Finduilas

I'd recommend skipping Permafrost and either Pulverize or Jawbreaker. The rest of the sets are pretty much 'must have' IMO. You could also skip Taunt since CE is such a good Taunt aura, but I like having Taunt on my tanks and would definitely get it.

I don't think Ice is a bad set, but it doesn't shine as a ST AV killer. Oodles of damage mitigation and good AoE, though, as I understand it.

At the very least, you should definitely pick up RPD. Not only will it allow you to hit the resistance cap for S/L damage, but it and Tough Hide now have defense debuff resistance--*very* useful.

I would also try to fit in ResEn somewhere, if possible. Energy is a very common damage type, but it now also has some end debuff resistance. Not critical, but nice to have.

Unless you've done something silly like skipping CE, I'm a little surprised that you feel so squishy, even with a FM secondary. 'Course, when I've used Fire in the past, I've always gotten Air Sup too, which helps a surprising amount.

There are some relatively inexpensive ways to increase your S/L and E/NE defense; for example, 4-slot Smashing Haymaker in your ST attacks and Eradication in your PBAoE attacks. I'd also recommend 4 or 5 slotting Taunt with Mocking Beratement, 2-slotting your travel power with Blessing of the Zephyr (*not* the -KB IO!), and of course, picking up the Steadfast +Def unique. The SP IO should be by far the most expensive of the bunch, unless prices have changed drastically recently. You should also consider putting 4 slots of Reactive Armor in Tough--and Permafrost if you have it.

I haven't worked out the numbers, but that should get you closer to the soft cap, which means it'll be a lot easier to soft cap with EA.

It's going to be a looong couple of days with no forums, that's for sure. I may have to actually *work* at work.

Stamina at 35?!? Unless you're never, ever going to want to Flashback or exempt below that level, this build would be pretty much unplayable because of endurance problems.

My advice is that delay what you have to to get Stamina by 20. The Fighting pool can certainly be delayed until after 20, and if necessary, check some fire guides to see what the recommended power selection is for the first 20 levels.

From your use of Kinetic Combat sets, it looks like you are aiming for typed defense. If that is true, I think the Obliteration sets are a bad choice; it takes 6 slots to get a relatively small amount of S/L defense, and the set is very, very low in end reduction. That will be a killer with BAs high endurance cost. Consider replacing them with 3 or 4 slots of Eradication plus another slot or two from another set to add end reduction. That will increase your E/NE defense substantially.

If you really want to stay at the soft-cap for S/L def, consider moving 3 slots to brawl for another set of KCs. And move one of the slots in CJ to Weave, at this point Weave is very underslotted. Also, 4-slotting KC to get the def bonus is great, but it leaves those attacks low in Acc and Dam. If you can't find a fifth slot to put in your most important attacks, I'd recommend picking up the Karma +Acc and slotting it in CJ.

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When Storm is a Secondary, as it is for Controllers, you must take Gale.

And, I'd rather be given the choice of taking a soloing or teaming power, especially since I would be able to respec out of the weak solo power later on. Storm Controllers can never respec out of Gale, which is way too often an anti-team power.

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Agreed; the real problem is that every player has to take the first power of his/her secondary. I would love to have a choice between the 1st and 2nd tier attacks on my tanks, for instance.

If the devs have a reason for making forcing players to take that power, they've not said what it is, to my knowledge. It seems like an arbitrary rule, and I wish it would go away.

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I always take stamina and 3 slot it. 2 end red and 1 perf shifter. (usually) My 2ndary is Stone Melee. I have 2 end red in each attack to keep them going, also.

I seen that Tough and Weave use .33 end each which is a good bit more than the toggles from Inv. and didn't know if 5% def was worth it. But i see Invinc. only has 1% so... Those just seem like little numbers when you see the resists are 10-15%.

As before, thanks for the inputs. Lots of knowledge coming my way.

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Invinc has 1% + 5% base for the first foe, which enhanced becomes around 9.4% defense. Each additional foe up to 10 gives 1% base, 1.6% enhanced. Maxed out at 10 foes, it provides 23.4% defense to everything but Psi. So don't underestimate the value of Invinc, it's one of the most important powers in the set.

