Syntax42

This makes me wary. My last guild leader tried to use his years of experience as a way of saying he was always right. I hope you're not the same type of person who does that, then uses things like post count and join date to make someone else not look credible.

Not a big deal. Defense in the build is soft capped. The extra resistance would be a maximum of 4% if you slotted 3 IOs. If it was under the resist cap for S/L, I would care about that, but since you have defense and regeneration to back you up on a Stone Tanker, you won't even notice that 4%.

The build will be fine on endurance. If someone thinks they really need it, I'm sure they can find a slot. I didn't finish the build for a reason. That is just a suggested slotting.

Endurance won't be an issue. Pool powers are more efficient than slotting three or more powers for 3.5% defense.

I said before that the power choices are not that important in this build. It is flexible enough to change them. You would lack slots with Laser Beam Eyes slotted for psionic defense, but do you really need that tiny recharge bonus?

Aren't those critters usually seen in missions lower than you get Granite Armor? Even if I'm wrong about that, 30% psionic defense in Granite is plenty. Pop a small purple inspiration and you're at 42.5%. That's one set bonus away from soft capping. Also, the build is not designed for exemplaring below Granite Armor. I suggested in a previous post that a second build be made for exemplaring.

Inspirations and team buffs are more efficient than building in excessive defense that doesn't help in most situations.


Influence should not be a restricting factor for making character builds. If you get two Hero/Villain Alignment Merits, you can buy a Luck of the Gambler global recharge IO. The level 25 ones sell for just as much as the level 50's. Right now, you could potentially be making 200 million every 4 days for each character you do that on. That adds up quickly if you have a few characters capable of soloing tip missions.

What makes my build "horrible", exactly?

It has everything a Stone Armor Tanker needs for staying in Granite all the time. It isn't finished because I wanted others to be able to adapt it to whatever power sets they want. However, it has soft capped defenses and decent movement speed. In my opinion, it has the essentials for Granite tanking and the psionic defense ensures you don't have to leave Granite. Just pop a purple and you'll be about as tough as if you were running Minerals for psionic defense. If you want to exemplar below Granite, make another build. We get 3 now.

Anyone who says they can't afford non-purple IOs has not farmed Hero/Villain Merits. They are the easiest way to get guaranteed INF from the market, and it doesn't take too much time each day. It only takes two alignment merits to buy a Luck of the Gambler global recharge bonus which you can then sell for 100-200 million, depending on market prices. Alternatively, you can do random rolls which are going to be just as good per merit, on average. There will be some good days and some bad days if you do random rolls though. The bottom line is that everyone can get into the player-market, no matter how new you are to the game. Just get to level 25 or so and you can start selling things that level 50s pay good INF for.

You're missing the point. You don't lose defense. The build is set up to have 32.5% defense while fighting (attacking and getting hit). I double-checked the build and my Mids' configuration to make sure I accounted for the combat suppression.

Team makeup, strategy, and player skill matter a lot more than your build. I was only pointing out that mathematically, you will have a harder time surviving the heavy energy damage done by Clockwork in the new TF than someone who has defense against them. The great thing about this game is that there are so many ways to get things done.

Why are you trying to argue this? Look it up. I already pointed out that combat suppression means you get half the defense bonus from stealth. In Mids', this means you get the defense value listed on the Info panel instead of double that value. Set up your Mids' right if you want to see the build in combat. Go to the options, and in math section it has suppression settings on the right for attacking and being hit by foes.

I wasn't going for "fine" either. It just turned out that I had no problems surviving on my Dark/Fire Tanker with 32.5% defense and no buffs. When I get to harder fights, soft capping against EVERYTHING is a small purple away.


The obvious answer here is using a red inspiration. However, this assumes you stay alive to do damage. Also, it helps to know the math behind your damage. Let's assume you have an attack that does 100 damage. You enhanced it by 100% (approximating to make the math easier) with 3 damage IOs. You also have 150% damage bonus from fury. Your attack now does 350 damage. Now, you eat a large red inspiration for 50% more damage. That damage bonus is added to your total damage bonus instead of multiplies. Your attack now does 400 damage, which is only 12.5% more damage.

If you are doing fire farms, you will probably want fire defense. Capped resistance is great, but capping both defense and resistance is much better.

This is not true. There are no real diminishing returns on global recharge. The logic behind that statement was done based on math similar to the damage example I posted above. There is no magic point where global recharge becomes less effective. It is simply that 50% more global recharge doesn't equate to 50% faster recharging powers if you already have some recharge.

I'm guessing you are talking about Fury here. I have not played my Brute since before I19 came out. I also don't follow the Brute forums. As far as I know, maintaining 75 Fury is normal, which gives you +150% damage bonus. That could have changed with I19.

I was going to suggest an electric tank, but you beat me to it. It definitely has the potential to handle every situation in the game almost as well as a Granite Tanker. Total resistance to all damage types is higher than all but Stone's. Total resistance to S/L and Energy is higher than Stone's. A Cardiac Alpha boost may be able to cap your S/L resist when the tier 4 one is released.

This is incorrect. You lose half the defense bonus granted by Stealth when in combat. The new version of Mids' allows you to view powers' values as they would be when suppressed by combat. I did account for the combat suppression when I made that build.

I can understand the desire to be soft capped in S/L, but there are a lot of attacks that don't have S/L components to them. Clockwork in the new TFs will tear you apart if you only have S/L defense. I like to make my Tankers capable of doing as much content as possible. Besides, 32.5% is basically soft capped. You just have to eat a small purple to get to 45%. There are plenty of defense buffs when teaming, too, so you may not even need to eat a purple. My Tanker does fine in most fights at 32.5% defense and saves the inspirations for the tougher fights.