Justaris

I'm guessing (you didn't come right out and say it, but from what you posted I'm inferring) that you are looking primarily at survivability as the most important thing for your tank. Stone Armor, specifically the tier 9 power Granite Armor, is pretty much agreed upon as the strongest 'out-of-the-box' defense since when combined with Rooted it gives you significant amounts of all three elements of effective mitigation: Regeneration, Defense and Resistance.

However, Stone Armor prior to Granite and outside of Granite is probably slightly inferior to most of the other armor sets to balance this, and being in Granite carries some significant negatives including slow movement, inability to jump/fly, and severely slowed recharge rate on powers. You can get around the first two with good use of Teleport if you know what you're doing and slot well to afford the endurance usage. The third one is the big disadvantage and unless you're playing with a Kineticist who can buff your recharge to offset this, it will likely make an impact in your effectiveness. This is the reason some Stone players actually refuse to play if they don't have a Kin along. (No, I'm not kidding).

So what's the point of all this? Mostly to point out the significnat downsides of playing Stone. I have two Stone tanks myself (as well as a variety of other types) and while it is powerful it comes at a significant cost. With good slotting and use of IO sets, several other Tanker powersets can accomplish much the same things as a Stone tank in Granite without the oftimes crippling downsides - however, this requires in most cases a significant investment in IOs (that's the tradeoff). Invulnerability and Dark Armor particularly tend to be extremely strong once outfitted with good Sets and can perform as well or better than Stone tanks once so equipped.


Short version: Stone isn't your only option for a very survivable Tank. It is, however, the easiest to reach and requires relatively little from you once you learn how to play around the limitations Granite puts on you.

As Syntax said, it really depends on what your goals are here. For instance, the answer would be different for best aggro control versus best soloability versus best AOE damage output versus most survivable. You would get a short list of a few good combos for each of these.

Barracuda and Lady Grey seem to be the only TFs in the game thus far that have very specific requirements for completion (and therefore can be impossible or nearly so to complete without that component). For Barracuda, of course, it's the Black Scorpion anti-phase power given to Masterminds and Defenders. For Lady Grey, it's the holds which are critical to taking down the green mitochondria in the Hamidon encounter. Not enough holds on your team and you essentially can't progress.

While I don't necessarily think these kind of requirements are completely wrong of the Devs to include, it is very easy for ignorant players to get themselves into frustrating situations where they realize they never had a reasonable chance with the team makeup they began with - probably TFs of this sort should have some kind of warning flag in a different color of text prior to starting the TF. While it's likely those forming the TFs might not bother to read it, at least a warning is given in that case.

For something that really feels powerful, somethng that 'can dish damage, take damage, and feel awesome', I think you're probably looking at a melee character. That's my take on it, anyway.

That said, I'd recommend either a Tanker, Scrapper or Brute. For Tankers, I'd probably go with either Dark Armor or Fiery Aura with Fiery Melee, Super Strength or perhaps Battle Axe for secondary. The same powersets but reversed for Brutes, I'd say, though you might also consider Claws. For Scrappers you could go Broadsword, Fiery Melee or Dark Melee with a secondary of Dark Armor, Fiery Aura, or perhaps Invulnerability.

I think my first choice out of all that personally would be the Axe/Dark Brute, or SS/Dark if you feel the character is more to eschew weapons in favor of strangling the life out of things with his bare hands. Dark Armor offers a good number of demonic-type powers and is exceptionally strong once properly IO'd out. You could also opt for a Fire/Dark Brute to really push the demonic angle, though I personally think Axe or Super Strength might carry more meance visually speaking.

That's my thoughts on the matter anyway, hope if was at least somewhat helpful.

I'd recommend a minimum of two -KB IOs (be they Steadfasts, Karmas or BotZs). Personally, my Dark tank uses three, but he is one of my main characters these days and I wanted him to have the same KB protection that the primary powers in other Tanker primaries give. You could probably get by with two for 95% of situations in PvE.

As for how to slot, I'd agree with Rangle that typed defense goals are easier to reach with fewer IOs and generally cheaper as well. If you do go the typed route, I'd strongly suggest focusing on Energy/NegEnergy as well as Smashing/Lethal since Energy damage is not well-resisted by Dark Armor. The alternative would be to go for a positionally-capped build but this is considerably more difficult and expensive.

While 'fun' is certainly subjective, I will say my Dark tanker is the one I enjoy the most out of all my tanks, so for my two cents I say stick it out and see how you like the character once you've put some work into him.

I've found that it really doesn't matter which server you play on. Myself, I play on pretty much all of them at one time or another. While the "high-population" servers have more people running around and can be easier to throw together a group on, with a little looking you can find a group for almost anything on any of the servers. Using global channels makes a huge difference, regardless of the server you choose.

Since the game is heavily instanced (i.e. most people are inside missions most of the time and therefore can't see broadcast 'yells' and may not necessarily show up on searches (many people run in hidden status to avoid being bothered by spammers). On a global channel you can reach a large portion of the active playerbase on the server you're on, even if they happen to be playing the other faction or on another server at the moment. Definately the best option.