The value of Weave, and Tough Hide, for that matter, is that they stack on Invinc's defense, and each provides 8.4% defense when enhanced. Even with one foe, 9.4% + 8.4% + 8.4% = 26% defense, a non-trivial amount, especially when you add other sources of defense like CJ or Hover, set bonuses, etc.

Also remember that as a general rule of thumb, 1% of defense is has about the same mitigation value as 2% of resistance, so again, don't underestimate the value of having that much defense on top of Invul's substantial S/L resists and DP. Yes, Tough and Weave are a little more costly endurance-wise, but well-slotted for end red, you should have no problem running them with Invuls toggles once you have Stamina.

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Interesting replies. Thank you. Now i have a couple questions.

1) Why skip the 2 Resists? Is there not enough energy or fire damage to protect from at end game? (50) That's 10% resist and 20-20% effect resist. (what is effect anyway)

2) Tough, i usually get. Is weave really wanted? That's 5 toggles running, can the end. be maintained easily? (without getting alot of sets) I mainly just run common recipes on builds.

The main reason i wanted to try Inv. was the lack of end. usage it looked to consume in mids. I'd hate to have to get more toggles to run if not needed. Thanks for all the replies.

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Even with the passives, Invul's resist values against non S/L damage are not great; Invul main forms of mitigation against those damage types are healing/HP from Dull Pain and defense from Invinc and TH.

However, since they recently increased the resist values of the passives and added secondary effects ResEn and ResEl are more desirable. If a player decides to take one and not the other, most recommend ResEn because the damage type it protects against (E/NE) is more common than F/C, and it's secondary effect (resistance to end drain) is thought to be more desirable than ResEl's--protection against slows. As it turns out, I have all three res passives one Invul tank and skipped ResEl on the other--there's not one 'right' way to do it.

By the way, RPD was given the secondary effect of def debuff resistance, as was Tough Hide, which in addition to stacking with the S/L resistance in TI and UY, is another reason it is strongly recommended by most.

People take Weave because defense is such an important part of the set's mitigation against non S/L damage, and with it you can use set bonuses to reach the soft-cap for some defense types. That will make your Invul tank very tough indeed, though it's not strictly necessary for most PvE content. I built for def bonuses on both my tanks, but so far have not taken the Fighting pool, so again, there's no one right way to do it.

And yes, you certainly can easily run five toggles on an invul if you wish, as long as you get Stamina and slot everything (attacks and toggles) for end reduction. Remember, Invul doesn't have a damage aura, which are particularly end intensive. And of course, adding IOs with +end and +recovery bonuses will certainly help, but you definitely DO NOT need the very expensive +recovery uniques to be viable with that many toggles.

Hope that helps!

Maxing out S/L resistance on a Invul tank is no mystery; you just need to take RPD, TI, UY, and Tough, all of which you have done.

I do think you need to work on your power selection and order--Barrage and Boxing aren't much of a attack chain for the early levels; I'd strongly suggest either taking EP or BS and delaying the Fighting pool until after you have your essentials in place (Fitness pool, Invinc.) For one thing, it will be pretty much impossible to do anything but stand around if you try to run 5 toggles before you have Stamina.

What set slotting you have seems geared toward positional defense rather than typed, which means you are not playing to Invul's strengths. To add some relatively cheap S/L defense, I'd recommend 4-slotting Reactive Armor in your resistance powers, and 4-slotting Smashing Haymaker in your ST attacks. And since Energy damage is much more common than F/C, add some energy defense by using 3-slotted Eradication in WH and 2 slots of BotZ (*not* the -KB IO) in CJ and SS. For the same reason, 3 slots of Thunderstrike is a better choice for LBE than Devastation.

Did you really mean to leave your early level attacks completely unslotted? Seems like a very bad idea to me, unless you're never, ever planning to exempt or use them as part of your attack chain.

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Oh, just noticed you have Kick from the fighting pool... I'd trade that on Punch; Kick tends to send your target flying away from you... I found that out the hard way awhile back while trying to work out a post-ED build in issue 6. Not a big deal, but it was frustrating.

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I think you mean Boxing, C_A_M.

