Finduilas

There's a new, and IMO, better option for KB protection now, invention origin enhancements that each give mag 4 KB protection. (The normal tanker KB protection is mag 10, so two or three IOs is recommended.) There are also a lot of new ways you can increase endurance recovery using IOs, which as you can imagine is a big help for DA.

You'll want to read up on IO sets, here's a good place to start:

http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Inventio...hancement_Sets

You should also download Mid's Hero Designer, which can be found here:

http://www.cohplanner.com/

Personally, I think you'd be better off not going the Fear route; CoF and the Presence pool would add even more end-hungry toggles, and with EM as your secondary taking advantage of the stacking stuns with Op Gloom is a natural. There are some end game foes that are very resistant to stuns, and CoF is useful for those situations, but I don't think adding the Presence pool is either necessary or particularly helpful.

Stunned mobs don't SS/SJ away the way the did at one time, but otherwise they act the same in terms stumbling away then running back.

I've never understood the desire for WP players to take the Fitness Pool as soon as possible after getting the superior-to-Stamina QR, after all most players have nothing but Stamina and get along fine to level 50! I'm not saying you should skip Fitness necessarily; take it by all means take it if you want it, but there's no reason to delay your attacks or WP's key powers to do so. And by delaying the Fitness pool a bit you should have no trouble getting in the others things you need.

I actually have more experience with War Mace than with WP, and my recommendation is to skip Taunt and one attack, preferable Bash. WM has a limited number of true ST attacks, so I think taking three of the four is the way to go.

Here's what a good power selection would be to level 38, based on Claws recommendations for WP and mine for WM. As you can see, you still have room to get some additional pool powers or patron powers in the last few levels.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 37 Technology Brute
Primary Power Set: War Mace
Secondary Power Set: Willpower
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Pulverize -- Empty(A)
Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Jawbreaker -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Fast Healing -- Empty(A)
Level 6: Hasten -- Empty(A)
Level 8: Clobber -- Empty(A)
Level 10: Indomitable Will -- Empty(A)
Level 12: Mind Over Body -- Empty(A)
Level 14: Super Speed -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Rise to the Challenge -- Empty(A)
Level 18: Whirling Mace -- Empty(A)
Level 20: Quick Recovery -- Empty(A)
Level 22: Build Up -- Empty(A)
Level 24: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 26: Shatter -- Empty(A)
Level 28: Heightened Senses -- Empty(A)
Level 30: Health -- Empty(A)
Level 32: Crowd Control -- Empty(A)
Level 35: Stamina -- Empty(A)
Level 38: Strength of Will -- Empty(A)
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury

Fiery Melee, certainly, and War Mace and Battle Axe each have three AoE/Cone attacks. Though between them, WM has a slight edge because one of its attacks can hit twice as many foes as the equivalent attack in BA.

Okay, first of all, frankenslotting your Dark resist toggles to get high levels of end reduction is pointless; especially so since they are all *under*slotted for resistance. I'd 4-slot DE, MC and Tough with a resist set that has useful bonuses; Reactive Armor and Imperv Armor are both good choices.

The amount of end you save by slotting a .21 EPS toggle to 70% end reduction is tiny, but the same can't be said for DA's real end-eaters, Dark Regen, Death Shroud, and Cloak of Fear. Currently, only DS is adequately slotted for end reduction. For both DR and CoF you should concentrate on slotting for accuracy and at least 60% end reduction, the other enhancement types aren't nearly as important, IMO.

Personally, I think slotting a DA tank for typed defense is a better choice, you might want to look at Dechs Kaison's DA build in another current thread to see how he soft-capped S/L/E/NE on his DA/FM. In general, like the resist powers I'd recommend 4-slotting Weave and CoD with a good defense set like LotG or GotA (Serendipity's not a bad choice either) and dropping Maneuvers altogether; it provides about as much defense as CJ at a much, much higher endurance cost.

If you are going to 4-slot a set in Stone Fist and Boxing, either Smashing Haymaker or Kinetic Combat is a better choice, though I'd try to put a fifth slot into an attack that you're going to use on a regular basis.