Anything else I should be getting? Will be doing my prep tonight since I won't have much time between the end of work and the start of this.

What time tonight?

I'd be game for that. Dark/Elec Tanker. Same plan as last time with Shivans and nukes?

I think I'll also get Envenomed Daggers this time around.

Looks like I've been traded to team P3, just wanted to check in and see when the practices are - I'll do my best to make them.

I'd like to get in on this with my Tanker if there's still room. I've got Shivans and Bio nuke, and will try to get Chem as well before the run.

Not to rag on Stalkers too much, since I've seen them played well by some people, but going strictly on the powersets and what they can do, I'd have to agree with CM that I'd take a PB over a Stalker. Not only can the PB do a lot more, but on average the PB is more likely to be of use to the team (versus the 'stealth to the end and sit there, doesn't have recall' scouting Stalker that seems to be popular).

Sure, a poorly built PB isn't good at something, but neither is a poorly built Stalker.

My availability, for reference:

Monday/Wednesday/Friday: 9pm EST or after
Tuesday/Thursday: 11:30pm EST or after
Saturday: Between 7pm and 9pm EST or after 11:30pm EST
Sunday: 8pm EST or after

This is for January. My weekend schedule should open up quite a bit starting next month. Weekdays will stay about the same.
From February on, pretty much the only weekend time that won't work for me would be Saturdays from 9-11:30pm EST as I have another weekly committment at that time.
Looking forward to not working so many weekends anymore.

Also, you cannot make a Kheldian or an SoA in Praetoria, so make sure you're choosing "Hero" and not "Praetorian" when you go to try and make your Kheld.

Usually logging in to the 20+ character will reset the flag, so it sounds like you're already addressed that problem (which is the most common reason for problems with this).

Sounds to me like a reference to Dr. Robert Neville from Matheson's novel I Am Legend. I'm not sure about the "Hank" part, could be a second reference or a simple name change. Based on the snippet of story spoiler you gave, though, it's reminiscent of the twist in the novel.

Haven't played that mission, but now I want to, and I'm curious to know more about this "Hank Neville" character.

I figured, just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to get myself in any real trouble.

I don't necessarily disagree with the sentiment that people ought to look for information themselves before just asking it all be handed to them, but I do think it's very easy for us to be critical as longtime players and veterans of this and (probably) other game forums. A player who has been gone from the game for a long time and isn't all that savvy with gaming forums in general or this one in particular may not be able to reasonably find information that you or I could find with ease.

Now, if he continues to post asking questions which the links and info provided in this thread would easily have answered, I think you'd have more of a case.

So, I'm a little confused by all this talk of 'cheating'... is it just the ringer emps who aren't supposd to attack? I hope so, because I've been throwing out the occasional attack or PA summon on my Ill/Emp with pretty fair regularity.

Depends on what you consider to be "reasons to play".

• Unlock Alpha slot and get Alpha Boosts
• Do Task Forces: Statesman, Lady Grey, Imperious, Dr Kahn, three of the four Shard TFs, Lord Recluse, Barracuda, Apex and Tin Mage Mk II can all be run at 50 without exemplaring down.
• Exemplar and do the other Task Forces and story arcs
• Visit Praetoria via Pocket D
• Engage in PvP
• Switch sides: Have your hero become a villain or vice versa!
• Play player-made content in the AE house (can be hard to find with all the farms but good stuff there for those who look

And that's just to get you started. I should note that the Apex and Tin Mage TVs require you to be 50 and have your Alpha Slot unlocked to even join and require a boost slotted to really be effective. Plenty to do!

Most of my characters on Victory aren't 50, as it's one of my 'younger' servers of the many I play on and my stable is therefore smaller. I have three possibilities at 50 and a few more that might work below 50. If there's a particular character of interest, I can make a concerted effort to level it up higher prior to the match, just let me know (by PM or tell, of course, no sense tipping our hand). I don't PL as a rule so I don't have as broad a selection as some, but I hope this is helpful.

50s on Victory:
Dark/Elec Tanker - IO'd
Ill/Emp Controller - IO'd
Necro/Dark MM (on another server, but can be moved) - SOs

Other characters on Victory:
Assault Rifle/Traps Corr (27)
Mind/Storm Controller (27)
Kinetic Melee/Energy Aura Brute (26)
Spines/Elec Scrapper (22)
Grav/Cold Controller (20)
TA/A Defender (16)

While I woudn't mind signing up for a crew like this, my work schedule can be erratic so I couldn't always guarantee my presence at every run. It's been a challenge to keep my schedule clear for all the PvP Univeristy practices and matches, though so far that's worked out well (*knock on wood*).

It kind of sounds like Masque wants us to stick with the tier 1 boosts, at least that's how I read it.

If tier 2 boosts are okay, I'll likely go for the recharge/heal boost for my empath.