Shuckins

Thanks for the help guys. I've already started Positron I. Good thing about using Ouroboros is that I can do these at my own pace.

Again, thanks Dread and Hopeling.

Hey guys...didn't know where else to ask this...so decided to just do it here.

I play tanks and brutes almost exclusively. Because of time constraints I spend a lot of time soloing. I seldom have the time to wait around for task forces to form, and I have little experience with them lately anyways.

I would like to pick up the "accolades" that boost my characters' hit points by 10% (Is that figure correct?) So...what I want to know is...is there anyway to do this SOLO...and one mission at a time?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Shuckins

Thanks for the help. I was at a dead end in my search for a guide of some type.

Don't know where else to post this thread guys. I've got a level 50 WP/SS tank that I've opened the Apha Slot on....but I need a guide on the Incarnate system and how to craft the enhancements. I've looked through all forum threads I can but I can't find a guide that will help me with this.

Can anyone help me out with this...or put me onto a guide that will help?

Thanks in advance.

Just checked the price at Wentworth's. HOLEEEEEE!

Thanks for the help guys. I couldn't find any information about this in the other threads about Might of the Tanker. Really appreciate it.

Just a quick question. How do you acquire this IO set? Drops? Purchase with merits? Santy Clause?

Well, given free rein to construct a tank anyway I wanted, I'd go with a combination of Invulnerability, Willpower, and Fiery Aura.

Temporary Invulnerability
Tough Hide
Unyielding
Invincibility
Fast Healing
Rise to the Challenge
Quick Recovery
Indomitable Will
Burn
Dark Melee or Broadsword or Titan Weapons

Top it all off with Fury.

The choice between Inv and WP is largely subjective. Quick Recovery, coupled with inherent Stamina allows WP to cover some of its holes with pool powers without running out of endurance, something that Invulnerability cannot do...at least not without investing large sums of influence to acquire procs or IO sets. This makes WP a better choice, in my experience, for solo play. Adding defense to a WP build allows its regeneration to work the way it is intended, with a modicum of mitigation.

Inv tends to be better for team play and task forces because of its superior taunt aura. It can tank if the situation calls for it...something WP cannot do because it has the weakest taunt aura of any brute secondary in the game. It's only significant hole is psi damage which isn't encountered nearly as often as s/l or other more common damage types. The only real problem with Inv, that makes it a bit of a pain to play in my opinion, is that it can be a bit asthmatic in regards to endurance.

Broadsword works well with WP. When Parry is fully slotted you get at least a 15% bonus to defense which can be stacked with the defense from Combat Jumping, Weave, and a couple of other powers from the auxiliary power pools. Mace is also a good choice.

As to how to slot, I don't have a lot of experience with that, but I think it all comes down to a matter of taste. With WP, I would maximize regeneration, recharge, and/or IO defense bonuses against smashing/lethal attacks, which are the most common in the game. Kinetic Combat sets are very popular, but some of the enhancements in it can be very expensive. Best advice is to just shop around for what ever suits your fancy or your budget.

Having played CoH for more than 6 years, and tanks for much of that time, I can say that these are the only real changes that the tanker sets need:

Raise the base damage of all attack sets, but leave off any moves to utilize fury or critical hits. This would preserve the major differences/benefits of rolling a scrapper or a brute, and yet make it easier for tankers to solo without having to GRIND their way through large groups or chip away at a +3 boss for half an hour.

I can see no conceivable reason for regeneration and willpower tanks to have such weak taunt auras. I haven't rolled a regeneration tank, as of yet, but I've played quite a few willpower tanks, and I can state that much of the time it's almost impossible for a wp tank to fill a truly "tanking" role on a team. Almost any weak-sister-of-mercy teammate can peel agro off of a wp tank. Hanging such a weak taunt aura on a tanker primary is one of those inexplicably retrograde decisions that needlessly handicap an otherwise fine primary set. There is absolutely no need to hang a taunt aura of 1.25 of a second on any tank primary. If this was done to shore up willpower's vulnerability to burst damage then the developers used the wrong approach, and created a second problem which did not address the first problem. They should mitigate, but not eliminate, wp's weakness to burst damage and increase the duration of it's taunt aura to at least 8 seconds.

Lastly, increase the number of mobs that all tanker sets can aggro, which will allow tanks to play a more useful role on teams. In those situations when a team is about to be overwhelmed with 2 or even 3 large groups this would permit a tank to control the situation and prevent the mobs from overwhelming his teammates.

