Rylas

You'd need to have a high Single-Target DPS set, so sets like SS, Dark Melee or Energy Melee might work. Also, you want to be durable enough to not get pummeled, so IOs will be a must.

Ok, I took some time to look over the build, and I have to say: NO.

You've underslotted a great deal of your attacks, and as a Brute, this is a huge NO-NO. Yes, you want to survive, but you want to be doing much more than that. You're defense numbers are admirable, but badly acheived. One of the main issues is that most of the Defense bonuses you went for were primarily Positional rather than Damage type. /EA is about damage defense, and you're route requires much more slotting to finally hit those numbers you want. Go for damage defense instead, and you can be a killer as well as a survivor.

Yes, that's right. You can have your cake AND eat it, too!

Also of note, you break the rule of 5 in many places. So you're losing even more slotting potential there.

Now, my build has HO's, but you can replace them out as you see fit. They have no bearing what-so-ever on the real goals of the build. Since you went for so many LotGs and Numinas, something tells me you can afford most of this. The rest, if you can't afford it all, A-Merits will help you out.

Click this DataLink to open the build!

For DM, single target attack chain is key. You've treated Siphon as a pure heal. Now that EA has a heal (and a good one), you don't have to waste its very high damage output. You're best attack powers are Shadow Punch, Smite, SL and Midnight Grasp. With just moderate recharge, you can make that a buzz-saw of death for bosses and Lts. And if you want, I'm sure even some AVs. Solo.

Now, if you just think this is way to far out on your price range, don't settle on your current build just yet. I'm sure we could find another option somewhere between the two that would still get you soft-capped to all but Psi while keeping your attacks where they should be.

I won't be able to take a look until I get home late tonight (we work on Mac's at my job), but if you've hit soft cap for all but Psi, then you're already at a good place.

I'll post my build, too. With 10 in range, it has well over Perma-Hasten as well as soft-capped S/L/E/N/F/C (before End Drain). It's a monster.

I have but one recommendation... MOAR LOLCAT!

Right now, my lvl 29 SR/DM is sitting at 44% defense and that's just my toggles, autos, and Combat Jumping with only SO level enhancements. I plan on using the Steadfast IO for rounding out the defense over the soft-cap, but I wasn't sure if I should bother with anything else than +HP for the rest of my bonuses.

Anyone else going a different route for increasing the durability of their SR tank?

I've only ever gotten to participate in a Tanker Tuesday once, as Tuesdays are difficult to get to play at the time for me. But for this, I'm going to make a point of showing up, and not for the prizes either. I just don't want to miss out on that many Tankers in one place.

Anyone plan on doing an all Tanker iTrial?

I am the Thread Master! Are you the Post Keeper?

TL;DR:

Add features to Taunt powers that reflect the melee pool they reside in. Not all melee sets play the same, so should they always Taunt the same?

Full Version:

Ok, we've all said it, or heard someone say it, just saying "nya-nya" at someone, really wouldn't make them stop what they're doing just so they can attack only you. Granted, since the game's debut, Taunt has seen the added benefit of reducing a target's range, which has done a lot to improve the intent of the power. But is that enough? I think just a little more could be done.

So I suggest adding a feature to each taunt that reflects the melee set it comes in. Something that fits the theme of the set, rather than just a blanket power. This could be a debuff, a proc of some type (not damage) or an effect. I don't think the effect should be too strong, just enough to add to the set it belongs to. Of course, some sets don't have easily related debuffs or effects (Fiery Melee for example, has no debuff in it) so for these sets, you'd have to be a little creative. But I have suggestions for these.

Battle Axe - You reflect the light off your axe to catch your foes' attention.
(10% chance to cause short duration Blind)

Dark Melee - Your taunt carries a haunting effect, causing a small ToHit Debuff (-2.5% ToHit)

Dual Blades - You distract your foes with one blade, while preparing a blow with another, thus creating a slight decrease in their defense. (-1.5% Def)

Electrical Melee - You used the charged air around you to raise the hair on your enemies necks and attract their attention, stealing a small amount of their endurance. (-2.5 End)

Energy Melee - The energy behind your yell catches your foes off gaurd. (10% chance to cause short duration stun)

Fiery Melee - Your taunts cause your foes to get heated up, slightly reducing their resistance (-2% Res)

Ice Melee - You send chills down your enemies' spines, causing them to hesitate their next move. Small -Rech effect (5% debuff)

Kinetic Melee - Open to suggestions, but I was thinking of something in the -Dmg department.

Martial Arts - Open to suggestions on this one as well.

Stone Melee - Your taunt causes the earth to tremble ever so slightly, sometimes causing your foes to stumble. (10% chance to Knock Down effected foes)

Super Strength - You intimidate your enemies with your strength, sometimes frightening them in place. (10% chance for short duration hold)

War Mace - You wave your mace menacingly at your foes, causing them to be fearful of you. (10% chance for short duration fear)

The intent here is to make it believable that taunting a foe would give them real reason to want to attack you, while providing something that aligns itself to the features of the set it's in and bringing a little more diversity to melee play style.

They shouldn't be overpowered, but good enough to make a difference. For example, perhaps you're near your aggro cap, and not all 5 targets will come after you, but if you reduce their to-hit, knock them down, stun them, etc., you just might give your teammate the chance to run to cover (even if it's a small chance).

Considering we've had little more than a week to experience MA on tankers, you may want to give it some time for people to be taking the pain-staking task of writing a guide.

On the bright side, you're barely behind anyone else in this subject. Just roll one up and see how it goes. Heck, you may even be able to write your own guide on it.

I think you'd have to be able to pay off a lot of cops, and as pointed out earlier, a lot of DA's. But then you'd be making them dirty cops, no matter the altruistic reason you might be paying them off for. So you're already creating more crime at this point, which negates a lot of the goals said group would be trying to achieve.

At best, you'd need a very small group of "heroes." 3, maybe 4 people, tops. People who would be in complete agreement not to kill ANYONE. Ever. Once you're group size becomes bigger, it becomes harder to keep everyone in agreement. Once that happens, you can forget about staying hidden.

Also, to avoid immediate suspicion, you'd have to forget day-to-day crimes altogether. The amount of witnesses would become too staggering to ever ignore. Your team would have to be more involved in larger scale espionage (bringing down cartels or dictatorships). That sounds counter-intuitive, I know, but bear with me. You'd be better off bringing people to justice through string-pulling, rather than smash and arrest tactics. So basically, you're talking about anonymous tips to cops after they (the vigilantes) found the evidence. Maybe even setting up scenarios where they (the vigilantes) have taken evidence they've found and placed it in situations cops would more easily find it. Sounds a bit like framing, but at least you're framing the correctly guilty party.

If you want to stay hidden, you'd have to make it so no one would stop to ever think anyone else could have been there. That means leaving little-to-no interaction with the criminals, as well as the law.

Yeah, but what if somewhere along the way someone who "improved" the security put in a way for them to access the site and no one caught it.

Not a bad idea, but I don't think nigh unbreakable will ever be nigh unbreakable. Technology improves, as does the way to break it.

It's amazing how people can overcome their differences in a matter of seconds to do something more important than anything they've ever done.

Watching the video put me in a moment of silent awe. These people are great!