But I agree that many of the attacks are over-slotted. In most cases, with sets you can fully enhance an attack with 5 slots. And with the required attack from the Fighting pool, unless the OP is planning to actually use it on a regular basis, I'd give it as few slots as possible to get the desired set bonus and no more. All the SH sets need is a single Acc/Dam to be fully slotted; I recommend adding two other set enhancements that have end reduction to the Erad slots in Footstomp, since the Erad set is very low in end reduction.

The OP can also drop the Def/End/Rchg in Weave; as it is, it's slotted way past the ED cap. Consider 4-slotting TH with GotA; the set has nice +rec and +end bonuses and are considerably less expensive than LotG.

Oh, it's happened to lots of people. The only advantage of being a vet is that you've already made most of those '"d'oh!" mistakes, like trying to click on the 'out' door of the tram and not understanding why it wasn't working.

Try posting in the Tech Forum, they may have some suggestions that will help.

I've got three tanks on Justice, so I'm game!

Any number of DA tank builds are viable; I have a Dark/Mace that I like very much. But if you're interested in DA/DM, there have been several threads about that combo recently, including one that's still on the first page.

The build you posted has very bizarre slotting of the the main DA shields; DE (and Tough, for that matter) are way overslotted for end red, and MC and OS are very underslotted for resistance.

If you're aiming for typed defense, which you look to be by all the Kinetic Combat sets, IMO 4-slotting Reactive Armor is the best choice for your resistance powers, and additional end reduction is not needed. 6-slotting Obliteration is not a good choice for Dark tanks, either, since it takes a lot of slots to get relatively little S/L def and the set has very little end reduction. (Remember, your shield toggles take *far* less end than your attacks!) 3-slotting Eradication with a couple of slots from another set to provide end red is a better choice; the slotting is more balanced plus you get a substantial E/NE defense bonus.

I don't see any KB protection in this build, which is a serious problem. You either need to find room for Acro or the infl to buy a couple of -KB IOs.

Lastly, I think skipping Death Shroud and Cloak of Fear in favor of Soul Transfer is a big mistake. CoF stacks with ToF and should allow you to fear bosses, and Death Shroud is an incredibly effective AoE attack. I'd find a way to take both.

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CoF and OG need high accuracy values because they are DA's most important way to mitigate damage. Especially CoF needs 3 slots. Even with 3 Accuracy SOs and Rage its Accuracy is "only" 138,7%, which is enough for all possible encounters but not on an overkill scale.

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Unless you're consistently fighting foes well above your level, it is, IMO.

OG has normal base accuracy, and pulses every 2 seconds. The chance that 1 Acc plus Rage is going to miss enough of the minions around you often enough to cause serious problems is miniscule.

If any power deserves Acc "overkill", IMO, it is Dark Regen. Acc debuffs and plain old misses with DR really *can* kill you.

By using just two ResDam SOs in your shields, you're only getting 2/3 the amount of resistance you could have. Not good.

There's no need to double-slot EndRdx in the basic shields or CoD, so swap out an EndRdx for a ResDam. If you really want to put two EndRdx in Tough/Weave, fine, but find another ResDam/Def slot to put in. DR, DS and CoF will be fine with two EndRdx.

There's no reason to four-slot with SOs, ever, IMO, so drop the 4th slot in Stamina and the 4th Recharge in Rage.

With Perma-Rage, there's no reason to slot more than one Acc, except maybe DR and CoF. Op Gloom certainly doesn't need a 2nd Acc.

Once that LotG sells, you should have enough infl to buy a couple of -KB IOs, so make sure you allow slots for them.

Much, much better! I see that you have 10% more S/L resistance and 10% more E/NE defense with this version than you did the last one--that should help significantly.

I don't know whether you've been shopping for KC or Erad IOs, but I've done it a lot recently, so I thought some tips might help.

First, the Erad quad (Acc/Dam/End/Rchg) is very hard to find and very expensive, though you can usually get it as a level 35 enhancement if you don't mind paying 15-20 million for it. Because of that, I usually slot three other Erad enhancements--I've found that Damage, Damage/Rchg, and Acc/Dam/Rchg work the best--unless the attack is like DS and needs all the End Red it can get. Those three enhancements are relatively inexpensive and easy to find in comparison to the quad, and you can round out the slotting with two slots from another set that have endurance reduction.

