Maelwys

To be honest I'd suggest dropping Resist Elements/Energies first before RPD. It can be very handy to have capped S/L damage resistance outside Unstoppable later on when you'll be tanking Monsters, GMs and AVs.

Aid Self will certainly help more than elements/energies... and Rage with just one recharge SO will perform very poorly. I'd suggest dropping rage and resist elements first, and pulling some slots from combat jumping (which does not need even one endred, it's the lowest cost toggle in the game).

Taunt could also do with more slotting if you're going for a resistance/tanking build... I'd suggest two recharges at a minimum with 1-2 taunt durations if you still have trouble. Invincibility has been tweaked fairly recently with the other tanker taunt auras, but it certainly used to need two taunt durations in it to reliably keep +4s aggroed... my invincibility slotting was def/def/def/endred/taunt/taunt.

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Stalkers however, dont get follow-up

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The fix to that's simple- "Nerf the Stalkers!!"

Perma-Rage = Basically constantly running rage.

With 3 Recharge SOs you can nearly get rage to overlap with itself, with Hasten it's perma... it used to be that if you activated rage before the last one ran out you didn't need to pay the first one's endurance cost, but they changed this in a recent patch.

The toggles caused a few problems when I was attacking and using Perma-rage... but not while tanking.

You can pick and mix what toggles to run depending on the enemies, I generally used weave on non S/L damage mobs like Carnies, CoT and Crey... wasn't needed at all for Council/DE etc. When soloing I only needed to run Temp Invul and Unyielding, so I could attack much more often.

On teams I tended to fall back on "Taunt + Boxing + Jab + Haymaker", which is very low endurance usage. Footstomp and KO blow are much heavier on the endurance, but I used them more situationally in general play unless I got an +end buff like Speed Boost/AM.

If I get an End Buff or Conserve Power is running, I can go wild and attack flat out in Perma-rage... nothing like being able to out-spike-damage Broadsword scrappers!

I much prefer my gameplay slightly chaotic. I'd prefer faceplanting a few times over the course of 6-8 missions than herding all the way. Herding bores me to death and frankly I'd rather quit the team and solo than stick with a perma-herding tanker, even when I'm on my defender/blasters.

Always herding USED to be the best way to level, but that was before ED and before the target cap. Now herding is completely situational, doing it constantly is simply a waste of time and very, very boring.

PUGs are chaotic by nature, quite a few players in PUGs (and that's being generous) SUCK.

The fun for me on PUGs is overcoming any handicaps in the team (such as a blasters fetish to Rain-of-fire every mob or a controller that hardly has any powers from their primary) by good, strategic use of my powers.

In the case of my tanker, it's rare that someone will die if you have everything taunted, are watching nearby mobs like a hawk, know exactly where each of your teammates are and can see what buffs they have running. If all else fails, it helps to always carry a well-thought-out bank of inspirations.

I went for Tough/Weave on my INV/SS tanker rather than the medicine pool, but the overall effect (extra mitigation!) is much the same. I'm currently very happy with his survivability and Damage output and consider this his final build, arrived at after a lot of number crunching and testing:

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
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Name: tank_womble_final
Level: 50
Archetype: Tanker
Primary: Invulnerability
Secondary: Super Strength
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Temp Invulnerability==> DmgRes(1) DmgRes(3) DmgRes(3) EndRdx(11) EndRdx(13)
01) --> Jab==> Acc(1)
02) --> Dull Pain==> Rechg(2) Rechg(5) Rechg(5) Heal(7) Heal(7) Heal(43)
04) --> Haymaker==> Acc(4) Dmg(15) Dmg(15) Dmg(17) Rechg(19) EndRdx(19)
06) --> Hurdle==> Jump(6) Jump(43)
08) --> Unyielding==> DmgRes(8) DmgRes(9) DmgRes(9) EndRdx(11) EndRdx(13)
10) --> Boxing==> Acc(10)
12) --> Combat Jumping==> DefBuf(12)
14) --> Super Jump==> Jump(14)
16) --> Health==> Heal(16) Heal(17)
18) --> Invincibility==> DefBuf(18) DefBuf(23) DefBuf(23) EndRdx(36) Taunt(37) Taunt(40)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20) EndMod(21) EndMod(21)
22) --> Taunt==> Rechg(22) Rechg(37)
24) --> Tough==> DmgRes(24) DmgRes(25) DmgRes(25) EndRdx(27) EndRdx(31)
26) --> Hasten==> Rechg(26) Rechg(27) Rechg(37)
28) --> Knockout Blow==> Acc(28) Dmg(29) Dmg(29) Dmg(31) Rechg(34) EndRdx(34)
30) --> Rage==> Rechg(30) Rechg(31) Rechg(34) TH_Buf(46) TH_Buf(48) TH_Buf(50)
32) --> Unstoppable==> DmgRes(32) Rechg(33) Rechg(33) Rechg(33)
35) --> Tough Hide==> DefBuf(35) DefBuf(36) DefBuf(36)
38) --> Foot Stomp==> Acc(38) Dmg(39) Dmg(39) Dmg(39) Rechg(40) EndRdx(40)
41) --> Weave==> DefBuf(41) DefBuf(42) DefBuf(42) EndRdx(42) EndRdx(43)
44) --> Focused Accuracy==> EndRdx(44) EndRdx(45) EndRdx(45) TH_Buf(45) TH_Buf(46) TH_Buf(46)
47) --> Resist Physical Damage==> DmgRes(47) DmgRes(48) DmgRes(48)
49) --> Conserve Power==> Rechg(49) Rechg(50) Rechg(50)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Power Slide==> Run(1)
01) --> Sprint==> Jump(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Acc(1)
01) --> Gauntlet==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Rechg(2)
---------------------------------------------

