a few seconds, as well as slightly increasing your accuracy. Recharge: Long.
Cost: 6
Activation Time: 1.3
Recharge: 90 (1 65.87; 2 52.04; 3 45.81)
Duration: 10
Brawl Index: NA
Usefulness: 3/5
Suggested slotting: 3 Rchg
My Slotting: 2 Memb
Animation/Visual: The same as all other build up animations.
Boosts your base damage by 100% and your base acc by 62.5% for 10 seconds.
Fault: This powerful stomp can cause a seismic disturbance. This will crack the earth itself and send a fault toward a targeted foe, throwing him and nearby foes into the air and possibly disorienting them. Fault deals no damage on its own. Recharge: Slow.
Cost: 10.2 (1 7.46)
Activation Time: 2.3
Recharge: 20 (1 14.64; 2 11.57)
Range: 20
Brawl Index: NA
Usefulness: 3/5
Suggested slotting: 2 Acc/2 Rchg
My Slotting: 2 Acc/2 Rchg
Animation/Visual: This powers animation begins with a footstomp to the ground, causing a large chunk of the ground to come up beneath your target. Depending on the size of the target for this power, the chunk of ground that comes up can be small, or be large enough to cover your screen for a short time.
A footstomp on the ground that causes rock to come up from the ground to knockdown foes within its short range, with a chance to disorient them, but does not deal any damage. Early on I took this power to use as a filler in my attack chains, but later respecd it out, mostly because I wanted a bit more damage in my build since I soloed a decent amount. Definitely a useful power for controlling the mobs close to you.
Hurl Boulder: You are able to tear up a chunk of ground beneath your feet and hurl it at an enemy. This attack deals moderate damage, and can knock foes back and even drop them out of the air if they are flying. Damage: Moderate, Recharge: Moderate.
Cost: 9.36 (1 6.85)
Activation Time: 4
Recharge: 8 (1 5.36; 2 4.63)
Range: 40
Brawl Index: 4.56 (9.1)
B.I. @ 3 damage enhancements: 8.95 (13.5)
Usefulness: 2/5
Suggested slotting: 1 Acc/3 Dam/1 End1 Range
My Slotting: N/A
Animation/Visual: You lean over to the ground and rip a chunk of rock from ground, hurling it with both hands at your opponent. Nice visual, just takes longer than Id like it to.
This has a short range (about 1/3 less than a blasters first few attacks) but deals pretty good damage and does knockback as well. It also has the added benefit of bringing down flying enemies. The animation time is a bit long, which can be both good and bad. Good because it can help you recover a bit of endurance, bad because you can be attacked during the animation. I took it to add a bit of ranged damage to my arsenal.
Tremor: You can cause a localized earthquake immediately around you. This will deal moderate damage to every foe in melee range, while knocking them back. Damage: Moderate, Recharge: Slow.
Cost: 13.5 (1 9.9)
Activation Time: 3.5
Recharge: 14 (1 10.25; 2 8.1)
Range: PBAoE (25 ft)
Brawl Index: 2.78 (5.6)
B.I. @ 3 damage enhancements: 5.46 (8.2)
Usefulness: 5/5
Suggested slotting: 1 Acc/3 Dam/1 End/1 Rchg
My Slotting: 2 Nuc/1 Dam/1 End/2 Rchg
Animation/Visual: Exact same animation as Total Focus from energy melee, you jump up in slow motion with two hands raised above your head, and come down slamming your hands on the ground, causing a tremor-effect on the ground, knocking down most of the foes within range.
Tremor is your only source of AoE damage in the set. Its damage is comparable to stone mallet, but it affects everyone within melee range, assuming it hits everything. Again, another animation that will make you sound and look powerful. Also, tremor has a knockdown effect.
Seismic Smash: This massive attack hits with all the force of the earth itself. it deals tremendous amounts of damage, and may hold the target if they are not defeated outright. Damage: Extreme, Recharge: Slow.
Cost: 18.5 (1 13.55)
Activation Time: 1.7
Recharge: 20 (1 14.64; 2 11.57)
Range: 5
Brawl Index: 9.89 (19.8)
B.I. @ 3 damage enhancements: 19.43 (29.3)
Usefulness: 5/5
Suggested slotting: 1 Acc/3 Dam/1 End/1 Rchg
My Slotting: 2 Nuc/1 Dam/1 End/2 Rchg
Animation/Visual: Again, your hands are covered in stone and you perform a two-handed overhand smash on your opponents head.
The capstone of your attacks, seismic smash slams your opponent on the head with incredible force, with a chance to land a hold on them. I love this power. It has excellent damage and a quick animation, but its a great power. The animation, I think, should be the same as what tremors is, but I like it still. If you combine Seismic Smash with a hold from the epic pools, youll be able to hold a boss in two shots, assuming both hit.