With Kinetic Combat, both Dam/End and the Dam/End/Rchg are expensive and hard to find, especially level 35s. (EDIT: to clarify, level 35s are very expensive and other levels are very hard to find.) The best method I've found is to just be patient and wait for a less expensive level 25-34 recipe or enhancement to come on the market. However, for attacks that are slotted just for the set bonus and won't be used much at all, you can replace one of those IOs with the KD proc, which is considerably less expensive than the other two. The KD proc is actually quite nice, (I've put it in my Tier 1 attack on occasion) but unless you go with 6 slots, using it means that your attack won't be fully slotted for Acc and Damage.

Hope that helps!

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Wow, that's propably the crappiest build I've ever seen for a superstrength tank.

Try this and you should be happier:

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1,401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

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

Dunkelheit_Superstärke: Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Dark Armor
Secondary Power Set: Super Strength
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Dark Embrace -- ResDam(A), ResDam(37), ResDam(43), EndRdx(43), EndRdx(43)
Level 1: Jab -- Dmg(A), Dmg(46)
Level 2: Murky Cloud -- ResDam(A), ResDam(3), ResDam(3), EndRdx(37)
Level 4: Haymaker -- Dmg(A), Dmg(5), Dmg(5), Acc(15), EndRdx(15), RechRdx(37)
Level 6: Obsidian Shield -- ResDam(A), ResDam(7), ResDam(7), EndRdx(13), EndRdx(40)
Level 8: Dark Regeneration -- Heal(A), Heal(9), EndRdx(9), EndRdx(11), RechRdx(11), Acc(13)
Level 10: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff(A)
Level 12: Swift -- Run(A)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Jump(A)
Level 16: Health -- Heal(A), Heal(17), Heal(17)
Level 18: Death Shroud -- Dmg(A), Dmg(19), Dmg(19), Acc(34), EndRdx(34), EndRdx(34)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod(A), EndMod(21), EndMod(21)
Level 22: Knockout Blow -- Dmg(A), Dmg(23), Dmg(23), EndRdx(25), RechRdx(25), RechRdx(27)
Level 24: Acrobatics -- EndRdx(A)
Level 26: Oppressive Gloom -- Acc(A), Acc(27), Dsrnt(46)
Level 28: Rage -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(29), RechRdx(29), ToHit(33), ToHit(33), ToHit(33)
Level 30: Cloak of Darkness -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(31), DefBuff(31), EndRdx(31), EndRdx(45)
Level 32: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 35: Tough -- ResDam(A), ResDam(36), ResDam(36), EndRdx(36), EndRdx(50)
Level 38: Foot Stomp -- Dmg(A), Dmg(39), Dmg(39), EndRdx(39), RechRdx(40), Acc(40)
Level 41: Weave -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(42), DefBuff(42), EndRdx(42), EndRdx(46)
Level 44: Conserve Power -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(45), RechRdx(45)
Level 47: Cloak of Fear -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(48), Fear(48), Acc(48), Acc(50), Acc(50)
Level 49: Soul Transfer -- RechRdx(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet



Although I posted a SO-Build I strongly recommend IOs for DA/Superstrength-Tanks. -KB, 3% Def Steadfast, +rec uniques and +HP would massively enhance his performance.

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Much better in general, though the three basic DA shields (DE, MC, OS) do not need a second EndRdx; they actually cost less endurance than most shield toggles. I would stick with one in CoD also; it has an average endurance cost and won't cause endurance woes the way using DR, DS, or CoF may. (Not to mention the end cost of attacks.)

Also, Op Gloom has good Accuracy and doesn't need more than one Acc. And with Rage, CoF certainly doesn't need 3xAcc.

Why no Acc in KoB? I'd think that was more important than the second Recharge Reduction.

But I completely agree that while a SO build would be perfectly workable, IOs would improve performance immensely. Not only would the OP be able to drop Acro if he had some -KB slotted, you can get DA near the soft cap for S/L defense if you slot for defense bonuses. That would certainly drastically reduce how often DR would be needed.

Your slotting still needs work, IMO. Most importantly, Dark Regen and Death Shroud are still seriously underslotted for endurance reduction.

