bigboy_EU

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It does seem a bit endurance paranoid. I assume that is because with Icicles you are at half base end recovery. I would put 3 end reds in it and maybe cut the acc to 1 and the damage down to 2. With 2 damage it will still out damage any of your secondary powers with it on DPS and DPE. Another option is to slot the 2 AoEs with 2 end reducers rather than 1 end and one red, you have hasten after all.

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I'd personally just get rid of icicles completely...After Spad's comments (and I quote..) 'Really not the best choice of power for an already end-heavy powerset.' I wonder if Spad has a brother who's using his account?

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For a PvP tanker I would go for invuln, hands down.
Mobility, excellent mez resist toggle and resist based, wich is the most important thing.
Ice is just too much unrelyable and with Aim + BU your defense is next to useless, while the resists are always there, like a warm fur

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Is this true in issue 7? I think it is but not sure... If defence is going to scale in PvP things could be very different.

An interesting thing we may see now is multiple ice tanks. In effect, Ice tanks are the only tanks whose defence "stacks" with eachother.

Anything sitting in 3 or four chilling embraces is going to be effectively slowed to a standstill, with terrible recharges and with very signitifant damage debuff.

Makes you think how an ALL ice tank PvP team would fare - no squishies to target, they run up to defender/troller, hit him with stacked CE - no escape - pounded to dirt - move on... Give them all medicine pool and its hard to see how they could be stopped... very high resistance to slows, practically unmezzable... they just run up and catch you all in a stacked CE death trap...

Any thoughts on this?

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O how we have all thought like that at one time, the problem comes with the fact that most PvPer's have superjump and just when you think you have them trapped they just jump away...ice is sorely missing -jump.

I was going to put Jawbeaker where taunt is but I didn't want people coming along and ranting about "scanker."

Ice/energy isn't that good in PvP (well Sirens anyway) because you don't have your decent attacks till 39 (including slotting) and so you normally end up stalemating every single fight you are in.

I have no experience with /mace but I would be tempted to go something like...

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.5.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
---------------------------------------------
Name:
Level: 50
Archetype: Tanker
Primary: Ice Armor
Secondary: War Mace
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Frozen Armor==> Empty(1)
01) --> Bash==> Empty(1)
02) --> Hoarfrost==> Empty(2)
04) --> Pulverize==> Empty(4)
06) --> Chilling Embrace==> Empty(6)
08) --> Wet Ice==> Empty(8)
10) --> Combat Jumping==> Empty(10)
12) --> Hurdle==> Empty(12)
14) --> Super Jump==> Empty(14)
16) --> Health==> Empty(16)
18) --> Glacial Armor==> Empty(18)
20) --> Stamina==> Empty(20)
22) --> Taunt==> Empty(22)
24) --> Aid Other==> Empty(24)
26) --> Energy Absorbtion==> Empty(26)
28) --> Aid Self==> Empty(28)
30) --> Whirling Mace==> Empty(30)
32) --> Hibernate==> Empty(32)
35) --> Shatter==> Empty(35)
38) --> Crowd Control==> Empty(38)
41) --> Block of Ice==> Empty(41)
44) --> Jawbreaker==> Empty(44)
47) --> Kick==> Empty(47)
49) --> Tough==> Empty(49)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
01) --> Gauntlet==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)
---------------------------------------------

The stacking of enemies was an exploit anyway...You could herd Dreck faster than a fire tank with just total focus and bone smasher. So I hope it's fixed now (haven't tried recently)

I got bored and so did a build up to 49, after 20 the choices are mostly personal so feel free to ignore this .