Again, I think you should consider switching to typed def for a couple of reasons; one, you won't have to 6-slot so many powers, which will free up slots for other things, and two, you can skimp on F/C defense more safely than you can skimp on AoE, and you're more likely to soft-cap when you can concentrate on two bonus types instead of three.

Oh, my bad, the "SS" in "Inv/SS" didn't connect completely, so I forgot about Rage. Yes, Rage is a must-have.

I also agree with C_A_M on the must-haves in Invul; one of the reasons his "First 20 Levels" guide is so useful is that it emphasizes the Invul powers that a well-built should take, and when they should be taken.

But besides the basics for SS and Invul, there is some room for personal preference and playstyle. For instance, probably the majority of tankers take CJ/SJ as their travel power, but it's by no means required--all but one of my tanks have Fly! Similarly, there's no one right way to build in terms of whether you want to have a more offensively-oriented build or more defensively-oriented.

Tanks who plan to do TFs and high-level content on large teams will want to seriously consider getting Tough and Weave and soft-capping with IOs. On the other hand, I mostly solo or play on small teams with my Invul tanks, and IME there's not been a lot of cases where I've really needed Tough and Weave. Part of my liking for Hasten and damage enhancing powers like Rage and Build Up is purely personal preference for a tank that can do some damage, but some of it is from experience playing solo and on small teams where defeating enemies quickly is more important than additional damage mitigation.

I'd suggest that you read the guides, think about what playstyle you'd like, and spec out a build in Mid's. Since you're new to tanks, it may be easier to do a SO or common IO build first to get an idea of what enhancement values you should be looking for before plunging into sets and set bonuses. Post your build here and we'll be happy to comment.

Good luck!

EDIT: Just wanted to mention that although I may have made it sound like you have to choose between getting the Fighting pool and damage-enhancers like Build Up and Hasten, it's really not an 'either/or'. You certainly can fit in all those things, (I have an Invul/EM built that way) but it will limit the possibilities for other powers you might want to take, for instance ancillary powers and Unstoppable.

Hey, you edited this--the build I looked over at work was slightly different. No biggie, just confused me at first.

Yep, this should be plenty sturdy, and you should have no problems with holding aggro with both DS and Op Gloom running.

A few things I'd recommend:

You're just below the soft cap for S/L, and it would be easy enough to pass it by replacing the Impervs in MC with another set of Reactive Armor. Also, whether you use RAs or stick with Impervs, you really don't need more than 4 slots. The amount of end you save by slotting a low-end toggle for 68% end red instead of 40% is tiny. So drop the End and End/Rchg IOs, and use those slots elsewhere. Similarly, you don't need the Titanium Coating Res/End in DE; replace it with a common resist IO and call it done.

EDIT: Urrgh! Posted before I was done.

The biggest problems I see are that Death Shroud is underslotted for end reduction, and all of the attacks slotted with Kinetic Combat are underslotted for damage. You'll have to give up the Cleaving Blow E/NE bonus, but I strongly recommend that you replace them with either Multi Strike or Scirocco's Dervish, either of which would allow you to slot more end reduction. (At least 60% is good.)

Instead of a common Accuracy IO, I suggest that you use either a CI Acc/Dam/End or a Mako's Acc/Dam/End/Rchg as the 5th slot for those KC sets. Combustion could also use at least one more slot, so consider using the slot or slots freed up from Murky for that purpose.

Lastly, you currently only have mag 4 KB protection, which IMO really isn't enough for a tank. You could also use one of those free slots to put a Karma -KB IO in CJ. Something to think about, anyway.

Are you looking for basic slotting and power selection advice? IO slotting?

If you're new to tanks or Invul, this guide is a good place to start:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=133483

Call_Me_Awesome's other guide is a good one for IO slotting:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=126983

Specifically for solo/small group the only changes I'd make is to recommend that you don't stint on attacks, and pick up both Build Up and Hasten if possible, since under those conditions your tank's damage contribution will be more important than in would be on a large team.

