Well, Ive finally made it. Level 50 and loved (almost) all of my time getting there (except for those times where the debt just never seem to go away
). I made my Stone/Fire Tanker, Valdearg on the Infinity server, after doing a lot of research on these forums. I was looking at how people seemed to really like Fire and Ice at the time. Everyone liked to say that Stone/ wasnt worth it. You were the most gimped tanker in the game until you got Granite Armor. So, being the guy I am, I threw popular opinion to the wind and created my tank.
I must say, those first 32 level kinda killed me. I was so gimped that I couldnt take alpha from like 5 guys. Believe me, my SG wasnt exactly happy with me. Then suddenly, POW!!! Im level 32 and I kick so much that almost every group I got into, someone sent me a tell saying how uber I was. This was REALLY flattering. I was the person who could take hits from over 15 mobs 5 levels above me. I didnt even have any HOs yet. I definitely had a wow moment almost every battle I went into.
Now some skeptics are thinking, Hey Val, I want to PvP, your character sucks then. When a stalker comes up behind you and totally crits you, your pretty much screwed. Your toggles go down, and surly youll die. *Omit pun* Not true. I play with this guy in PvP and he still kicks. Your stalker friend comes up and backstabs you, the chances of him dropping all of your toggles are slim to none. You might lose your Mud Pots or your Rooted, but your Granite wont go down, and you take maybe 40 damage from that hit. Plus, your not stunned or disoriented or anything. That stalker is think WHY DIDNT HE DIE?!?!? And he runs.
But Val, youre freakin slow, you couldnt catch a snail if you had speed boost. Tis true unfortunately. The main downfall of a build like this is that your really slow. Like I CANT MOVE slow. Unfortunately, you cant even use sprint in Granite or if you had Rooted on. Thus, you take teleport and teleport foe
bring those guys to you.
I chose /Fire because of the damage potential as well as the 2 nice AOEs you get. You can choose some other secondaries, but I tried other ones and this is great, especially because I hate knockbacks and this build cant deal with running to every mob.
So to recap everything: If you dont like to be REALLY slow, leave now. If you want to be the must uber and most defensive and devastating tank out there right now (dont argue with me, Im just trying to promote this build lol), then stay and listen to this uberness.
Lets begin:
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Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
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Name: Valdearg
Level: 50
Archetype: Tanker
Primary: Stone Armor
Secondary: Fiery Melee
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01) --> Stone Skin==> DmgRes(1)DmgRes(3)DmgRes(3)
01) --> Scorch==> Acc(1)
02) --> Earth's Embrace==> Heal(2)Heal(5)Heal(5)Rechg(7)Rechg(7)Rechg(9)
04) --> Fire Sword==> Dmg(4)Dmg(9)Dmg(11)Acc(13)Acc(15)Acc(15)
06) --> Swift==> Run(6)Run(11)Run(13)
08) --> Mud Pots==> Slow(8)Slow(17)Slow(17)Dmg(19)Dmg(19)Dmg(21)
10) --> Combustion==> Dmg(10)Dmg(21)Dmg(23)Acc(23)Acc(25)Acc(25)
12) --> Rooted==> Heal(12)Heal(27)Heal(27)
14) --> Recall Friend==> IntRdx(14)
16) --> Teleport==> Range(16)
18) --> Crystal Armor==> DefBuf(18)DefBuf(29)DefBuf(29)
20) --> Health==> Heal(20)Heal(31)Heal(31)
22) --> Stamina==> EndMod(22)EndMod(31)EndMod(33)
24) --> Hasten==> Rechg(24)Rechg(33)Rechg(33)
26) --> Mineral Armor==> DefBuf(26)DefBuf(34)DefBuf(34)
28) --> Fire Sword Circle==> Dmg(28)Dmg(34)Dmg(36)Acc(36)Acc(36)Acc(37)
30) --> Boxing==> DisDur(30)
32) --> Granite Armor==> DmgRes(32)DmgRes(37)DmgRes(37)DefBuf(39)DefBuf(39)DefBuf(39)
35) --> Incinerate==> Dmg(35)Dmg(40)Dmg(40)Acc(40)Acc(42)Acc(42)
38) --> Greater Fire Sword==> Dmg(38)Dmg(42)Dmg(43)Acc(43)Acc(43)Acc(45)
41) --> Conserve Power==> Rechg(41)Rechg(45)Rechg(46)EndRdx(48)EndRdx(50)
44) --> Focused Accuracy==> TH_Buf(44)TH_Buf(45)TH_Buf(46)EndRdx(46)
47) --> Tough==> DmgRes(47)DmgRes(48)DmgRes(48)
49) --> Weave==> DefBuf(49)DefBuf(50)DefBuf(50)
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01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
01) --> Gauntlet==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)
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Ok. Lets explain myself for some of this. Please note that they are currently in an order for a lvl 50 respec. If you are starting from scratch, I would take your travel powers first and just exchange them for whatever is in their place. Thank you.
