How to build Superman v3.0 & Inv/SS+ Guide

Sweet guide! It made me dig my lvl 15 inv/ss tank outta retirement. Of course, his slots were awful, and he didn't have Temp Invul! So I deleted him, recreated him (snagged the same name too!), and now I plan on following your build, more or less.

Glad to hear it Demo.

There's a certain amount of flexibility in the build. So if you feel going to 22 without Stamina is to hard take Stamina at 20. You want SJ you can get that pretty easily with a couple of power shifts

You want Taunt earlier ... well that can be worked in too

The build has a decent amount of flexibility so have fun and if you run into trouble let me know.

I just read about every Inv/SS build guide there is and am now officially insane because of it! On a more serious note, this is the build I came up with.

Exported from version 1.4D of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

Archetype: Tanker
Primary Powers - Ranged : Invulnerability
Secondary Powers - Support : Super Strength

01 : Jab dam(01)
01 : Temp Invulnerability endred(01) damres(3)
02 : Punch dam(02) dam(3) dam(5) dam(7) dam(37)
04 : Taunt recred(04) rng(5) tntdur(13) tntdur(34)
06 : Resist Physical Damage damres(06) damres(7)
08 : Unyielding endred(08) damres(9) damres(9) damres(11) damres(21) damres(50)
10 : Haymaker dam(10) dam(11) dam(15) dam(17) dam(37)
12 : Air Superiority dam(12) dam(13) dam(15) dam(17) dam(37)
14 : Fly fltspd(14) fltspd(21) fltspd(40)
16 : Hurdle jmp(16)
18 : Invincibility endred(18) thtbuf(19) defbuf(19) thtbuf(34) defbuf(34)
20 : Health hel(20)
22 : Stamina endrec(22) endrec(23) endrec(23) endrec(27) endrec(31) endrec(45)
24 : Hasten recred(24) recred(25) recred(25) recred(27) recred(31) recred(31)
26 : Resist Energies damres(26) damres(29) damres(33) damres(36) damres(43) damres(46)
28 : Resist Elements damres(28) damres(29) damres(33) damres(36) damres(42) damres(46)
30 : Tough Hide defbuf(30) defbuf(33) defbuf(36) defbuf(40) defbuf(45) defbuf(50)
32 : Kick (Fight) kbkdis(32)
35 : Tough endred(35)
38 : Weave endred(38) defbuf(39) defbuf(39) defbuf(39) defbuf(40) defbuf(43)
41 : Dull Pain recred(41) recred(42) recred(42) recred(43) recred(45)
44 : Foot Stomp dam(44) dam(46) dam(48)
47 : Conserve Power recred(47) recred(48) recred(48)
49 : Hurl kbkdis(49) kbkdis(50)

-------------------------------------------

01 : Brawl dam(01)
01 : Sprint jmp(01)
02 : Rest recred(02)


Now to explain some of the odd-looking points of this build...

Taunt: I have this power 4-slotted to be a good team player. Also the fact that I won't have to spam taunt to get and hold distant agro. It might even help keep some agro away from the Blasters and other high-damage squishies.

Hasten: I choose to take Hasten after Stamina so I won't have much of a problem endurance-wise.

Tough Hide: Talking to other tankers and some Kheldians specializing in Nova-form, about this level the damage starts getting pretty bad. To offset this, I am taking Tough Hide here so I don't get hit quite as often. I know that Tankers are all about taking damage, but something I learned in grade school applies here... It's better to not get hit with the dodge-ball than risk a nut-shot.

Kick, Tough and Weave: Kick and Tough are throw-away powers, but I had to get them to get Weave. Weave goes along with my prior Tough Hide statement, but takes it one step further... Psionics! Starting at about level 40 is when the psychic damage starts hitting home. Carnies and Rikti, along with clockwork and some AVs, make this, IMO a must have to keep from getting knocked around too badly.

Hurl: Because it would be impossible to slot this power heavily with damage (level 49 and all) I am slotting this power with a KB for the annoyance factor. I don't like being knocked down, and whenever my Energy blaster knocks something down, tanker or no, it usually get's up pissed off at me. Well, here's my primary ranged KB power. Also, from a RL logical view... if you were hit by a 4 ft wide chunk of asphalt, wouldn't you fall down?