Also, an attack four-slotted with KC usually just needs one additional slot. Since the set is low on Acc and Damage, I'd suggest a Acc/Dam or Acc/Dam/Rchg from another set. The Dampened Spirit set aren't doing you much good since they don't provide any Acc, and the 6th slot is better used elsewhere.

I don't think 6-slotting Obliteration is a good choice for a DA tank. You only get 1.88% S/L def--which you don't need since you're already past the soft cap--and Oblit has very, very little end reduction. As I mentioned before, you will be much better off 3-slotting Eradication and then adding two slots from another set. Not only does Erad have Energy defense, (which you need on this build; energy-only attacks will eat you alive) it has a little +end, plus if you add two slots from another set, Acc/End and Dam/End, for instance, you'll have an adequate amount of end reduction. I strongly recommend that you switch all your PBAoE attacks to 3 Erad plus two other slots if you can swing it. The 3 slots of Oblit in DS just give you a small damage buff and a completely inadequate amount of end reduction.

I also think you're gimping yourself by not taking CoF and ToF; they add a huge amout of mitigation that Soul Transfer certainly can't give you. I never even considered skipping Clobber or Op Gloom on my DA/Mace, and I think you're making a mistake of similar magnitude by not getting the fears.

EDIT: A couple of things I missed the first time through. 28 is too late for Stamina, and so is 24. Some tank builds might be able to delay it past 20, but DA is definitely not one. If you can't delay anything else, put off Taunt and Death Shroud until after Stamina. Don't slot the Reactive Armor Endurance IOs, they are not needed--slot all the IOs with resistance instead. I also recommend that you pull the extra slots from CJ and put them in Tough; as it is, Tough is very under-slotted.

Argh! Just wrote a long reply and the forum ate it! To sum up:

Stamina at 28 is a VERY bad idea. Delay the Fighting pool and CoD to get it at 28.

Drop the Endurance IO in DE, it isn't needed.

Slotting Eradication is a better choice than Scirocco's if you're trying to get typed defense, but 6-slotting it is a bad idea, especially for Death Shroud, since it's so low on endurance reduction. 3 slot Shadow Maul, Death Shroud, and Soul Drain witth Erad, then fill out the slotting with another set.

No endurance slotting in Dark Regen, combined with taking Stamina so late will make this character nigh-unplayable. Slot it for at least 60% end reduction.

Try to find two slots to put in Kick so you can slot another set of Kinetic Combat.

IMO, Gift of the Ancients is a better defense set for DA than LotG or RF since it has both +end and +recovery as bonuses.

Skipping both Op Gloom and the fears is a very, VERY bad idea, since they are key component of DA's damage mitigation. I'd drop Soul Transfer, CJ, or Conserve Power to pick up CoF and ToF. Like DS and DR, CoF should be slotted heavily for end reduction.

Your power order leaves much to be desired, IMO. I waited until after Stamina to pick up DS, but I certainly would not wait until 38 to get it, or delay the last three Mace attacks!

Tough and Weave can wait until later in your build. I"d take DS at 24 and the other attacks when they're available, and fit in the Fighting pool whenever you can. Soul Transfer can definitely wait until the very end--I didn't take it at all.

As Jebe and I have been saying, use Reactive Armor for your resist shields, Kinetic Combat for your ST attacks, and I'd strongly suggest Eradication for your PBAoEs. (They give +end as well as energy defense!) You should also consider 2 or 3 slotting SJ with BotZ and putting Mocking Beratement or Perfect Zinger in Taunt. Op Gloom is waay overslotted, I rarely have more than two slots in it, total.

I'm visiting my parents this week and have been using their home network, but for some reason I can't access the game.

Last night and this morning, I could get all the way to the logon screen, (though I did get the "Connecting #1..." notice on the updater screen before it connected, which is unusual) but when I try to logon, I get the "Can't connect to DBserver" message.

I was just able to download and apply the patch, so I don't think it's associated with the problems others were having this morning, and it happens on more than one computer. Could this be a port issue on the local network? My brother runs the network, and I'm sure he'd be willing to do some reconfiguration if I asked.

Any recommendations on tracking down what the problem is?