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.5.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
---------------------------------------------
Name:
Level: 49
Archetype: Tanker
Primary: Ice Armor
Secondary: Battle Axe
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Frozen Armor==> Empty(1)
01) --> Gash==> Empty(1)
02) --> Hoarfrost==> Empty(2)
04) --> Chilling Embrace==> Empty(4)
06) --> Wet Ice==> Empty(6)
08) --> Combat Jumping==> Empty(8)
10) --> Beheader==> Empty(10)
12) --> Hurdle==> Empty(12)
14) --> Super Jump==> Empty(14)
16) --> Health==> Empty(16)
18) --> Glacial Armor==> Empty(18)
20) --> Stamina==> Empty(20)
22) --> Taunt==> Empty(22)
24) --> Swoop==> Empty(24)
26) --> Energy Absorbtion==> Empty(26)
28) --> Whirling Axe==> Empty(28)
30) --> Build Up==> Empty(30)
32) --> Hibernate==> Empty(32)
35) --> Cleave==> Empty(35)
38) --> Pendulum==> Empty(38)
41) --> Block of Ice==> Empty(41)
44) --> Aid Other==> Empty(44)
47) --> Aid Self==> Empty(47)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
01) --> Gauntlet==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)
---------------------------------------------

I'm not going to get into the taunt debate again, there are plenty of threads for that but from my build you can see that the earliest I'd get it is 18...

Would you mind only having 2 attacks instead of 3? Just I would be akward and prefer...

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.5.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
---------------------------------------------
Name:
Level: 22
Archetype: Tanker
Primary: Ice Armor
Secondary: Battle Axe
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Frozen Armor==> Empty(1)
01) --> Gash==> Empty(1)
02) --> Hoarfrost==> Empty(2)
04) --> Chilling Embrace==> Empty(4)
06) --> Wet Ice==> Empty(6)
08) --> Combat Jumping==> Empty(8)
10) --> Beheader==> Empty(10)
12) --> Hurdle==> Empty(12)
14) --> Super Jump==> Empty(14)
16) --> Health==> Empty(16)
18) --> Glacial Armor==> Empty(18)
20) --> Stamina==> Empty(20)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
01) --> Gauntlet==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)
---------------------------------------------


Glacial armour can be swapped with chop/taunt depending on your style.

Ice tank honest

(naa just kidding, don't count my vote)

p.s. the main point of a tank isn't to take damage...the damn /reg scrappers do that better than most tanks. The job of a tank is to keep aggro.

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What ever you say about tankies being able to hold aggro without taunt theres absolutely NO taunt aura that holds aggro if the enemies are even a bit farther from the tankie. So you get runners and the tank cant aggro them back without running after them thus risking loosing more aggro.

And what comes to this punchwoke, its always been there and its not very effetive and again it only works on those enemies that are in melee range.

Without taunt you CAN'T control aggro as effectively in wide range as you can with taunt. And that boys and girls is a fact.

I think that if you are tanker and you do not have Taunt you are not doing your work properly. Yes you can still be some use for the team, but not as usefull as you could be.

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Before I say anything, my opinion is you should have taunt you just don't 'need' it.

You talk about a tank like they should stand still and use taunt to bring people to them...This isn't how I work, I'm constantly running laps around the enemies making sure they all have the blue cloud around their waist without losing aggro. I only use taunt for annoying enemies I can't reach easily or if someone like a blaster runs into a mob first. If everyone cooperates the taunt isn't needed (handy to have though).

As for saying that a tank with taunt is better than without...that's like saying someone with 50 million is richer than someone with 40 million, who cares you still have a lot of aggro control.

Just wondering what is your AT?

P.S. I have the advantage of being an ice tank...chilling embrace and all that...

I would be awkward and say that a tanks job is not to hold aggro but to keep aggro away from the rest of the team but that's another thread...

I don't get why you peeps are arguing over which taunting power to take...take them all damn it. If you have taunt, your PBAoE, gauntlet and anything else that can get aggro, you will do better than a tank of a similar skill level with only one of these choices. It's a bit of a pointless debate when there doesn't have to be a choice.

(...and if anyone says they would rather take some crappy attack instead of taunt I'll lightly hit them ).

