Lord_Cyclones

Yeah, I also found that I do much, much better now with about 39% S/L defense than when I had about 22%-25% S/L. That extra defense just seems to make those big hits land far less frequently, and then any buffs you are getting from teammates goes that much farther.

I am in a similar situation where my Spiritual alpha is healing me for 980 hp every 12 seconds or so, and in my experience that is usually either more than enough or (painfully) not enough. You get the in-between as well but mostly it seems I am on cruise control the vast majoiryt of the time and then in cascade failure when I am not, lol.

Build uses KC sets in attacks with a Mako quad or Scirocco's A/D/R, Reactives in the shields, Rectified Ret. I would strongly suggest KB IOs and dropping Acro since they are so cheap.

Cheers

Thank you for the commentary there. I have 4 of the 5 pieces of Coercive Persuasion slated for this guy, and I was thinking I would go Cardiac Alpha on him.

One more question: Is Power Boost worth a pick on Ice/Ice? I hear mixed reviews based on the combo. I would think so with all the slows and with the Confuse in AA, but I am looking at maybe dropping it to grab Ice Sword for another ST attack to help with hard targets and stealing the brawl slots for it. Thoughts on Power Boost verses Ice Sword?

Cheers

This, in my mind, is what you should think about OP. The Elec/Elec tank will be just 'okay' right off the shelf for team tanking. Same with Darkm in my opinion. With investment, these move much higher on the list of sturdy and fun primaries. My Elec/Elec brute went SPLAT quite a bit before getting the defense up to decent levels. At first, I went the melee route and got Melee defense up to about 29% if I recall - survivability took a big jump and the toon went from frustrating to fun. In the past few issues I switched to S/L defense and got about 38% on him and the fun factor just went through the roof. Now with the Spiritual Radial Alpha, he has clsoe to perma-Hasten and Energize with only a few seconds downtime, he's a beast. I would imagine an Elec/Elec with the same slotting would be pushing the soft-cap and have 80% S/L resist and all the nice exotic resists, Power Sink up every group, and so on. This is without purples, so it's not a break the bank build - nothing you can't get in a couple weeks doing tips.

Dechs will sing you the praises of doing something similar with Dark, and I can attest personally at just how sturdy Dark can be with having S/L/E/N def all around the 40% and Dark Regen cycline in 16 seconds. Hardly anything can kill you, honestly. Fire has some capabilities as well perhaps at a half a bubble below the other two, but it can do some amazing things too.

If you are willing to allow some "down the road" and plan for some investment (not billions) thinking Elec and Dark are VERY viable.

Cheers

I will follow up my rather long-winded initial response with a more succinct response here:

I concur.


Cheers

I will respond with these guideposts in mind. I have played a number of tanks over the past 4+ years and run several different armors to 50 including Ice, Fire, INV, Dark, Shield and my Stone is level 43 currently. My Elec/KM tank is only level 19 so I can't comment on Elec armor with a lot of experience as of yet.

In terms of "out of the box" performance team tanking in a I19 and betyond game under those assumptions and limitations above I would encourage you to look into Shield, Willpower and Invulnerability.

You have received a lot opinions and advice on Shield to this point, and I would echo the thoughts of proponents on it given your constraints. It offers:
- layered mitigation with mix of resistance and defense (with a lean toward defense)
- powerful aggro aura that gives BOTH +damage to the user and nice -damage to foes
- a very nice offensive AOE power
- passive power that provides +HP
- quite low endurance usage to allow for options on utility and offense
It's also very easy to hit the soft cap to all three positions with minimal IO investment. Downside IMO, is that it seems clear to me that the game is headed toward a place where the defense soft cap of 45% will be superceded by new more powerul foes/attacks/effects and that high resistance and high HP will become increasingly valuable. Shield has SOME resistance but it tilts fairly heavily toward defense. I think moving forward, we will want tanks to have as much HP, aggro capability and as much resist as possible in the new end game encounters. Some see the click mez protection as a large downside and I personally have never been overly bothered by it on either Shield or Super Reflexes.

I think Invulnerability offers a number of positive benefits given your constraints as well. You have already played the set and CallMeAwesome has summarized a lot that INV brings to the table, so I won't go into INV. In short, INV offers layered mitigation too (with a tilt toward resist) with a very nice +HP power and a wonderful - albeit non-damage - aggro aura. The downside for INV is exotic damage types - particulalry Psi damage - which are prevalent in the late game, although there is still plenty of S/L as well.

Willpower would also be something I would look closely at. Again, layered mitigation from mixed defense and resists which I think is important. It has very nice +HP ability and (obviously) wonderful +regen capacity which is very good out of the box. Also, the extra recovery that Quick Recovery offers is very valuable in the 'free stamina' era for the low investment constraints. The big downside to Willpower is that the aggro aura frankly SUCKS which hurts Willpower as a team tanking set. It's harder to hold aggro with Willpower with that aura and the user will have to take taunt and use it a LOT when team tanking - even still the tank can easily lose aggro on many foes in a large team environment. My wife ran her tank to 50 with our team of regulars and we have had several folks do this also - it is common to have a bunch (perhaps even up to say a third) or a large mob turning away from the tank to focus on others in large team situations.

Ice can be a pretty nice "out of the box" set that can be very tanky without a ton of influence invested. I think it's overall wonderful for the base game, but I cannot recommend it because it leans too much toward defense and the game is going down a road that devalues defense increasingly. It has some other forms of mitigation but not enough to outweigh the downsides in my opinion. If you do not plan to do any Incarnate content, I could recommend Ice to you off the shelf and fun and exciting, and perfectly hardy for the base game.