Blue, if you're going to run a two man team with your wife but still want to put out some damage then my suggestion would be to go with a Fire/Dark Melee build. It will allow you to hold aggro, do considerable damage, heal yourself, and control endurance issues fairly well. Build it to use IO sets granting defense bonuses and it becomes quite dudrable.

In addition, Dark Melee offers quite a bit of control over dangerous mobs and some of the best single-target attacks available to tankers. If your wife is going the blaster route, she can safely destroy targets that you have aggroed.

Dark Melee also pairs well with Invulnerability and Willpower.

Regards, Shuckins

Here is an arc (actually a single mission) that I created for Halloween. I tried to include as many of the games magic and horror groups as possible to give it a true-to-the-holiday flavor. In it you will find Mary MacComber, Jack-in-Irons (by another name), the Red Caps, Fir Bolg, and the Tuatha de Denaan. Must complete goals are: defeat Mary, Jack-in-Irons, fifteen Red Cap bosses (called Gwendoos), destroy a dark altar, and defeat one ambush.

The mission is set in a field map near Croatoa. (Wish I could turn day to night there).

Mission name: Trickin' nor Treatin'
Arc #: 458734

Please try it and let me know what you think.

Regards, Shuckins

What's the projected release date for I19 and these changes?

One common thought emerging in this discussion has been the taking of the Leadership Pool....which has been largely ignored by Tanks and many Alts. This could develop into a major trend which would TRANSFORM team play BIGTIME.

Red, I printed off a copy of your proposed build. I have a couple of builds on Freedom and Virtue that are likely candidates for these procs and upgrades. They are a mixture of WP and Invulnerable primaries with Ice, Fire, or Dark Melee secondaries. I'd really like a secondary with an aoe attack in it....but Shadow Maul wouldn't be a bad substitute because it comes back up quickly.

Okay then. I envision the liberal use of Perfect Zinger procs in almost every attack. Then, as Mauk2 suggested, Crushing Impact Triples as a base in the single target attacks to accompany the procs and/or a Mako quad. Purple set procs would be nice also...IF you can afford them. No one can count of having one of those conveniently drop into their laps, so let's just take the attitude that we'll use them if we get lucky....or already have a butt-load of influence to spend. Even without them, this is going to be an expensive build.

The other procs available are Touch of Death, Hecatomb chance of damage, Trap of the Hunter chance for damage, Obliteration chance for smashing damage, Gravitational Anchor chance for hold, and Cloud Senses chance for negative energy damage.

Heh....this may take a while to complete.

Red, just read all the replies. Your build is intriguing. There is so much damage and mitigation potention in it that it is staggering....at least if it lives up to that potential.

As I said earlier, it's a very tasty, tempting idea. Cost may be prohibitive. I wonder how much influence it would take to actually build this monster? Some of this stuff I've never attempted to purchase.

Have you got any ideas...ballpark....as to how much it would take in influence to construct it?

Regards, Shuckins

Boomtomic, I've taken a WP/Fire tank to level 42 on SO enhancements. Aubrey languished on the shelf for a good while, but I recently dusted her off and started planning a respec using IO enhancement sets.

She's perfectly survivable and enjoyable to play as she is, but I wanted to tweak her regeneration and recovery abilities. In addition, I'm about to acquire the Pyre Master epic power set in order to max out her damage abilities.

Prior to her respec Aubrey had very little down time (No matter how I word this stuff, it ends up sounding kinky) due to the fact that she has both Quick Recovery and Stamina. Anyway, I intend to take Reactive Armor for the resistance sets, Numina's Convalesence for the healing sets, Kinetic Combat and Obliteration for the attacks, Efficacy Adaptor set for Stamina, and Perfect Zinger for Taunt. I may add other sets after I study the results for awhile....but these right there should give her all the survivability she could ever need, at least for 95% of the action that she will see.

I think you'll find the WP/Fire build to be a great all-purpose tank, with the only likely problem the lack of mitigation. However, the ability to kill quickly will compensate for most of that.

Regards, Shuckins

Well, I had to hit the road after setting up this thread, and I'm just now getting back to it.

I would prefer to use Dark Melee or Super Strength because the attacks cycle pretty quickly. Imagine the original idea being to create the ultimate buzz-saw build....with damage and/or effect procs thrown in?

Jab Smite
Shadow Punch
Shadow Maul
Boxing

Other attacks might be included in this list, but these will do for a start. I envision placing two or three damage/effect procs in each attack. I don't know how many procs it is possible to acquire for a single build....because as far as I know you can only place one of each kind, such as Perfect Zinger proc, in any build.