POWER POOLS:
CONCEALMENT:
Seems kind of pointless for a tank. Our job is to maintain agro, not hide from the bad guys. Now, if you want it for zipping to the end of missions in arcs or TFs to speed them up, thats one thing
well, in fact, about the only reason Id even consider this pool. Like I said, I think this power is mostly useless for a tank.
FITNESS:
Definitely a pool you will need, and for once, the 3 powers I suggest that you take will actually be quite useful to you. Swift will be your best friend, especially slotted with 3 run speeds, as it will help to overcome the speed penalty associated with rooted and granite. (Keep in mind, though, that while both powers are running, youre still very near the slow cap in terms of run speed. The only way you will overcome that is with speed boost.) Health will improve your heal rate (3 slotted for health), and combined with rooted, youll heal a fair bit faster. Stamina, of course, youll be hard-pressed to go without. Stone melee is very endurance heavy and youll see your blue bar disappear quickly without stamina.
FIGHTING:
This might help early on when you have a lack of resists, but in the late game becomes more of a waste of powers (remember, this is my opinion), especially when you have granite armor. With granite, tough is not needed and the defense from weave can be obtained from defense inspirations.
Should you choose to go for tough, youll at least be able to make use of boxing/kick on your way to tough. With the recharge penalty of granite, I have found it quite nice to have quite a few options when it comes to attacks. Boxing gives a small chance to disorient and kick gives a chance to knock back (the knock back will mesh nicely with stones knock back/down).
Tankers get the highest bonus from tough and weave when compared to the other ATs. Keep in mind, though, that the endurance costs for these powers were increased a few issues back, and will cause more endurance drain on you than they had previously (both now cost approximately 0.33 endurance per second).
Tough: 15% base resist (1 18.3%; 2 21.54%; 3 23.54%)
Weave: 5% base defense (1 6.1%; 2 7.18%; 3 7.85%)
FLIGHT:
Flight is my travel power of choice. I took air superiority early on for an extra attack, and have not looked back since (Well, except for that time I decided to give teleport a try as a main travel power
then promptly ditched that idea to go back to flight the first chance I got). Air superiority is a great crowd control power, as it has an excellent chance of knockdown, even against bosses.
LEADERSHIP:
The low bonuses for a tank do not make this pool too appealing for much outside of PvP. Some may think that taking assault will help offset the damage penalty from granite, but thats not really the case. You can make up a bit of it that way, however, youll be adding to your endurance problems. For a tank, the low bonuses and high endurance cost do not make this a set that I think tanks should get.
LEAPING:
One of my least favorite mode of travel (sadly, its #2 on my list of travel powers to take, but that does say much considering its ahead of teleport and super speed). Combat jumping doesnt stack with rooted or granite, so if youre wanting this pool for travel, Id suggest taking jump kick. You can use it as a main method of travel if you wish, and use teleport while in granite and/or rooted.
MEDICINE:
As a tank, you should not have to worry about healing and rezzing others. And, to make it more difficult for a tank to do this, the heals are interruptible. Having rooted, health and earths embrace, youll rarely find the need to heal yourself, especially when you combine all of those with granite. Thats not to say you cant take this, however, you may have a hard time trying to squeeze it into your build.
PRESENCE:
You could take this pool for the extra taunt if you like, but I chose not too. Some like to use provoke and taunt to make up for the recharge penalty of granite. If you decide to go that route, be sure to slot provoke with accuracy enhancements, as it requires a to-hit check, unlike taunt.
SPEED:
Hasten will help counter the recharge penalty of granite, but not completely counter it. The penalty is more than the benefit from hasten, so even 6 slotted BEFORE ED, hasten could not be permanent in granite. Now, its available roughly about half the time while in granite. During that time, however, it will still be helpful, as it will keep you from gouging your eyes out waiting on powers to recharge. So, if you do decide to take hasten, 3 slot it with recharge and be ready to gouge your eyes out waiting for it to come back.
I chose to drop hasten completely from my build after ED. If you choose not to take hasten, youll have to come up with some way to compensate for your recharge times while in granite. You can either slot your attacks with 1 or 2 recharges, depending on how much time you devote to playing in granite armor, or depending on how often youre able to team up with someone who can buff your endurance and/or recharge speed. I chose to slot my attacks with recharges, mostly because I didnt want to deal with the frustration of the downtime with hasten.
TELEPORT:
I chose recall friend to open this pool as it is quite team friendly. Either this or teleport foe will open up the teleport pool. Other than running, teleport is the only way you will get anywhere in decent amount of time in either granite or rooted, especially if you have both running at once. You could use this as your primary travel power if you like, and open up another couple power slots for other power pools, but I hate traveling with teleport. Getting around places like Dark Astoria is a pain, and lagging while teleporting can get you in some big trouble.