Capped S/L resists and about 20% defence normally, rising to about 45% defense with Invincibility when tanking large mobs. Unstoppable and Dull Pain are both up quite often with Hasten, and Footstomp is pretty good at mitigating damage by itself. Before "Conserve Power" his endurance consumption was fairly heavy when attacking in Perma-Rage, that's about my only complaint.

Oh- and he's built as a highly survivable, aggro-grabbing tanker first and a damage dealer second... hence the fewer attacks. He's a very capable tanker though: Jab and Boxing are great for spamming to keep gauntlet working, their damage is actually alright when Rage is on. KO Blow and Haymaker are obviously his main attacks when I want to damage something... but with Rage and Hasten they'll make fast work of most enemies. Footstomp is my AoE attack, a mitigation tool (knockdown) and an aggro grabber all in one...

TBH the Blaster ranged holds are just as good as Defender ranged holds. (Example: Tesla Cage's durations/recharge and MaG are identical) - Carnie's Hold comparison has all the details.

I would draw the line at Scrapper and Tanker Epic holds though, and Kheldian ones suck too
(The PB one in particular is has too short a duration, and the animation is too flashy)

From the comparisons on the US boards, Claws is statistically the highest single-target damage primary. It can get the best average DPS by using Perma Follow-Up. That comes at the expense of having little in the way of spike damage, and no "Build Up".

Sorry to butt in again, random point but I saw that level 27 reference...

My PB pretty much sucked until level 35 when I was finally able to slot him decently. Incandescent Strike at 18 made him slightly easier than he was from 1-18, which was just plain abysmal, but I didn't really enjoy playing him till the mid-30s when I had all my heals and attacks slotted up, together with perma-pulsar.

I first rolled my PB as a "challenge" after taking my first toon to 50 (regen scrapper). I wanted to experience a toon that got easily mezzed and was far weaker to solo, and it was the challenge aspect that really kept me going till the late 30s. I now find him fantastic fun, but he certainly wasn't an early developer.

Ice has Chilling Embrace which will slow and -recharge enemies nearby. But more importantly it also resists slows and -recharge, as well as being defence based which means that other debuffs can miss you completely... and it has one of the best panic buttons in "Hibernate".

You could think of it as: Ice/ is more survivable, Fire/ is more damaging.

I suppose it would depend on your team build. If one of those controllers is a kinetic, you'll rarely be below the damage cap in which case the "build up" powers would be superfluous. I'd certainly drop Firey Embrace first, since Build Up recharges faster and buffs your EM attacks better.

I don't have a fire tanker (yet) but the damage numbers on Burn look fantastic. If you'll always have a troller that can stop the mobs running from it, I'd say try to get it into your build.

IIRC Tanker Burn is getting a slight recharge buff on test (bringing it into line with Brute Burn) so I'd go with 3 Damage SOs, then recharge. I assume it's still autohit (or very, very high accuracy).

I've a Fire/EM tanker planned, which will be skipping Burn and taking Build Up/FE, but I'm a regular soloist so I'd not be able to use Burn effectively but would usually get full use from the +damage buffs.

