darminiam

Martial arts? Really? I don't know any tankers wishing that they had MA. I cried a little inside when I saw that.

SR seems a little overkill to me for a tank, but ok. I cant complain about that.

MA really? I'm so disappointed with the Devs.

Wait... what?! Seriously? A chance to damage yourself when you lay it down? Is it only for Acid Mortar or does Poison Trap have a chance to do that too?

What about the the other procs, like the chance to hold?

I was thinking of doing Achilles Heel and Devastation. Is it worth it to slot a damage proc in there vs Poison Trap or not at all?

Good to know. I was going to ask about using Psychic Mastery. I was thinking of either picking up Dark Mastery, or going over to the other side and picking up Mace Mastery for the AoE Immob and the shield. Then there is Power Mastery... so many choices. Let me know how Psychic Mastery works for you. It will be a while before I get there since I'm playing this character mainly with the SG for the first 20 or so levels.

I was thinking of skipping Triage Beacon, or probably grabbing it at level 49 just to have it, but I may rethink that. It seems that both of you are advocating grabbing it, so I will. I wasn't planning to grab the medicine pool.

If I build this character without the Fitness pool, then I should be able to grab everything I want. I'm also working to have high recharge too and will probably grab what I can from other characters to make this work.

Hey Tatum, unfortunately, I'm over on Virtue , but thanks for the info!

I also have two Shield/* tankers (Mace and DM) and find that you will have to learn endurance management. My brother has a Shield/SS tanker and he runs out of end so quick. And he has both Stamina and PP. Trust me, Physical Perfections helps a lot, but with the end drops of Rage, Hasten, he still burn through endurance. He uses OwtS as an endurance regainer.

So all that just to say, that you will still have end issues with your tanker. Managing it is just one of the things you have to learn how to do unfortunately. But I do recommend picking up Physical Perfection and Conserve Power if you want to. Some may not do it because that's two powers, but it just depends on how important it is to you.

Also with regards to getting a set at level 25 or 50:

Benefits of 50: higher percentage boosts on your enhancements, easier to buy on the market.

Benefits of 25: Exemplaring. Let's say you have Obliteration on Shield Charge and you exemp down to level 23. You don't have access to Shield Charge anymore. You slotted level 50 Oblits in the power, so you gain no set bonuses either.

Now if you slotted level 25 Oblits, then you gain all the set bonuses to that power at level 23 including the defense bonus and the recharge bonuses, even if you don't have Shield Charge available.

So in the end, it just depends on how often you will be exemplaring. You can see more explanations here: http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Exempl...n_Enhancements

Yeah, I've been searching a lot in the forums for the last couple of weeks just trying to make sure I make the right decision. I tend to create just a few characters and play them extensively (badge collection, soloing, etc.) and I don't typically like to create the "popular" builds. For example, the only character I have with fire is my very first character: Fire/Energy Melee tank.

So the play style seems to appeal to me. And I do see a few people stating what you recommend, using the M30 to pull groups, which sounds like fun. With all the tools that Traps have, plus getting a Stealth IO with SS, I should have no fear jumping into a group.

Oh and as for farming, I tend to just run regular missions at x8. I would get bored doing the same map over and over, and I like to progress my character's story. So thanks for the info, I'll be giving this a go this weekend!

Oh one more thing. Is it possible to place a trip mine, then jump out and full auto or flamethrower before the mine goes off? Just wondering if that works in my mind since trip mine doesn't go off immediately. I may not need the extra damage, but just curious.

Thanks for the reply! I mainly play melee characters... or rather, I mainly play tankers since I have 6 that are 50 and a couple of scrappers thrown into the mix. So I wanted to try something different. A defender is the only hero character that I don't have at level 50, so that is why I'm thinking about it. But two things have me worried.

One, I played a defender to level 35 and got bored of it because of his weak output of damage and my lack of being able to protect myself well. Well it was a FF/Energy and that was way back in at launch till i3.

The other is I have a Arch/Dev blaster that I got bored with because of how weak Devices is for me. All the placing of traps, setting up battles and the like. The thing that interests me about Traps though is the ability to solo AVs and GMs when fully tricked out. Even though I think I'll rarely be able to do it since it would be kinda boring.

So I'm thinking the traps portion seems to have great buffs and debuffs, but will I feel like I'm moving slowly with all the setting up I will have to do. I guess only one way to find out.

Oh and are you able to "farm" with this? Actually, what I really mean is are you able to kill quickly with this combo.

Hey Tatum,

How do you like this character? Creating a new character and I'm trying to decide a couple of things. If I do AR with traps, which way should I go? Defender or Corruptor? What are the benefits with going defender over corruptor?