Sprint: Just to answer some of your questions, this is how I always slot Sprint. I have my special edition Power Slide slotted with running and my Pre-order Prestige slotted with Endurance Reduction.

If anyone has any suggestions as to how I might better my build, please let me know. And, thanks for the guide, keep up the good work.

Starfire if you don't mind I'll go ahead and certique your build real fast:

Taunt: You won't hear me saying slotting Taunt is bad. It's a good grab.

Hasten: Sound logic. By all means grab it after Stamina IF you have Fly.

Tough Hide: ABSOLUTELY DISAGREE ON THIS ONE. Do not get this power you are wasting a power and slots on this. Some quick analysis against melee foes. Lets compare 6 slotted Invince with 4 slots of DEF vs 6 slotted Tough Hide against single foe.

6 Slotted TH = 21.45% DEF.
4 Slotted Invince = 22.5% DEF.

That's with just one foe and Invince has already got TH beat.

Now lets go ahead and look at it from the perspective of a mere 6 foes:

6 Slotted TH = 21.45% DEF.
4 Slotted Invince = 90% DEF.

You've floored the ACC on anything less then a +4 Boss with Invinc alone. There is no addition from TH. It is an utterwaste. And don't get me going on PvP. The fools who think it's good for PvP haven't run the analysis

Kick, Tough, and Weave: I used to do the same thing ... until I realized that Weave simply didn't buy me anything against the most fearsome of Psy foes ... those with AoE's ... Personally I don't think it's worth it but grab if you must. Realize though that if you get Tough do not get Temp Invul the powers are close enough that Tough will replace Temp Invul.

Endurance Slotting Toggles: Please go look at the endurance cost of TI, Unyeilding, and Invince. They are retarded cheap. You shouldn't need an Endurance slot in any of them.

Footstomp: You get this power way to late and don't realize how strong an ability it is. You must 6 slot it

Hope that helps.

Starfire_one....

I don't see Knockout Blow (KoB) in your build......let me urge you to take it, take it early as you can. It will be your Alpha Strike.

Also, as a Fighting pool tanker, let me urge you to REPEC into the fighting pool. You do not need both TI and Tough, so repecing into it in your 40's is a much better way to go.

Regs,

muffinlad

[ QUOTE ]
Starfire_one....

I don't see Knockout Blow (KoB) in your build......let me urge you to take it, take it early as you can. It will be your Alpha Strike.

Also, as a Fighting pool tanker, let me urge you to REPEC into the fighting pool. You do not need both TI and Tough, so repecing into it in your 40's is a much better way to go.

Regs,

muffinlad

[/ QUOTE ]

Good catch I didn't even see that!

Wow you must have Knockout blow.

Dump that fighting crap and pick up KOBlow

I thank you for your critiques and will make changes accordingly. If anyone else can make comments, I'd love to hear them. Now that I look at the whole Tough vs TI, I see what you mean. Also, as for the Weave... the AV class Psionics are still going to own me without a good Clear Mind spammed on me, but up till then it will help. I'm talking about the Rikti and Carnies. Some of their minions, while an annoyance with weave, will be a threat without it. I'll also pick up Knockout blow. I think I will write up to respec into the fighting pool around 34... I just don't want to put it off too late.

Again, thank you. And I can't wait ot hear more...

Best protection against Psionic foes like Rikti and Carnies ... KO Blow.

Honestly I don't fear either. My HP pool with Perma-Dull Pain and a good heal solves all my problems.

On occasion I might actually use an inspire but not very.

I've not had an issue with either.

It's only AV's and the Clockwork King dimension that ever gave me an issue and as you know Weave is next to useless for that

OK, I reworked some things based on the suggestions above. I removed the fightig pool and instead gave myself Dull Pain earlier. I worked in Knockout Blow and Foot Stomp as early as I could get them. I gave Invincibility 2 To Hits and 4 Def Buffs.