Depending on how comfortable you are with your tank and teammates, you can skip this pool entirely. However, I strongly recommend taking this pool for, if nothing else, travel while in granite and/or rooted.
*** One thing to note on traveling is how to travel. If you have to move in granite, I suggest using teleport, unless you are very familiar with what you can and cannot do while moving in granite/rooted. If you have only rooted running, you can get away with using other travel powers. Here is why: the recharge time on rooted is far shorter than that of granite. What this allows you to do is turn rooted off, travel to where you want to go, and turn it back on. With granite, you might be left waiting for a bit.***
ANCILLARY POWER POOLS:
ARCTIC MASTERY: Ive toyed with this pool a bit on my fire tank, and Im not overly impressed, but its not bad. You get an immoblization power, a hold, a single target blast and a rain. Of all the powers in the set, and especially for stone/* tanks, the rain is the least useful of the powers. It does like any other rain and scatters your enemies, which is not what you want to have happen as a tank.
Chilblain: Single target immoblization with a fairly quick recharge time.
Block of Ice: Single target hold with a long recharge time, however, when stacked with another hold, you can lock down a boss quickly.
Ice Blast: Just like the blaster version, a single target ranged attack.
Ice Storm: A buffable rain power, it has a 2 minute recharge and covers a 40 ft area around where you target it.
EARTH MASTERY: This set is probably the best set for stone/stone, at least thematically. This set comes with an immobilization power, a hold, an AoE sleep and a ranged AoE disorient. Of all the powers in this set, the most useful are the first two, stone prison (the immob.) and fossilize (hold). Stone prison has a quick recharge and is nice for grabbing runners quickly. Fossilize (or any hold for that matter) combined with Seismic Smash will hold a boss. Salt crystals, the AoE sleep, is somewhat anti-tanking. However, it does have a positive attribute, a defense debuff. The final power, stalagmites, is a very watered down very of the earth controller power. The damage isnt that great, has a hefty recharge and the chance to disorient is quite low.
Stone Prison: A single target immoblization power that recharges pretty quick.
Fossilize: A single target hold with a long recharge time.
Salt Crystals: An AoE sleep power that includes a defense debuff (the debuff is about all that makes this semi-useful to a tank).
Stalagmites: A very watered down version of the controller power, this power has a very small chance of disorient, does little damage and a very long recharge. My opinion is that this power should be used for nothing more than a range taunt, if you use it at all.
ENERGY MASTERY:
If youre suffering endurance or accuracy issues, this is the set for you. Conserve power gives you 90 seconds with your powers costing half as much as normal. Focused Accuracy is a toggle to-hit buff, which is quite nice to have late in the game, and it also grants a bonus to perception. Laser Beam Eyes is a ranged laser shot from your eyes (duh) that will slightly debuff your targets defense. Energy torrent is a ranged, cone attack that does knockdown to your targets. Its useful for crowd control as well as grabbing agro.
Conserve Power: A 50% endurance discount for 90 seconds and has a base recharge time of 10 minutes.
Focused Accuracy: A toggle tohit buff that also grants a bonus to perception.
Laser Beam Eyes: Lasers are fired from your eyes from a medium range at your target, does damage similar to stone fists and debuffs defense.
Energy Torrent: This attack does less damage, however its done in a cone attack and has a chance to knock back/knock down your foe.
PYRE MASTERY:
This is the set that I am least familiar with, although I have used it. You get, like earth and cold masteries, a ranged immobilization power and a ranged hold. The third and fourth power choices are a ranged single-target attack (fire blast) and a ranged AoE attack (fire ball). This set has quite a bit of utility, and not just for the immobilize and hold. Fireball is used by many as another ranged taunt power, as well as a damage power.
Ring of Fire: A single target immoblization power with a quick recharge.
Char: A single target hold that has a long recharge.
Fire Blast: The same power as the fire blasters version, a single target blast.
Fire Ball: The same as the fire blasters version, a large ball of fire that explodes on impact affecting multiple targets.
ACCOLADES:
Some accolades you may wish to get are listed below. These are the accolades that boost your endurance and your hitpoints.
Freedom Phalanx Reserve: +10% HP
Achievement: Gearsmasher, Tank Buster, Unveiler
Exploration: Brawler, Keen Sighted, Nimble Mynx, Purifier, Regal, Summoned, Vigorous
History: Authority
Portal Jockey: +5% Hp & +5% Max Endurance
Achievement: Dimensional Warder
Exploration: Multidimensional, Shrouded
History: Scholastic
Atlas Medallion: +5% Max Endurance
Accomplishment: Spelunker
Achievement: The Silver Bullet, The Slayer
Exploration: Top Dog
History: Pupil
Task Force Commander: +5% HP
Complete all six (6) of the original task forces: Positron, Synapse, Sister Psyche, Citadel, Manticore & Numina.