Yikes! You skipped the two best WM attacks--Clobber and Crowd Control. I understand that you want to emulate a Bane, but I think that, and not taking Lucky are serious problems. If you want to skip a SR power, Elude is probably the best choice since you won't need it much once you're soft-capped. I hesitate to make a suggestion for WM, however, since I would never skip more than 2 or 3 powers in WM including Taunt even on a Brute. I'm guessing the Stealth pool is part of the concept, otherwise I'd advise you to ditch that. I'm not sure why Focused Accuracy would be necessary, so IMO that's good candidate to drop in favor of more WM attacks.

By the way, do you know that the Mace Mastery attacks like Mace Blast will cause redraw? If that's an issue for you, you might also consider dropping that power.

Well, this is an easy one. Heck, yes, take Crowd Control! It's one of the best powers in the set and offers a huge amount of damage mitigation. In case you're not familiar with it, it has a 180 degree cone and can KD up to 10 foes while doing a good amount of damage. It would be a huge mistake to skip it!

The "stalls at the Loading bar" problem is often due to running a Windows skinning program like WindowBlinds. So first check to see if you have anything like that running.

If not, I suggest you post in the Tech forum, since they're more likely to be up on the potential issues associated with tablets. But note that a cheap graphics tablet may not have a video card powerful enough to run CoH.

Be sure to check the stickies in the Tech forum for the info you'll need to post to help the Tech denizens diagnose your problem.

For some reason, your build is coming up with huge amounts of defense--86% S/L def, which seems unlikely to say the least. Could you repost the link or data chunk?

From what I can see, I'd recommend a few changes:

The fifth slot in MoB is an odd choice--Weave has a higher end cost than MoB, and if anything, it's underslotted for end reduction, and MoB and Tough are very overslotted for end red. Drop the 5th slot and do the standard RA 4-slotting, Res, Res/End, Res/Rchg, Res/End/Rchg. I'd move that extra slot to to Weave to both increase end reduction and to fully slot it for defense.

HPT should be slotted for resistance as well as Heal, I'd drop the Res/End, add a slot, and put two common resist IOs in it. You could pull a slot from CJ for that purpose.

Since I can't tell how much defense you really do have, I'll defer any other comments until then. But all in all, it looks like a good build.

Just out of curiosity, why give the amount of defense *without* Invinc? The usual standard is one foe in melee range, which is the lowest amount you're likely to have in normal PvE play. After all, there's no reason not to have Invinc on all the time.

Looks good!

Other than my personal preference for taking another of the WM ST attacks, the only thing that I would change is to drop the BotZ -KB IO from CJ. Even without it you have over 50% AoE def, and as I mentioned before, it's extremely expensive and the KB protection isn't needed. Unless you have a better use for that slot, I'd use it for a Kismet +ToHit.

Good luck with your tank--Mace is an incredibly fun set, IMO.

Mortimer, the latest build is a big, big improvement over the first one.

Some additional recommendations:

First and foremost, get the Steadfast Protection +Def and slot it in Hoarfrost. They're not that expensive, and one IO gives you a quick 3% def to everything. No defense set should be without it, IMO.

Secondly, don't bother trying to slot for F/C defense. Starting at nothing and without taking Weave, there's just no way you can get useful levels without abandoning your other goals. It's just not worth it. So take out the third BotZ -KB IO in CJ, that IO is extremely expensive and Ice doesn't need additional KB protection. Likewise, drop the Acc/Rchg and End/Acc/Rchg slots from Stamina--the bonus isn't worth it and you can use those slots elsewhere.

Consider slotting Chilling Embrace with Curtail Speed instead of Pace of the Turtle; CS gives a small S/L bonus for 4 slots.

Energy Absorption should be slotted for defense as well as end mod. If you want to keep the Efficacy Adaptors, drop the EndMod/Acc and EndMod/End slots (you want high recharge in this power!) and add two common defense IOs.