I mainly solo with my characters, but I want to team up a little more (30% of my playing time) because this character is created to play with my SG.

Also, if I went defender, could I solo AVs and GMs with these two powersets?

Thanks,
dar

Well, I defer to two great sources:

As for the difference between the two:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...highlight=mace

They are both good, and I think you would be happy with either one.

As for the different weapon customizations:

http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Weapon_Customization

While mace has quantity in customization options, I think Axe has more quality in its options. just look at the Rikti Axe, Vanguard Axe and Roman Axe C.

Just wanted to post this up real quick regarding the design philosophy of bosses. This is from waaay back when and for the most part this hasn't changed:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...highlight=boss

Bosses do not spawn when you are solo unless you change the difficulty setting (which was added way later in the life cycle of the game).

Also, you should realize that we here on the forums take soloing Bosses, EBs and AVs as things a character should do. We have higher expectation on our characters than others.

The majority of players, or the majority that don't come on the forums, don't really try to do this. They just get on a team and have fun.

Ah, so many good things in here like looking at or redoing Fire Armor, quick animations for Energy Melee (which has nothing else really going for it compared to the other secondaries), increasing aggro cap for tanks. My favorite so far is JohnX's wish, which is my wish too.

Increase the difficulty for mobs, missions, ect. so that a Tanker can really be a Tanker. I mean look at other games and they are able to strike that balance between able to solo and able to Tank. Maybe we need like Elite mobs or something on some Task/Strike Forces. Just saying...

Here is the build that I'm currently using right now. Caution, its a very expensive build. I tend to strip stuff off of other characters to make whatever I'm currently interested in, to be better.

This of course relies on lots of recharge and at almost defense cap on range and aoe. I was planning to use a PvP IO to get that extra cap, but since they are so expensive, I decided against it. Also, I realized that I really don't need it anymore.

The big thing about this build, is that everyone I've teamed up with are so shock on how quickly I can kill in an AoE farm. With Fireball, Shield Charge up every 25 seconds, a damage buff up every 35 seconds, Shadow Maul hitting multiple targets and a heal up almost whenever you need it, this has become a great farmer. Not necessarily the fastest, but very consistent. Also, I've noticed that I do need Dark Consumption, which I have slotted for damage.

Here is the build:

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Shield Defense
Secondary Power Set: Dark Melee
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Pyre Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Deflection -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(3), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(3), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(5), ResDam-I(39)
Level 1: Shadow Punch -- Hectmb-Dam%(A), Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Hectmb-Dmg(39), Hectmb-Dmg/Rchg(40), Hectmb-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42)
Level 2: Battle Agility -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(5), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(7)
Level 4: Shadow Maul -- Armgdn-Dam%(A), Armgdn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), Armgdn-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Armgdn-Dmg(9), Armgdn-Dmg/Rchg(11)
Level 6: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 8: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(13), RechRdx-I(13)
Level 10: Active Defense -- HO:Membr(A), HO:Membr(11), HO:Membr(15)
Level 12: Against All Odds -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 14: Super Speed -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-ResKB(15), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(17)
Level 16: Siphon Life -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Nictus-Acc/EndRdx/Heal/HP/Regen(17), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(19), HO:Golgi(19), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21), Nictus-Heal(21)
Level 18: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Numna-Heal(36), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(37), Mrcl-Heal(37), Mrcl-Rcvry+(37)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(23), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(23), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(25)
Level 22: Phalanx Fighting -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 24: True Grit -- Dct'dW-Heal(A), Dct'dW-Rchg(25), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(27), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(43), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(43)
Level 26: Shield Charge -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(27), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(29), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), Oblit-%Dam(31)
Level 28: Soul Drain -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(31), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), Oblit-%Dam(34)
Level 30: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 32: Tough -- TtmC'tng-ResDam(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx(34), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(34), Empty(40)
Level 35: Dark Consumption -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(36), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Oblit-%Dam(42)
Level 38: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 41: Char -- UbrkCons-Dam%(A), UbrkCons-EndRdx/Hold(42), UbrkCons-Acc/Rchg(43), UbrkCons-Hold/Rchg(46), UbrkCons-Acc/Hold/Rchg(46)
Level 44: Fire Blast -- Apoc-Dam%(A), Apoc-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Apoc-Dmg(45), Apoc-Dmg/Rchg(45), Apoc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46)
Level 47: Fire Ball -- Ragnrk-Knock%(A), Ragnrk-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg(48), Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg(48), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(50)
Level 49: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(50), Empty(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet



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Interesting. I can't stay logged in. I wonder why?

And for our oversea brothers and sisters joining us, welcome! It's long overdue.