Lets start with Lvl 1
Stone Skin: This power is a lot more useful at a higher level. Before you get Granite Armor, I would suggest taking Rock Armor (a toggle) over Stone Skin. However, when you finally get to 32, respec out of Rock Armor (for you won't use it anymore) and get Stone Skin.
Scorch: Had to take it. Do not slot this, it's kinda worthless.
Earth's Embrace: This is your life saver power when all hell as come down on you and you need a quick full health boost. It give you a nice plus to your max HP as well to keep you alive even longer. 3 Health and 3 Recharge Reduction (Thank you ED).
Fire Sword: Even at a high level I still use this power because I deals a nice DD damage plus a very small DoT damage to make this power a cool and useful BK.
Swift: This is a power that you don't normally slot but since you are the slowest creature on Earth, you gotta slot this thing. It actually helps believe it or not.
Mud Pots: This is a really good slow to keep your enemies nearby when they think they can't deal with a huge rock with a fire sword beating on them. 3 slows to beef that slow and 3 damage or accs or a combo of the 2 if your feeling adventurous.
Combustion: I nice small DD and DoT that's great at pulling agro. It had about the same range as your Mud Pots and I would 6 slot it simply to keep up the acc and make it useful to actually deal damage.
Rooted: This power is uber when you want an extra boost to your health regeneration and this gives you your nice resist to all effects except fear. I would use this in combination with Granite Armor when you know you arn't going anywhere fast.
Recall Friend/Teleport Foe: These 2 are interchangeable depending upon who you usually group with. I have Recall Friend in there because I usually group with a Kin defender and I can run even when I have rooted on. Take Teleport Foe if you don't plan on being in a lot of groups or you want to PvP a lot.
Crystal Armor: This is one of the only armors that I need when I'm fighting psionics. I use it when I decide I don't need Granite Armor (more on that later).
Health: Obvious. You need the health regen.
Stamina: This is a very energy intensive build and Stamina is a must.
Hasten: You NEED this power. When you hit 32, all of your skills recharge insanely slow. Hasten is your life saver when you want to dish out as much damage as you can.
Mineral Armor: This is your defense against psionics (since Granite Armor has none). This cannot be used with Granite Armor. I love this skill because of the cool effects that go with it and it can beat out almost all other tank builds because most all other builds don't have a defense or resistance to psionics.
Fire Sword Circle: Your bread and butter AOE attack. This does great damage and takes out everyone around you.
Boxing: I only took this power so I can later get Tough and Weave. Don't slot it.
Granite Armor (aka teh uberness): This is what makes you the most powerful and defensive tanker in the game. It gives you a defence AND a resistance to everything (except psionics). It lowers your dmg and your recharge and your speed but for the defence that comes along with it, it's well worth it. Keep this up all the time. The only time that you don't use it, is when your taking psionic people. Then you will be using Crystal Armor, Minerals, Rooted and (when needed) Earth's Embrace. Great stuff.
Incinerate: A good DoT for boss killing and killing the guys who don't die from your AOEs. This does sometimes around 30 damage a tick for 10 ticks. That's a lot of damage.
Greater Fire Sword: Your bread and butter DD attack. 'Nuff said.
Conserve Power: I took the energy mastery because of how this end intensive build can kill you when you lose your Granite Armor because of the lack of end. This really works. I slotted the extra 2 end because it too costs a bit of end.
Focused Accuracy: I like it when I am assured to almost never miss. I hope you do too. This is a toggle and an end eater. Another reason to get Conserver Power.
Tough and Weave: Very nice extra defence and resistance to your normal lethal and smashing damage. Makes you even more indestructable.
After all of that I have some reason I didn't take a couple of things. Lets go through those:
Brimstone Armor: I don't like this only because I never fight a faction that has a combo of fire and cold and psy. I don't need to fill up another slot.
Taunt: I've gotten so used to having everyone taunted on me that I found that I never used taunt any more. Some people are a firm believer in taunt and you should always take it. I don't simply because I move around enough that I don't use it. If your not like me in this sense, go ahead and switch out something like Focused Accuracy or Incinerate or something that you think that you won't use a lot.
Breath of Fire: I've heard nothing but bad things about this power. I have over 5 attacks that I use, and I use tons of end as it is and I don't need another attack that doesn't work that well to sap my end.
Build Up: I just didn't take this power because this is a defensive build, not a damage dealing build. I don't have an uber power that can one shot a red or purple so I have not need for Build up.
I think that's about it. I hope you enjoyed this commentary. Please give me any comments or constuctive criticism. I hope you have fun. This build is for the people who want to feel invunrable (for real).
Happy hunting!