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7. I think I see a Stalker!: this is were all the tips pay off in my last few pointers. when you courageously venture into a PVP zone, you are in grave danger of being assansinated. You can't resist them and you never know when they're comming, but Stalkers are the bane of all tankers, especially me. so, to survive them you have two options:
[*]stand against them and fully test those enhancements you just got. the chance you'll kick their butt is quite high if your enchancement count is high.

or
[*]run like hell. no tanker has a duty to stand around like a cow by the slaughter house door. if you have anypower, like blazing aura, that helps you know where they are (blazing aura will keep saying miss if a stalker stands next to you) then leg it when they are near you!

however, there is an alternative. if a stalker is hit when they are invisible, they'll become visible again. so use attacks that have never been know to miss. burn doesn't, no matter what level, it can never miss.

so there we go, from my experience in the world of paragon city, I have learnt these leasons which have helped me survive.

(oh, and if you're wondering, I'm not lvl 50 yet, I'm just posting what i have learnt so far )

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Looks like some good tips but I would agree with J, keep your armours on, even if it's only the status ones.

One little plug for ice tankers, Glacial Armour has a very nice +perc on it, so I normally see all stalkers coming at me (slight warning to stalkers before you try it on with the ice tanks )

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(although CE is much better than Taunt).

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If they take aggro away from you CE is nexty to useless cos the foes are already headed towards the squishy, to grab aggro away from squshy nothing can be compared to taunt.


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Doesn't happen, since CE slows the mob it will still be in the aoe for the next pulse, and as its a tanker taunt it will overide any amount of aggro.

Energy Absorption was the cournerstone of Ice when it buffed defence into the silly numbers pre issue 5. Now its been turned into just another end recovery power that increases your defence by a tiny amount.

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Sure, that tiny amount is like 25% of your total amount of defence, so let's give it up..Rofl
Taunt is unvaluable for mobs that have long ranged attacks(cabal and nemeses anyonme?)how can you hope to keep snipers taunted while not aggroing another group relying only on CE?
Cabals only have ranged attacks so CE is really hard to use and for them you need taunt unless you want every team mate to deal with some foes on their own.....

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You use one of the key skills in tanking, hiding around the corner. Get there attention with embrace and then find any thing at all big enough to lose their LoS. Then when they bunch up, jump out and smash. If you warn your team your doing this and anyone's stupid enough to attack when your hiding they deserve to faceplant.

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APE MASTER!

first pets you get are WAR BABOONS.
pretty much like zombies. mostly melee, ie: clawing at peoples faces. But like the zombie puke attack you can upgrade them with a "POOP FLING" attack.

second pets are HOWLER MONKIES.
maybe using similar attacks to the sonic blaster? good chance to have wicked monkey noises all over the place and awesome to behold in big fights! can you imagine it!!!

final pet EVIL GORILLA.
this guy could be harsh. make him BIG & like a tanker probably, soaking up damage and laying the smackdown. maybe give him knockback, or possibly stun if he criticals?

the only other power i could think of for this class is:
BANANA SKIN: kinda works like ice patch?

btw these are all based on my moderate/limited knowledge of all the other classes, so if any of you can think of other suitable effects to add to the list feel free

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Putting this into a normal setup...

Throw banana - Throws rotten bananas at your target, Minor smash/toxic damage, fast recharge, low chance to disorient.
Baboons - Summons 1-3 Baboons, long recharge, begins with a claw attack and can be upgraded with the ability to throw their own banana's and to have a much stronger claw attack.
Concrete Banana- Throw a very heavy painted concrete banana at your target, high smash damage, recharge medium, medium chance to disorient target.
Equip Monkey - no comment needed
Monkey Wrench - You pick up one of your tier one pets and throw them at your enemy, they swing around the targets neck and then bite deep regaining health, high lethal/toxic damage, long recharge.
Howler Monkeys - Summons 1-2 Howler Monkeys with a basic ranged sonic attack (medium damage, -res), can be upgraded with a more powerful high damage attack and the ability to provide sonic shields to other pets and the MM.
Banana Bomb - You throw a explosive banana (high AoE damage) which splits into 3-5 separate bananas which cause minor/medium AoE damage when they explode. Recharge very long.
Black Gorilla - Summon a huge gorilla on a rampage. Begins with a high damage punch (medium knock back) and can be upgraded with knockout blow and stomp (possibly toned down from the tanker set) recharge very long.
Level 32 power doesn't need explanation (2nd upgrade)

(Sorry but the banana skin needs to be in the banana secondary obviously).