I am still iffy on giving up the end reducers in both TI and Unyielding, because with all three (Invinc, TI, Uny) I want to keep attacking with no End Break (in case the fecal matter really hits the air circulation device).

Finally, I added Rage in the 47 slot and Unstoppable in the 49 slot. These are step 1 and step 2 in the "uh-oh" program. If I can't beat it's brains in with Rage, I go Unstoppable and then beat it down... If unstoppable goes down and I'm still fighting, then the battle was too tough and I deserve the debt

Well here is the build:

01 : Jab dam(01)
01 : Temp Invulnerability endred(01) damres(7)
02 : Punch dam(02) dam(3) dam(3) dam(5) dam(46)
04 : Taunt tntdur(04) tntdur(5) tntdur(7) tntdur(50)
06 : Resist Physical Damage damres(06) damres(45)
08 : Unyielding endred(08) damres(9) damres(9) damres(11) damres(15) damres(45)
10 : Haymaker dam(10) dam(11) dam(13) dam(17) dam(43)
12 : Air Superiority dam(12) dam(13) dam(15) dam(17) dam(46)
14 : Fly fltspd(14) fltspd(40) fltspd(50)
16 : Hurdle jmp(16)
18 : Invincibility thtbuf(18) thtbuf(19) defbuf(19) defbuf(21) defbuf(21) defbuf(42)
20 : Health hel(20)
22 : Stamina endrec(22) endrec(23) endrec(23) endrec(31) endrec(36) endrec(42)
24 : Hasten recred(24) recred(25) recred(25) recred(27) recred(36) recred(42)
26 : Knockout Blow dam(26) dam(27) dam(33) dam(36) dam(43)
28 : Dull Pain recred(28) recred(29) recred(29) recred(34) recred(37) recred(45)
30 : Resist Energies damres(30) damres(31) damres(31) damres(34) damres(37) damres(48)
32 : Resist Elements damres(32) damres(33) damres(33) damres(34) damres(37) damres(48)
35 : Hurl dam(35) dam(40) dam(46)
38 : Foot Stomp dam(38) dam(39) dam(39) dam(39) dam(40) dam(43)
41 : Conserve Power recred(41) recred(48)
44 : Hand Clap disdur(44) disdur(50)
47 : Rage recred(47)
49 : Unstoppable recred(49)

Ok here's my comments:

Conserve Power: 6 slot it. It's the cornerstone of my endurance control. This power is awsome!

Endurance Recoveries in your Toggles: Remove them there is no need. They cost very little anyway. If you 6 slot Conserve power you will be much happier.

Resist Physical Damage: Yank 1 slot out you don't need it. If you use +2 enhancers in everything then you cap your res without it.

KO Blow: I'm starting to recommend putting 1 End Reducer in that power. It's pretty expensive endo wise and you get a bigger bang putting one endo reducer in it then all the End Reducers you put in your Toggle powers *10

I want to make an interjection here about endurance reducers in toggles. THERE IS NO REASON FOR IT!!!! Both TI and Unyielding are about 0.4 EPS base. Invincibility is 0.28 EPS. End Reducers in these powers are worthless... and here is why:

1 end reducer in TI lowers the end cost to 0.3... so you save 0.1 EPS or 6 endurance per minute. Now thats not much.

It is MUCH better to slot attacks with 1 end reducer since they cost MUCH more endurance. Lets just take KO blow for example. It costs about 20 End to cast. One end reducers saves you 5 end per cast. Its recharge with perma hasten in about 15 seconds. So you can fire it off 4 times a minute, therefore saving you a total of 20 END per minute (compared to TI's 6) if you use it everytime its up. Thats WAY better savings than putting end reducers in toggles and thats just ONE attack.

So my feelings... NO end reducers in toggles... and 1 end reducer in the 3 major attacks of SS (KO blow, Foot stomp and Haymaker... and hurl if you got it). Punch and jab have low end cost per cast and end reducers are of less help. Now when you have Rage running, you can more than make up the loss of damage from that end reducer you slotted. Plus KO blow usually over damages minions when you one shot them anyways... so lowering the damage a tad to save end actually makes sense.