GENERAL TACTICS:
Pre-32 and Granite Armor:
The first 31 levels, youll be without granite armor, and mostly relying on defense to get you through. It might seem a bit tough at times, but it can be done. I dont bump up the difficulty on my missions until I at least have single origins, that way I can keep up damage-wise with my opponents. Another thing this will help you to do is survive on your defense. Issue 7s changes to the way defense scales, you may be able to turn up the difficulty a bit sooner if you like, or team with higher leveled friends. Remember, though, that the bigger the level difference, the harder it will be for you to hit your opponent.
These early levels, as I said, are mostly about defense, your main source of which will be rock armor and rooted (slotted as best you can early on). Another thing you may consider is brimstone armor, which will be useful during the first respec trial in which you will fight Sky Raiders, who deal a lot of fire damage. Crystal armor wont be needed quite as much early on, at least until you get to Croatoa or start facing the Council in large numbers.
Stone skin may help you early on as well, since it will be about your only option for smashing/lethal resist, unless you opt for the fighting pool. However, if you plan on taking brimstone, crystal, stone skin and/or fighting pool, you will find that your build might become fairly tight on slots.
As for your offense, youll basically have 3 attacks: stone fist, stone mallet and heavy mallet. The mallets will be useful to you throughout your entire career, and I would slot those more generously than stone fist. Keeping an endurance reduction in them would be a good idea as well, because you will run out of endurance. Also, put hasten off for a while, should you choose to take this power. You might like to have your attacks a bit more often, but I prefer keeping my endurance.
Another tool you may find handy is fault. It is a short ranged power that does no damage, however, has a good chance to knock down your opponents. Fault can be used as a taunt power, as well as a damage mitigation power.
Post-32:
Once you get your slots in Granite armor, you become a damage absorbing machine. With capped resists and a great health regeneration rate, youll be able to take more damage than anyone else. However, youll move slower than molasses at the north pole. Ok, maybe not that slow, but its slow.
When teaming, I suggest becoming friends with kinetics defenders and/or controllers, as their speed boost will make your movement much faster, as well as shortening your recharge times. Granite is probably the best option for teaming, as mob sizes tend to be a bit larger in teams, and you wouldnt want to be the first to fall. I highly recommend running mud pots at all times while teaming. Yes, I know it might suck away at your endurance, but it has an amazing ability to attract and hold agro. Mud pots appears to have a double taunt to it, one being the aura-voke and the other the punch-voke. Combine that with taunt, and nothing will move to far from you.
When you solo, you can run rock armor and rooted and be just fine in most cases, even running missions on invincible. Occasionally Ill have to switch to granite and rooted to heal up a bit, but for the most part, rock and rooted will suffice while solo.
Psionic fights are where you will really start to shine. Some villains who are psi-based also will have other types of attacks, but you can adjust your tactics accordingly. Some rikti will have psi attacks, but what I have found is that if you close to melee range, they will quit with the psi attacks and go with smash/lethal or energy, in which case you can switch to granite. Other villains, such as psychic clockwork, will use a combination of smash/lethal and psionic, so running rock armor, rooted and minerals will suit you just fine, and topping it off with earths embrace wouldnt hurt either. Pure psychic villains, like those in the outdoor mother mayhem mission, can be fought with rooted, minerals and earths embrace.
Now, when you are teaming for psionic battles, keep a few things in mind:
1) You have psi defense, not resistance. If you get it, you will take the full effect. However, youll take few enough hits that youll be able to heal it up before you take another big hit. Times like this is where the temporary power from Stephanie Peebles in Striga (the Wedding Band) comes in handy.
2) Do everything you can to keep the psionic attacks focused at you, especially against monsters and AVs. This means running and using all you can to keep them taunted. What I do in those big fights is run mud pots and stay in melee range of the AV or monster, using taunt every time it is up. Keep in mind that most attacks from AVs and monsters are cone or AoE, so politely ask your teammates to stay on the opposite side of what you fighting. That way, they only thing they might have to worry about is the big AoE AVs and monsters like to use.
3) Never turn down buffs of any sort, except maybe stealth/invisibility. Anything that can help you live longer will always be a great help. Generally, the longer the tank lives, the longer the team lives.
CONCLUSION:
Ive had several requests to post suggested builds in my guide, and again, Im going to refrain from doing so. Now, its not because I am trying to be rude or unhelpful, but I want to encourage folks to make their own unique builds, rather than copy mine or my suggestions. Many players have varying play styles, even when they have the very same power sets, and even the same build. I will say, however, that if you choose to make a stone/stone tank, feel free to post a build or questions in the tank forum (which is where I spend most of my time) and I will try to be of help, as will numerous others. Enjoy!