...of stalemate. I've only died once but only ever took someone out once.

It's stupid when people have superjump as they just jump away when they are in the red and you have no power to stop them.

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At level 25+ then yes, Taunt away merrily (although CE is much better than Taunt).

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Glad someone else thinks that, yes taunt is very useful and should be used but I hate it when non tanks talk about taunt as if it's the only power to keep aggro.

As for the Hollows though...taunting even with heals is a little on the dodgy side in 8 person teams. You have no idea if your team will cover you.

Strange OK the healing isn't instant but if you get 5 seconds of healing then you can be almost fully recovered. If it's a choice between face planting along with the rest of the team or taking a risk, I'll take the risk every time. Also I can't think of another power I would rather take, as I have everything useful I can find.

It could be better but I find you can get away with it for around 3-5 seconds with properly slotted chilling embrace. I think it's a fine power choice if you find you need the extra healing and hoarfrost hasn't come back yet. Basically it's good for when the choice is either "you die and entire team goes with you" or "you live and there is a fairly high chances the rest of the team does."

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My granite brute can tank pretty much anything

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Doesn't granite sorta kill the point of brutes? SMASHING, you can't SMASH if you can't reach your target.

It's possible, I did it once but it was well and truly pointless. The fun of tanking is jumping into the middle of a huge mob shouting "leerrooooooooy nnnjenkins" (in your head DON'T TYPE it) and then taking a pounding and laughing at their puniness.

Like I said I haven't tried other sets but I would say that ice would be the easiest to tank with in a team. All I normally do is run in, make sure that everyone is "blue around the waist," taunt any stragglers, move your position until they are all nicely bunched for AoE, then unleash fury...If chilling embrace doesn't keep all the aggro then I'm doing something wrong.

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Yup, CE i WAI and mobs love Ice tanks more than Invulns because CE has 2 debuffs and they are [censored] off by those debuff while Invincibility has no debuff, even better are damaging AoE taunt aura like Blazing Aura, Icicles and Mud Pots because the mobs are very angered by some constant damage.

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Half the time I find that CE is even stronger than mudpots and fiery aura. No idea why it should be but it is.

I'm wishing it would come quicker for pvp so I might change the slotting but currently I have it slotted with 3 Heals, 2 Interrupt and 1 Recharge.

O and don't assume any EM build will "own", I got smashed by a SS/EA Brute cause I kept missing with Energy transfer and Total focus even with 2 Accuracy's. In sirens, you might as well just fight mobs because any attacking is very weak (bring on the 50 zone I say).

An Ice tank is the ultimate PvE "tank". Note "tanking" is a lot different to "absorbing damage." A blaster can absorb damage with enough purples, no the beauty of Ice Armour is in the taunting ability of chilling embrace. Pick this power and learn to love it. I have no idea if it's bugged but chilling embrace unslotted can hold almost all aggro. I have it slotted with 2 taunts and blasters are free to spam AoE and they never (cough very rarely cough) get hit.

I wish some power (preferably Chilling Embrace) had -jump. Half the time I think someones going to fall because they can't escape and then "bounce" they just SJ away. Anyone have any idea how to stop them?

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I changed this around a little, mostly for pvp purposes. This was tested this morning against Psi babbage, Rikti/DE with a Thorn Monster mission and against carnies (with AV) (basically some issues for tank) and it worked much better than I thought, infact alot more powerful than my last build.

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All your power choices except boxing and kick are the same so without knowing your slotting i dont see how you have proved that the 2nd build is alot more powerful than the last.

So far to me you have proved that 2 tanks same build powerwise with not exactly the same tests carried out against some enemies can have a different level of luck which most people know anyway.

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Arr no, I meant compared to my orginal build I made it to 50 with. Sorry for the confusion.

Works for me...but never tried any other tanks so I can't compare.