Three scrappers and you haven't rolled a regen yet??!?
(seriously, you need to try it... it's an amazing set and works very differently to the others)

I have a 40 Spines/DA scrapper at the moment, with a magic origin. I've found that it's a superb PvE set, but takes ages to become "good" and isn't that great a set to solo with. It's main downfall is endurance consumption, it gobbles endurance- even heavily slotted with Endreds I still need to take care with my power usage whenever I'm not speedboosted or AM'ed.

/Dark was a real struggle till 30 or so, it got a lot better with Oppressive Gloom at 35 and is fantastic now that I've everything well-slotted... it's currently exceptionally good on teams, outperforming my Katana/Regen by a long way. I can only see it getting better once I pick up Conserve Power and Focussed Accuracy.

/Dark Pros: Great in Teams, no resistance gaps, outperforms every other secondary once fully slotted up.
/Dark Cons: takes AGES to slot everything in order to get that good. Not as good solo. Gobbles Endurance.

If I was going /dark again then I'd be very tempted to go Dark/ too, purely for dark consumption.

If I was looking at a high endurance primary like Broadsword, I'd probably go /regen. No endurance problems, ever. Very good solo, quick to hit peak performance and still *almost* as good as /dark in later levels (better solo, but not nearly as good when teamed!).

Aye, the pre-built background's definately a problem. It's something I didn't like about the AT, and although I obsess over my character's backstories I'm really not much of a roleplayer in-game.

I rebelled, ignored the kheldian idea completely and made Unit Omega into a guyver clone. His bio does have a note saying he often gets mistaken for a kheldian though... Staying in human form most of the time can offset the "big glowing energy beastie" giveaway!

I think I understand where you're coming from about the contribution factor... your other toons specialise in their roles and a PB doesn't fit into that trend? Variety occurring between different toons but not within a single toon? (I remember you telling me that Hammerfall sucks at damage output but tanks very well, and you enjoyed playing Captain Skyfire because he's the complete opposite).

I guess my take on PB's is an extension of my "Red Mage" job which I played for three years in my previous MMO. That was very much a "jack of all trades, master of none" character too (well... technically it was a master of debuffing, but decidedly a jack overall!)

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Bit rushed so this will be brief for the moment.
I am up for the GM team.
If I am correct so far we have.
Krunch Ma/Regen (Scrapper)
Flush EmpElec(?) (Defender)
Maelwys Invun/? (Tanker)


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Assuming I can make it on the night, I can bring my tanker: Womble (50 Inv/SS/Body). He's got taunt well slotted and capped S/L damage resistance so fighting DE Monsters won't bother him much.

If you can get a different tanker I'd probably be more useful on Red Noise though (50 Sonic/Elec/Elec defender), I'm sure the empath and blasters (and even the /regen) would appreciate having tanker-level resistances and mez resists... those Monsters cause a lot of collateral S/L damage even when well-taunted!

Hopefully since this'll be a Sunday raid and there'll be more people about and more PA droppers, Red won't be needed for spamming clarity on the Hami tank team empaths again... was hectic last raid!

They've resistances to pretty much everything, just not very high levels of them. They can just about get 50% S/L resistance with tough, and the others hover in the 25-35% range (apart from Psi, which is closer to 60%).

I think it's mainly the tohit rolls for the auras/heal and the leech-nature of the heal that let it down. Dark really doesn't lend itself to one-on-one battles or fighting high defense enemies, which is pretty common in PvP. I agree completely about the breakfrees, I wouldn't try my spines/dark in PvP... just making a few observations about the set now that I've gained some first hand experience with it.

Apologies if I've contributed to your bad day Hammer... I wouldn't want to force my style of gameplay down anyone's throat, but I'll happily state my reasons for playing a PB and try to comment based on my own experiences.

It's the "swiss army knife versatility" that appeals to me about playing Unit. But then I've always been attracted to that kind of gameplay... I like things to be slightly hectic and know that I have the ability to deal with most "panic situations" if something unforeseen happens.

Gameplay preferences and all that. I like the ability to adapt to the changes in PUG team makeup, which is where I spend most of my time when I'm not soloing. If that comes at the expense of not quite having blaster-level damage or tank-level resistance, fair enough... I have other toons with those extremes.

I'd liken my PB to a scrapper, it has good survivability and good damage output, not particularly extreme one way or the other. The difference being that a scrapper has higher base levels of both survivability and damage... whereas my PB starts off lower but gets much better in a big team (with Cosmic Balance). It's not an uber toon: it's mainly situational, tricky to solo but really shines in big teams.

I might, possibly be able to make it. (Sunday evenings generally aren't great for me, but there's a fair amount of notice this time so I might be able to shuffle things around a bit...)