With a BIG budget, a whole new world of options becomes available (including Stone armor) and I would have different recommendations, but for your constraints and situation those would be my picks.

Sorry about the length, and I hope you find something fun to play.

Cheers

This is what I am running on Live currently as I am such a cheapskate compared to Sant, Iggy and Deus. I still can't shake my 'poor guy' mindset from before I started marketeering. The SL slotting is ugly and suboptimal, but the overall build performs very well for a mid-budget option.

I think it meets your goals without breaking the budget too badly. The pricey stuff in it came from AMerits and it seems to run the Spiritual Radial Alpha with zero end issues. I have not taken it for a ride against a pylon so I cannot comment on performance from that perspective. Anyway, maybe it can give you some ideas.

Cheers

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.90
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Shieldmaster - uber: Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Dark Melee
Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Concealment
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Smite -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(5), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(11), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(17), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25), T'Death-Dam%(37)
Level 1: Deflection -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(3), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(9), LkGmblr-Def(15), ResDam-I(39)
Level 2: Battle Agility -- RedFtn-EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(3), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(9), RedFtn-Def(15), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 4: Shadow Maul -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(5), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(13), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Oblit-%Dam(37)
Level 6: True Grit -- Numna-Heal(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(7), ResDam-I(7), Numna-Heal/Rchg(50)
Level 8: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(50)
Level 10: Active Defense -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(11)
Level 12: Kick -- ExStrk-Dmg/KB(A), ExStrk-Acc/KB(43), ExStrk-Dam%(46)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Jump-I(A)
Level 16: Against All Odds -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 18: Siphon Life -- S'ngH'mkr-Acc/Dmg(A), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/EndRdx(19), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/Rchg(19), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(29), Nictus-Acc/Heal(29), Nictus-Heal(48)
Level 20: Tough -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(21), Aegis-EndRdx/Rchg(21), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(46), Aegis-ResDam(46)
Level 22: Weave -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(23), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(23), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(25), RedFtn-Def(34), RedFtn-EndRdx(48)
Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 26: Soul Drain -- GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(A), GSFC-ToHit(27), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(27), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(31), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(40), GSFC-Build%(40)
Level 28: Phalanx Fighting -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 30: Dark Consumption -- Erad-Dmg(A), Erad-Acc/Rchg(31), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(31), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Erad-%Dam(40)
Level 32: Midnight Grasp -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(33), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(33), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(33), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), Mako-Dam%(39)
Level 35: Shield Charge -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(36), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Oblit-%Dam(45)
Level 38: One with the Shield -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
Level 41: Stealth -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 44: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 47: Physical Perfection -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), P'Shift-End%(50)
Level 49: Grant Cover -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Numna-Heal(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(48)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(A), P'Shift-Acc/Rchg(42), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(42), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(43), P'Shift-EndMod(45), P'Shift-End%(45)

If you decide to go the S/L route on raising your defense, consider Smashing Haymaker set that grants 1.88% S/L def in 4 slots and is quite inexpensive to buy. A few sets of that adds up pretty fast and add in the Steadfast Res/Def and you will be close to 25% S/L defense. That will make a big difference. If you decide you like that you can save up cash or use AMerits for the much more expensive Kinetic Combats if you decide to go that route.

On the softcap proper, I didn't like what I had to do to the overall build to hit 45% S/L so I stopped at just shy of 40% S/L while keeping my attacks slotted well and keeping recharge up around 45%. With the Spiritual Radial Alpha slot and Hasten, this tends to be quite effective for most of the overall game play.

The buff to Burn and Consume has helped a lot but Carnies and Arachnos still seem to give me a fair amount of trouble.

Cheers

Just what was the rationale for the doubling of inf drops? I don't recall reading about this much at all and I was not active in the market & inventions forum when I16 hit. It just seems hard to believe that very many people in the know thought this was actually a good idea if they thought very long about it.

I was a skid row player making enough inf by crafting and selling my drops on each new character I made. It was enough to make my toons playable at a reasonable level for the 2-3 night per week I played with for a couple hours with my team of casual regulars. I was crafting and selling a common IO every day and had a little 300 mill bankroll after about 18 months. It was a BIG deal when I broke down and spent 25 million on a Numina unique to help the recovery problem on my DA tank back then.

Then I stumbled upon Fury Flechette's journal/guide around the 4th of July. That little nest egg was enough to make me say "Okay, I'll risk this 50 million trying this and at the very least I'll learn something even if I lose all of it." Well since then, I have used the 10 minutes a day I spent crafting commons to what FF demonstrates in that journal. I have lost track of how much I have made in those 5 months, but I know it has to be around 15 billion, because I spent a bunch respeccing a few toons and still have probably 12-13 bill liquid. It's stupidly easy and takes very little time to make gobs and gobs of money.

I only have one toon (my Ill/Rad) that I "purpled" out, but for the most part my toons are essentially setup with some nice sets and bonuses, but nothing high end like that. The stuff I do with my crew of regualrs doesn't rally demand it, but I have been scaling my sets up these last couple of toons. I have since gotten a couple of my crew doing it a little bit too and they have a couple of billion now each and are happy to not be so strapped for cash. It can make a difference to the game experience if that's what people want - to play the game a vey high level and do edge case performance mini-games. It also doesn't need to if people want to focus on other things the game offers from the social aspects to hours of meticulous costuming and so on.

Bottom line: it aint rocket surgery (BillZ)....These folks just need to put the ego and prejudices aside for 5 minutes and try it.

Cheers

Edit: Oops missed a couple of typos.