How about a list of the procs available for melee damage, PBaoe, effect, etc....and then I can get a better idea of which direction I would like to take the build.

Thanks for all your comments, guys.

I had this idea on the way to work today.

What would it take to create an all melee build, based on Willpower or Invulnerability with their faster cycling attacks loaded down with damage procs?

I'm sort of leaning toward the use of Willpower because of the availability of Quick Recovery and Stamina, which would allow a virtually non-stop attack string.....coupled with Dark Melee, because its attacks are seldom resisted.

I realized that this would be an expensive build, but the possibilities for dishing out stunning single-target and/or melee attacks is very tempting.

My question is, which procs are the most desireable and in what order should I attempt to acquire them....assuming that I am starting the build from scratch.....with access to lots of influence available from another build?

Looking forward to your suggestions.

Regards, Shuckins

Some time ago I read a thread on WP tanks that was entitled (I think) "Building the Monster". If memory serves, there was advice in it which suggested that it was possible to amass about 3,000 hit points for a WP tank.

I recently began experimenting with the IO enhancement set system. I've got a couple of Numena's in two powers and a two Freebird's in flight which have boosted my regeneration up by 32%. However, my hit points hover around 2400 no matter what I've done.

So the question is, "How can I approach that magic 3000 hit point mark for my Willpower/Dark Melee tank?"

Or is it simply not possible to reach it?

Mack....I didn't start slotting for IO enhancements until I got to level 30. There were some recommendations about slotting for WP in some other threads that I decided to try out with my DB build. The easiest approach seemed to be to go for a regeneration build.

Another build of mine on Freedom had reached level 50 and had amassed about 45 million in influence. Not a great amount by CoH standards, but enough to experiment with. Obviously, purple sets were out of the question...but there are several sets in the level 12-30ish levels that offer nice regeneration bonuses. So, I started with two Freebird enhancements for Fly, which gave me an 8% regenration bonus. There was an immediate improvement in the character's (Godwinson) survival ability.

Then I picked up a taunt set that offered 12% regeneration improvement with the use of three enhancement slots. It was Mocking Beratement I believe, although my aging brain cells aren't what they used to be. I then acquired a couple of Numena's Convalesence enhancements, which gave another 10% boost to regeneration.

Now, Godwin has an over all 30% boost to regeneration....with the potential, if I purchase more Numena's Convalesence sets to gain even more. That 30% regeneration bonus makes a huge difference. Against most mobs, the health bar barely moves.

The first chance I get I intend to pick up another attack combo....for as much as I like the Weaken combo it's about run its course in terms of effectiveness. Better alternatives are available....

More later.

Mack, I've got a Willpower/Dual Blades tanker currently sitting at level 30. Like you, I didn't have any real idea what to expect from the build, but I wanted a secondary that was a bit flashier than those I had been using in other builds.

Unfortunately, there are no guides to the use of Dual Blades in the tanker forums. There are a couple in the scrapper guides and two in the brute guides. Those in the scrapper guides are less than desireable for tanker useage but do offer some useful information. The brute guides are better for your purposes. The one I used when I first started my build was this one:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...449#post614449

Knowing which combos offer the best measure of damage and control for our uses is the real trick of building a Dual Blades tank. I used the Weaken combo exclusively until I hit level 30. This consists of three attacks: Nimble Slash, Ablating Strike, and Typhoon's Edge. Typhoon's Edge is a PBAoE that hits multiple targets. With one taunt enhancement it helps to compensate quite a bit for Willpower's relatively weak taunt aura. I put two accuracy enhancements into each of these attacks, with one recharge, one endurance reduction, and a damage enhancement.

I picked Willpower for my primary because Dual Blades cycles through its attacks quickly and tends to use quite a bit of endurance. Willpower compensates for this by offering Quick Recovery and Stamina.

I've got to go to work now....but I'll add another post this afternoon when I have time. My build has been a blast to play so far.

Regards, Shuckins

Thanks Lucky. Appreciate the help.

I just purchased the complete set of Perfect Zingers which has its' own damage proc. I'm new to the use of IO sets so I've got what may be a daft question for the veterans who've been using them for a long time. I bought the set for its' 10% regeneration bonus but I also want to use the damage proc (Chance for Psionic Damage) it a fast cycling attack power. Can I place the damage proc in an attack like that and the rest of the 5 set IO enhancements in Taunt and still get the 10% regeneration bonus?

Thanks for your help.

Wow....that was quick! lol....

Thanks guys for the help.