Six-slotting Eradication in Icicles is undesirable because the Eradication set is low in end reduction and Icicles is a high end-cost toggle. I'd recommend this slotting: Eradication Damage, Dam/Rchg, Acc/Rchg, Acc/End/Dam/Rchg, plus Scirocco's Dervish Dam/End and Acc/Dam/End. That will give you over 60% end reduction plus the 10% regen bonus from the Scirocco's.

I'd drop the Rectified Reticle ToHit and replace it with a common Recharge IO, but that's more personal preference.

Replace the current slotting in Block of Ice with three Basilisk's Gaze for the 2.5% E/NE bonus.

Lastly, take the slots you saved from Stamina and CJ and 4-slot Frozen Fists with Smashing Haymaker.

Slotted this way, you'll be at the soft-cap for S/L/E/NE even without Energy Absorption up. And you always have the option to upgrade the SH in Frozen Fists to Kinetic Combat if you prefer.

Here's what it looks like:

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Ice Armor
Secondary Power Set: Ice Melee
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Arctic Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Frozen Armor -- GftotA-Def/EndRdx:40(A), GftotA-Def:40(3), GftotA-Def/Rchg:40(9), GftotA-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:40(15)
Level 1: Frozen Fists -- S'ngH'mkr-Acc/Dmg:35(A), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/EndRdx:35(23), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/Rchg:35(36), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(36)
Level 2: Hoarfrost -- Dct'dW-Heal:50(A), Dct'dW-Rchg:50(3), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg:50(9), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg:50(15), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx:50(43), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(50)
Level 4: Frost -- Posi-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx:50(5), Posi-Dmg/Rchg:50(5), Posi-Dmg/Rng:50(7), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(7)
Level 6: Chilling Embrace -- CtlSpd-Acc/Slow:30(A), CtlSpd-Dmg/Slow:30(17), CtlSpd-Acc/EndRdx:30(17), CtlSpd-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow:30(19)
Level 8: Ice Sword -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg:35(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:35(11), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg:35(11), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(13), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(13), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:50(23)
Level 10: Wet Ice -- EndRdx-I:50(A)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff-I:50(A)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Zephyr-Travel:50(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx:50(46)
Level 16: Swift -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 18: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+:50(A), Numna-Heal:50(19), Numna-Heal/EndRdx:50(37)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod:50(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg:50(21), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc:50(21), P'Shift-End%:50(25)
Level 22: Ice Patch -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 24: Glacial Armor -- GftotA-Def:40(A), GftotA-Def/EndRdx:40(25), GftotA-Def/Rchg:40(27), GftotA-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:40(36)
Level 26: Energy Absorption -- Efficacy-EndMod:50(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg:50(27), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg:50(31), Efficacy-Acc/Rchg:50(31), DefBuff-I:50(40), DefBuff-I:50(50)
Level 28: Freezing Touch -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg:35(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:35(29), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg:35(29), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(31), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:50(33), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(33)
Level 30: Icicles -- Erad-Dmg:30(A), Erad-Acc/Rchg:30(33), Erad-Dmg/Rchg:30(34), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:30(34), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx:50(43), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(43)
Level 32: Build Up -- RechRdx-I:20(A), Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg:20(34), Rec'dRet-Pcptn:20(37)
Level 35: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(37), RechRdx-I:50(40)
Level 38: Frozen Aura -- Erad-Dmg:30(A), Erad-Dmg/Rchg:30(39), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:30(39), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:30(39), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx:50(40), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg:50(42)
Level 41: Block of Ice -- BasGaze-Acc/Rchg:30(A), BasGaze-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:30(42), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:30(42)
Level 44: Ice Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx:50(45), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(45), Decim-Acc/Dmg:40(45), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx:40(46), Decim-Dmg/Rchg:40(46)
Level 47: Ice Storm -- Posi-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx:50(48), Posi-Dmg/Rchg:50(48), Posi-Dmg/Rng:50(48), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(50)
Level 49: Hibernate -- Heal-I:50(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet