Gashes

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for the primary - i want a primary that can tank every task force in the game without major issues that isnt stone. it has to be well rounded and able to tank all of the dmg types in the game. i dont want a primary that 'well it can tank this with this particular io setting', i want something that will work from 22 to 50 with equal or near equal effectiveness. if it's a defense primary, it has to be able to deal with devouring earth and the shadow shard. if it's a resist primary, it has to be able to deal with large spawns of all dmg types.

anyone have any suggestions?

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I almost suggest shield, as you can easily softcap melee/range/aoe defense (which covers your requirement of large spawns of all damage types). Invul/ is great, but its an SL god, but you will feel the sting of other damage types (Recluse blades were laughable, but his energy blasts, ouch!).
In general, I'd go invul/.

As for SS eyeballs and DE crystals those are to-hit buffs for them. Cant help you with defense.

Next, I'd go dark. Meh resistance, poor defense, but ungodly heals, stun aura, fear aura (which stacks very nicely with presense pool), etc. Overall, it has great survivability, but you must be much more active in managing your powers

edit: all my tankers can tank all the existing TF's (sans STF), but (exception of granite), my invul/ does it best (even the STF).

Not: fire/, inv/, stone/ (mobility is important to me)

stone has mobility problems, fire doesnt, nor invul.
Now, invul/ and willpower/ both have an aura who's value (defense or regen) depends on # of foes in range, thus, if you run around a lot, with few foes in range, you will get less benefit.

ice/ is NOT gimpy. From a pure SO build, I'd say fire/ and stone/ (sans granite) are gimpy (both are on your exclude list).

Those 3 your looking at are all excellent:

ice/fire - no endurance problems, lots of aoe's.
dark/mace - good stacking of stuns
shield/axe - I dont have axe :S, but I like shield a lot.

shield - easy to cap defenses, no native self heal. You get a +dam aura.
ice - more vulnerable to psi and fire, but has a great self heal, -dam/-rech aura, and hibernate (best tier 9 sans granite, imho).
Plus EA lets you never run out of blue again. For me, ice/ and wp/ are the best starter tank armors.
dark - lots of mitigation through stuns, fear, and heals. Little defense and subpar resistance. If you can add additional fear/stuns (and end reduction to dark regen), you will become a beast. mace (stuns) and presence pool are just so overpowered with dark, its not remotely funny (hint, hint).

/fire - gives best aoe damage, but no mitigation by itself.
/axe - no experience
/mace - I actually love this set, and the damage types have stun (which will stack nicely with dark)

I honestly believe you wont go wrong with any of those 3.

You sir are insane.

I respect you for that

Softcap is 45%.
I would suggest you can drop some defense to better optimize your build.

true grit wont need 6 slots of numina (you dont need the extra range defense). I'd move some slots into health to increase regen, or move some resistance into it.

I worry more about your endurance (do you have the endurance to maintain all your attacks).

Dont worry about 2 seconds for hasten.

active defense is nearly double stacked (very nice!).

I'd steal some slots from taunt (yes, it will slightly drop your recharge) and put them into health/tough.

Overall, it looks very good (and expensive). I do suggest:
1. 45% is the softcap. You can reallocate some slots and get much greater regen/resistance by slotting health/tough/true grit.
2. SD/SS - I worry about you being hastened/massive recharge on an endurance heavy set, without optimal endurance recovery. If you go energy APP instead of fire, you can get conserve power and energy torrent (energy torrent is slightly less powerful than fireball).
3. I assume you want a damage beast. If you do, think about reassinging some slots (as opposed to suggestion #1) to add procs. Footstomp begs for the purple proc or even the %psi proc (You can frankenslot it for better effect, while loosing some defense). I used mids to calculate average value. Sheild charge (replace DAM with %fire) does more damage on average (429 vs 410).

Overall, you have given me some great ideas for my shield/mace tank Thanks for that!

not at all. ice/fire is just a monster that doesnt ever need to slow down or rest. Go fire APP, and have a blast.

I did get +30% damage on my blaster, but to be honest, you'll probably gimp your tank more to get it, than not.

ITs a sacrifice of current bonus (e.g. recharge) to get the +dam.

I have seen my proc (+end in stamina) go off, IF I zone.

I think it may activate if you do something with menu's (e.g. WW). I'm not sure if I lost track of time or menus do something funky with the procs.

Officially, its 10 seconds (chance of), possibly more if you zone (if you have +regen in health, it will double stack if you zone/enter a mission).

Unless its a bug you want to report

ice/fire (you said no willpower).

ice/ gives EA, so your blue bar is ALWAYS up and you can let loose.
I always recommend ice/ or wp/ for first time tankers. EA is at lvl 26 or 28 (I forget), so you do have a few levels to go to get it.

but add in your damage aura, combustion and FSC, and you have an aoe monster. Plus, IF YOU WANT, you can use IO's to help cap your defenses. I do recommend tough+weave, as tough will take the bite out of attacks that do get through, and weave+ice armor == happy times.

Your only real weakness is psi and (to a lesser extent) fire. But EA makes the set (the other powers are great too), so you can unleash firey doom (doom! doom! doom!) on your foes.

I dont recommend stone, as pre granite, its a bit squishy for my taste, and post granite, the -recharge and slows are lacking quality of life.

I take tough/weave on my stoner.

Main reason: I'm not always in granite, and tough/weave help.

If things get bad, up in granite. If things are VERY bad, granite+tough+weave. For mixed psi foes (e.g. carnies), I usually use granite and weave only.

But mostly, stone (sans granite) is a bit overly squishie for my taste. tough+weave help overcome. Not all of us live in granite.

Mostly what Ice Ember said (fire/fire better than fire/ice), but! fire/ice is VERY viable.

But a question for you: Do you use tough? CJ+weave? IO sets?

Define 'viable'? Are you looking for a team tank (max survivability, damage isnt important), overall tank, or most offensive tank?

Did you take fireball?

Here is a strategy I have used: use burn last. I like to pull to a cornerDrop ice patch (it helps greatly in survivability), hit fe+bu (or just one), frozen aura (FE is on a short timer for non fire damage), pop out of the ice patch just outside of mobs so I can line them all up for frost, fireball (if your 50), then burn (if your in a corner, and you hit burn, they will try to run away but they are in a corner. Some will go to the sides, but more will stay) . Have burning aura running all the time. I used the fire powers last, as FE boost is still valid, and burn causes them to run, making frost less effective (frost is a short cone). I hit more with frozen aura, so I like to lead off with that.

They wont run from frozen aura, frost, fireball, burning aura, but they do from burn *rolls eyes*. If your teamed with a controller, they can immob/hold and you can burn away.

Also, the '5' limit is mostly valid. It doesn only affect 5 at any one time, but I have had 10 foes on my ice patch and burn patch. This means, the KD effect of ice patch will affect 5 foes at a time (so when one is getting up, it may apply KD to another), same with burn. Also, here is how it should work: burn rolls a to hit against 10 foes. Say it hits 6, but is set to 5 (the max). But if you had 5 foes, and it hits 4, only 4 take damage. And each tick is a new 'to hit' roll.

A few comments:

1. why not fire APP? Fireball is a fire/fire tanks bestest friend (esp with fiery embrace (20s for fire, 10s other damage boost)
2. super speed - you should be at cap (or near it) with a single run IO. I dont bother with endurance, as I leave it off when fighting, and if I'm not fighting, I dont need to worry about the endurance.
3. stamina/consume - as a fire/fire farm tank, you will go through endurance QUICKLY. You really need to maximize stamina (add a slot for lvl 25 IO, or just 3 lvl 25 IO's), and try an endmod/acc/rech endurance IO (there are 2 you can get). Relatively cheap. You need to make sure '1. you hit, 2. its up as soon as possible, 3. You get maximum effect'
4. since your a farm tank (only aoe's, very few single target attacks), maximize your damage. Get some procs in those aoe's. The taunt psi proc is very cheap (compared to other damage procs), and will add to your damage.

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Well, I focused on recovery because I have the Numina Proc already and all my main attacks have two end redux in them and my toggles all have 1, yet I still burn through endurance when I solo. Like, enough that I drop toggles on occasion. So I wanted to focus on recovery to help lessen that hassle.

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I have the same endurance problems as you do, and I have both those uniques, plus the +end stamina proc. Its the rage drops, plus, when you add +rech, your attacking more, more endurance, etc.

Going for more endurance is always a good thing

Ok, thanks for putting what your looking for.

Standard warning: You choose some IO's that are VERY expensive and/or rare. Do you have the cash to pay for them? A numina and miracle unique could break your bank (you didnt mention how much you planned on spending), much less the zephyrs and LOTG +rech. You may want to see how much you have, window shop some of these IO's and figure if you can afford it.

1. Love your name (buffy fan here)
2. You took EVERY primary power, and tough+weave. Even without IO's, you should be a powerhouse. What is killing you? (foes, team size, etc). You should be SL capped (resistance) with a large amount of defense even to a single foe.
3. You do have a steadfast +3% def in a passive. That is the most important single IO for you.
4. smash/lethal/fire/cold are at 49% defense with ONE opponent nearby. 45% is the soft cap. Nothing wrong with going over, but you can save yourself some major cash.
5. Personally, I'd recommend putting in a 4 slot of imperviums, which gives +rec and +end. This will go MUCH farther than a numina unique. Remember, FOUR slot (get the +end bonus).
getting 4 of these gives you +10 end (+20 if you have all the accolades), which increases recovery also (recovery is based upon a fixed time to maximum. 1 minute I believe. Thus, you recover more with 120 endurance than 100 endurance per second). I would recommend impervium (4 slot, 1 being +psi res) to your armors. SL resistance is over cap (93.5%), and non SL wont loose much (by virtue of being a much smaller value).
6. Now, defense is weird. Lots of attacks are mixed, e.g. smashing/cold, lethal/fire (fire sword). Your highest defense counts. Thus, if you had 25% smashing defense and 15% cold defense, you would defend against a cold/smash attack at 25%. The damage done (1 pt smash, 99 cold) doesnt matter.

There are a few pure attacks (rikti energy weapons, esp the elite bosses; council flame throwers, etc), but in general its mixed. General rule: If it does knockback, it will have some smashing component.

Case in point, zephr knockback IO. Very expensive and it doesnt help you. You dont need the knockback protection, and the extra +fire/cold defense is over softcap (Invul get defense resistance, so you dont need to worry about -def as much).

7. click 'view active sets' on midi's. You have 6 +res psi protection IO's. One of them is wasted (5 max)

8. foot stomp - change dam/rech ARMEGGEDON with dam/rech/acc (your way over ED. Might as well add some accuracy)

9. Sometimes you add a regular IO to max out. If you replace the +def IO with a def/rech IO, you gain 1.13% hp bonus, and only loose .14% defense (remember your over the cap in most attacks). You did it for weave.

Even without IO's, what non psi foe could be causing you so much trouble? (I dont know your level). I do know cot ghosts, shadows, psi based foes (nearly all 40+) will cause problems.

Honestly?

Dark/dark was the least favorite tank for myself to play.

Only at 50 could I afford multiple impervium armors to increase my endurance and recovery.

dark regen is a god of a heal with a devil of an endurance cost.
As a tanker, you usually take more punishment and need your heal more.

At 50 and heavily IO'd, Im not ashamed of my tank.

But pre 50, esp lower levels, it was painful to level, even on a team. I died more on a dark/dark than any other tanker I've played.
and I had a kick [censored] ss/dark brute before it (no problems with her)

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I have both on my Ice Tanker and they stack. No worries.

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Just curious, why?

My ice tank, with weave, +3% def IO, and a single application of EA hits the soft cap.

Unless you wanted more cold defense :P

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qr

A quick count shows more posts in this thread bashing J_B than answering the OP's question...


* applauds Way to derail a thread guys...


As for me, I'll retire my main Inv/SS and replace him with an SS/Inv brute. Since I mostly solo, playing a meatshield no longer appeals to me.

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Tanks, all the way.

I made my ss/dark brute only because dark wasnt available to tanks back then.
Now, Im waiting for Energy/Electrical/SR/ninjitsu to come to tanks.

Knowing power proliferation is coming made me play controllers and mastermind more, until it shows up on tanks.

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Lastly, I view this as just the latest in the devs' abuse of Tankers. This is NOT a good thing to happen to Tankers. I've seen what's around the corner, I've seen what's over the horizon, and I promise you, you fools won't have nothing to celebrate. And no, I won't get there with you. I'm going to Champions.
.

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This is like 'I hate sinners, so I'm joining satan'...
Dev abuse of tankers? Like I5, I6, players reporting the doubling of invincibility after statesboy said 'it feels correct' and having it 'fixed' with no corresponding increase?
And the man who led this abuse, you want HIS new game???

wow, sign me up for coh fandom. I may try DCU, and switch if better, but I dont trust 'marv... oooops, recycle, name change, remarket, er chumpians!'. the pen and paper is a great game. This is not the pen and paper game.

As for praetoria being a 'paradise' or 'wrecked world', who said they are the SAME praetoria? Infinite dimensions, not too hard to imagine it being a different praetoria ... Unless the devs screwed up that history

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Now Being on a 20 carb a day thing (unlimited meats, eggs and cheese and staying away from pasta, taters, rice etc) and getting used to the meds the doc gave me (Insulin reducers) since my body was over producing Insulin and just storing everything and not burning it off like your body suppose too... reason I lost 8 sizes but only 2lbs of weight, crazy eh?


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Not crazy at all. Calories in, calories out. What they forgot to mention is metabolism is a mega calories out. All my friends out eat me, are lazier, yet rail thin.
thyroid can also do a wonker on you.

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I am not diabetic we are gonna prevent that. It's such a pain! But as the doc said hopefully its only temp with the meds, Ive already lost 5 inches in my waist since Saturday (the 21st) when I started taking the meds for the first time. Thing that amazes me is im slowly getting my body used to the meds instead of taking the full dose right away.


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Congrats and glad your not diabetic. Insulin resistance isnt your friend (I dont have it ... yet)

If I may offer one piece of advice, I've lost 50 (yes, 50 lbs) doing what you do. I have more energy and feel better. My thin friends tell me I'm going ot have a heart attack, yet (at the lower weight), I have lower cholesterol (the bad kind and total), and lower blood pressure than them (in fact, I still do, even overweight, unless they are taking medication for it. i dont.).

But the BIGGEST problem you will encounter is fiber (yes, poopy stuff). If I may recommend, take a LOT of insoluble fiber (I dont like mixing it in water, it sticks to my teeth). I used psyllium seed husks. Side effects include regularity AND reduced cholesterol. Take it constantly.

I avoid juice (no fiber, mostly sugar. MUCH better to eat the actual fruit itself). Your hubbie might be better of just eating the oranges.

If you want to increase your range of foods, look at the glycemic index, its a better way to see what foods are good for you, as compared to raw carb count (20 carbs of pure sugar will mess you up, 20 carbs of strawberries or brocolli wont even dent you)

I LOVE milk, but I have some trouble digesting it. HOOD makes a dairy drink (cream based), so its near zero carbs.
I just finished physical therapy (torn meniscus), and two previous injuries (hasnt been a good prior year), so I gained all mine back.

Drink LOTS of water. There is a 'potential' problem of kidney stones, if not enough water (my doctor warned me, never got it).

Wishing you the best!

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Watch what you ask for.

You'll get mobile Root, but in exchange they'll halve the radius of mud pots, double the slow effect and endurance cost on granite armor, and they'll probably throw in "K. You get mobile stat resist, but we had to throw out the art/stacking armor changes to make it work."

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What he said ...

I'm already registered as a marrow donor (no takers yet).

I cant imagine the worry, pain, and strength your showing right now.

God bless your family.

You have my thoughts, well wishes, and prayers going to you.

please keep us informed

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So we have confirmed:

We are having a Pocket D Party on Saturday night July 26th in San Diego. In order to attend you must have a VIP pass that you can pick up from our booth.

For those folks that have a COH/COV account there is a special item attached to your VIP pass so make sure you stop by early to ensure you get your badge. This event is not limited to only COH/COV players, so bring your friends too!

We will have more finalized details soon, but this much has been confirmed on our end so save Saturday night in your calendar. The first Heroes & Villains at the party will get free drink coupons.

I'll keep you posted as we know more.

Regards,

Ex Libris

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Nice, but there is a costume contest around 8-11pm, its the highlight of the convention.
At least you all didnt put 2x weekend during comicon (again)

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Here's something I experienced while doing Montague's arc...specifically, Curing the Lost. I was teamed with three others, all calling in our mish completes as we went, except I forget to call in after people craft their wands. I crafted my wand, but before I could call for the Cure the Lost mish, the others had already started curing Lost in Perez, so I went to join them. I had my wand in my tray, and used it once before the team had cured 20 people. I received the badge, and then used my wand one more time before it disappeared from my tray. I called Montague to get the Cure mish for myself, but having no more salvage to craft another wand, I had to skip the mish. I am able to get into the Club, like I'm supposed to.

Now, the end result didn't affect me in anyway, except I had to burn a Mission Skip. Is it intended for the wands for the whole team to disappear in this manner? It says you get 20 shots, and if team curing counts, than everyone had shots left in their wands. This might be an issue if someone used their Mission Skip recently, and has to wait 3 days to complete the last mission in the arc keeping them from getting in the Club. Again...not gamebreaking, but it can be an annoyance, and if it could be dummy-proofed (I take full responsibility for not keeping up with my contact calls. Was doing that all day today) a little further, it couldn't hurt.

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I experienced another version of this same problem with a different hero, and had slightly different issues, but still an annoying bug. I (lvl 35) was teamed with just one person (lvl 50), and we were doing the 50's mishes so I could get xp. I was calling my contact after every mish, like a good boy this time. We got to where we had to go to Atlas to talk to the two people and get the last two parts of the cure salvage. My partner isn't in the same SG, nor coalitioned with mine, so I didn't bother setting the mish, knowing it was just a talk-to mish, and then crafting the wand. I finished with Azuria, but waited till my partner did the same. Partner's wand was crafted first, which gave me a wand to use as well, like the first bugged time. But now, here comes the difference. When I talk to Montague, he still says I have all 5 pieces of salvage, but when I go to craft the wand myself, now I only have three pieces. I was missing the Hero 1 blood and the CoT incantation. So I couldn't craft the wand and complete my own mish. I had to use a Skip Mission. Went on to cure the lost, but this time I kept my partner from calling in their mish after getting their 20 until I could get mine. My wand lasted until my 20 were cured, which meant I got about 30 shots off, counting some for my partner's mish.

The process of getting the salvage, crafting the wand, and then using it is a nice, unique feature, but man is it wonky. Still got my badges, but now that's twice out of three times I've run the arc so far that I had to burn a Skip Mish.


One aside: I was SK'd during the arc, and when I tried skipping the mish, I got a message saying I had to either quit my team or unsidekick to be able to use the feature (think it said because it was a badge mish) Has this always been this way?

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same problem. on a team of 8, 2 of us were sk'd, and 2 of us did NOT get all the salvage to complete the mission.

It sucks.

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Alright, here's my feedback.

The content balance for this issue sucks.


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I agree!

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Villains get less than half the number of Midnighter missions that heroes get, and the Origin of Power story arc is completely absent. Villains can only get the Midnighters missions at 30 while the heroes get them at 10.


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THis definitely sucks!!! Uh, you do know that Cimerora is 35+, so getting it at 10 doesnt do much ...

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The content imbalance was already marked before this, what genius decided to make things this way? Those of us who play villains exclusively are totally screwed over. Thanks tons.

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I agree!!! I mean, coh story arcs are soooooooooooooo boring and dull. The newer ones are fine, but villains have MUCH MORE INTERESTING ARCS!!!!
Coh arcs? copy/paste/change villain group name ...

And why does the midnight arc have MORE missions blue side? I have 3 villains, and 8 heroes. Seriously, do I want to waste THAT much more time on my heroes to do the same arc over and over, when the villains have it short and sweet?

Why are you punishing heroes with longer arcs REQUIRED to get into Cimerora!!! I can get 3 villains in, the time it takes 2 heroes!

Meh, lolheroes.

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As for the comment about the two teams not stealing resources from one another. It is true. Anyone who left the project (Serdar, Constellation, Nick, Brett) was replaced by a new hire.

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Love ya' Pos, but lets be honest. New Hire != Veteran Core developer.

You can point to body counts, but the loss in experience is what we are talking about. And I can name too many posts about seeing 'what the engine can do', esp with IO's (e.g. to hit changed to global accuracy), that any startup core developer would know.

But overall, great job in the recovery!