Its new and its shiny!! And during double XP weekend too.

I hope everything is back where it belongs!

Hmm, I thought I could change my name too. Was going to get something more awe-inspiring instead of darminiam...

I have to say, comiccon was a blast and yeah, it was very exhausting.

About the animations for MA, I was wondering when I looked at them, it feels like like a work in progress. Some of the punches seemed pretty similar to the SS punches. They didn't look very martial arts oriented. Not like they have to be perfect, but maybe that was just my perception. Remember that a lot of this is still being worked on.

I personally spent the whole time recreating my character looks and changing power colors to see what it would look like.

I didn't think that Dark Melee would have made much of a difference with color changes, but I stand corrected. Especially the Dark Consumption and Soul Drain. I can't wait till this stuff goes live.

It sounds to me like he is fine with the current state of Tankers. Even though it looks like Going Rogue may make Tanks unnecessary because of the onslaught of brutes coming over.

Only time will tell. But if there something coming up for Tankers, just give us a hint or something.

Virinv (unsual name, but then I look at my name) beat me to the punch. The scrapper guides that I looked at for the Dark powers also confirm this.

Soul Drain and Dark Consumption do not debuff accuracy. All the other powers do, including Shadow Maul, but the two main AoEs do not debuff accuracy. Not sure why the Devs would take it out of those two powers... well actually I could imagine why, but yeah.

For the most part, you will only be debuffing the tohit if the person you are directly attacking, or those that you hit with Shadow Maul. All the others would not be.

Oh and with Soul Drain, I decided to continue to use Gaussian in that power even though it doesn't add anything to accuracy. Mainly for the set bonuses that it provides. On my current build, I have the Kismet unique, plus 70% to global accuracy. So slotting accuracy is not needed on that power.

But for normal builds, you would want to slot Soul Drain with something that gives you accuracy. You can't afford to miss with this power.

Yeah, the main reason I do like this type of slotting for SD and DC is because when I take on AVs, I want to do as little AoE damage to the mobs around me as possible so they last longer to fuel the tank. I'm figuring that I would taking on AVs in regular missions rather than AE missions. So they wouldn't be all lieutenants or something like that. Don't know if AVs count as beating them in Mission Architect or not. Don't know what the AV downing protocol is.

Yeah, Midnight Grasp doesn't do the full damage, and worried about its recharge, for the Smite, SL, Smite, MG string, but you so many other options for attacks against everything else that isn't soloing an AV.

I love looking at other people's builds. So much you can learn just by looking at other's slotting options. Just wanted to give some kudos on the two builds just posted.

Kruunch:
Dark Consumption: Nice! I just got the idea to put taunt enchancements on this and/or Soul Drain since they are great out of the box. Dark Consumption almost fill you up with just 4 people and since you are a tank, you will always be surrounded. And you got the recharge bonus. Soul Drain has the same idea since you can't up the damage buff.

Midnight Grasp: Wow, never thought (or even looked) at ToHit Debuffs set. And nice bonuses.

Winters_Rose:
Multistrike: I never really noticed how good this set was for just adding enhancements to your powers. I never liked the bonuses, but Acc, Dam and End are high with the full set.

I need to look at more builds.

PosterChild

That was a brave move. I don't know if I could live without my Stamina. Now you probably can since you got Dark Consumption. Must have been rough.

Yep, three slots is the sweet spot. Remember you want as much recharge on Active Defense as possible as well so that it double stacks.

That with your regular defensive slotting on Battle Agility will do the trick.

Yeah, doing 167 hp to yourself all time may be bad. I'm trying to figure out if it can work long term though if you healed yourself all the time. I previously had it on a Fire/EM tanker so it wasn't a big deal. Healing Flames came up often enough.

If you look at this thread:

https://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat...part=1&vc=1

about halfway through, they talk about what some of the best chains fo-r Energy Melee are. The one best suggested was the one dave_p just mentioned with ET > BS > TF > BS

That link will tell you how much total recharge you would need (216% on your longest recharging attack which would be ET and TF) to get that chain going, which is pretty significant and you would need Hasten in your build.

A make a note that the 216% recharge number would be a total. So global recharge, Hasten and how much recharge you actually have in the power.

Oh and this is more geared towards taking on AVs. Minions will die way before you get a chain going. And Lieutenants will depend on which ones you are fighting.

I'll now have to head over to the brute section and check out more of this mysterious new powerset. Especially the Electric Melee side of things.

Oh yeah, I totally forgot about accolades. So true about the Perma Hp. I hadn't thought about it that way.

Oh and dm is so self sustainable, what with the heal and the end recovery. I just want to be absolutely sure that I can stay up the whole fight.