Assuming I can tweak my shedule, I'll be available for buffing/holding/caging duty for the GM team or Tank team with Red Noise (Sonic defender) or Mito clearing duty on Unit Omega (Blapper PB, can fly). Alternatively I can bring an INV tanker if the GM patrol team needs one, but there's usually enough tanks at the raids already...

To be honest Ice/EM is pretty much the cookie cutter in PvP, and Ice tanks can do very well in PvE.
It's somewhat FOTM ("Flavour of the Month") though, so you might want to look at a different Primary.

Super Strength and Energy Melee are the two "PvP secondaries". You should be able to make any primary apart from Stone work decently in both PvE and PvP: INV has repel protection, Ice has slow/recharge protection, Fire has the regular self heal and a "second Build Up".

I'm really going to have to get around to levelling that Fire blaster with 6-slotted Rise-of-the-Pheonix...

Yeah, I find it's much less fun if there's no risk involved and no variety in your attacking methods.
I get bored senseless waiting for another tanker to perma-herd even when *I'M* playing a tanker.

My INV played much more along the lines of "Hit Rage, jump in and Footstomp... then taunt what gets up".

A more mobile team is cracking fun, and it keeps you on your toes...

[u]Disclaimer[u]: I've played a variety of toons, including a defender and a very squishy Human-form PB.
It's not just when I'm on a tank/scrapper that I get bored out of my skull with herding tactics.

Once you're SO'ed up I don't think you'll have as much trouble.
I find Aid Self is very useful on defense-based toons... it'd certainly boost your survivability.

You certainly won't go wrong with taking Katana's big two attacks (at 26 and 32) and SR's Elude at 38.

I agree with Blind here. When I'm tanking I really hate corner pulling on every mob... it bores my teammates, slows us down and is usually an unnecessary amount of caution. I much prefer either teleporting or jumping into the mob and working with it "pre-herded". It's much faster, and the scrappers will love you for it.

However if I get into a situation where doing that with a mob would pose a danger to my team (another mob very nearby, linking AV, "room of death", etc.) then by all means I'd pull it around a corner and anyone who complained would be heading for a kicking (either figuratively or literally...)

We could all just turn up like last time and organise it spontaniously, that was hilarious.
(Maybe if there's enough booze floating about we can convince Xanthus to lead it...)

Actually, haven't heard from Archy, Magus and co. lately. Given up on the once-a-fortnight raid schedule?

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I am still also considering trying out Fire/Ice (Coz im an Altaholic). Because from what i gather that would be a good PvP combo T.B.C. . . .>

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If you mean Fire Aura/Ice Melee... /Ice is the worst secondary for PvP because it lacks damage.

If you mean Ice Armor/Fire Melee... /Fire still suffers from a lack of burst damage. Super Strength and Energy Melee are generally thought of as the "best choices" for PvP, with SS being better at 30 (Sirens call) and EM being better at 38+ (Warburg/RV/Arena).

I played about with a calculator a bit....
With 3 damage SOs, you should be seeing numbers like the following for a level 50 PB:

Gleaming Bolt - 40.76 damage, recharge 1.5
Glinting Eye - 67.96 damage, recharge 4
Gleaming Blast - 111.43 damage, recharge 8
Radiant Strike - (159.82 total) damage, recharge 10
Incandescent Strike - (290.28 total) damage, recharge 20
Solar Flare - 115.78 damage, recharge 20 [PBAoE]

Bright Nova Bolt - 96.38 damage, recharge 1.5
Bright Nova Blast - 160.62 damage, recharge 4
Bright Nova Scatter - 159.01 damage, recharge 12 [Cone]
Bright Nova Detonation - (144.57 total) damage, recharge 16 [AoE]


The single target chain looks a bit better for Human, with Nova much better for AoEs.
With Build Up + Cosmic Balance the Human form attacks will pull ahead in damage.
Dawn Strike and Photon Seekers do silly amounts of AoE damage, but aren't up regularly.

Photon Seekers - (217.43 each = 652.31 total) damage, recharge 300 [PBAoE]
Dawn Strike - (305.76 total) damage, recharge 360 [PBAoE]

Human attacks will all be buffed by Build Up/Cosmic Balance except for Photon Seekers which is fixed damage.

I think the only other use for Siren's Song apart from a soloing damage mitigation tool is in PvP.
Forcefield, Traps and Sonic anti-mez bubbles have a gap in their protection: sleep attacks get through.

Can't see it being useful in big groups when everyone's Clear Minded/Claritied though.