You guys are so helpful, I love you guys.



TANKER FOR LIFE BABY!!!

There's no AT that's tighter then Tankers baby

We are brothers one and all!

Ok Havok since this thread seems to be the Superman build thread and you know what I love the guy so I posted a thread with mine in which I got some help and have refined my build.

First A couple things.

1. I have a prefly build because there was a time before supes could fly and well I'm nuts.

2. Group fly is a must because I want to fly away with my girl. (How many times has supes flown off with LL?)

So other then that here it is.

Pre-Fly

01 : Jab acc(01)
01 : Temp Invulnerability damres(01) damres(3)
02 : Punch acc(02) dam(3) dam(5) dam(5) dam(7) dam(7)
04 : Taunt tntdur(04)
06 : Swift runspd(06)
08 : Unyielding damres(08) damres(9) damres(9) damres(11) damres(11) damres(13)
10 : Haymaker acc(10) dam(13) dam(19)
12 : Hasten recred(12) recred(15) recred(15) recred(17) recred(17) recred(19)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14)
16 : Health hel(16)
18 : Invincibility endred(18)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(21) endrec(23) endrec(23)
22 : Combat Jumping defbuf(22)
24 : Super Jump jmp(24)

-------------------------------------------

01 : Brawl Empty(01)
01 : Sprint Empty(01)
02 : Rest Empty(02)

Post Fly

01 : Jab dam(01)
01 : Temp Invulnerability damres(01) damres(3)
02 : Punch dam(02) dam(5) dam(5) dam(33) dam(37) dam(3)
04 : Taunt tntdur(04)
06 : Hover fltspd(06) fltspd(7) fltspd(7) fltspd(15) fltspd(17) fltspd(17)
08 : Unyielding damres(08) damres(9) damres(9) damres(11) damres(11) damres(13)
10 : Haymaker dam(10) dam(13) dam(15) dam(33) dam(37) dam(40)
12 : Swift runspd(12)
14 : Fly fltspd(14) fltspd(43) fltspd(19) fltspd(19)
16 : Health hel(16)
18 : Invincibility thtbuf(18) defbuf(45) defbuf(45)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(21) endrec(23) endrec(23) endrec(25)
22 : Hasten recred(22) recred(25) recred(27) recred(27) recred(29) recred(29)
24 : Super Speed runspd(24)
26 : Resist Elements damres(26) damres(34) damres(34) damres(34) damres(46)
28 : Knockout Blow dam(28) dam(31) dam(31) dam(31) dam(33) dam(37)
30 : Rage recred(30)
32 : Unstoppable recred(32)
35 : Resist Energies damres(35) damres(36) damres(36) damres(36) damres(46)
38 : Foot Stomp dam(38) dam(39) dam(39) dam(39) dam(40) dam(40)
41 : Conserve Power recred(41) recred(42) recred(42) recred(42) recred(43) recred(43)
44 : Laser Beam Eyes dam(44) dam(45) dam(46) dam(50) dam(50)
47 : Tough Hide defbuf(47) defbuf(48) defbuf(48) defbuf(48)
49 : Group Fly endred(49) fltspd(50)

-------------------------------------------

01 : Brawl acc(01)
01 : Sprint runspd(01)
02 : Rest recred(02)

Like I said I'm nuts.

One thing wrong with your calculations, Havok.

Power pool powers that provide defense (Hasten and Hover in this case) do *not* provide +def against AE attacks. It's melee/ranged only.

I believe that was said by Geko somewhere, and I'm sure someone else can back me up on that one.

Heh ... yeah alot of travel powers in there lol.

You'll lose some utility but you should still have fun with the build. I say go for it. No you won't be a great PvP tank but you should do fine in PvE

[ QUOTE ]
Heh ... yeah alot of travel powers in there lol.

You'll lose some utility but you should still have fun with the build. I say go for it. No you won't be a great PvP tank but you should do fine in PvE

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually there is more wrong there then that.

The defense numbers I gave for Invincibility are incorrect I just can't go back and edit them

Wont my slotting of TH help deal with your mistake on Invinc? Honesty I have no intention of taking my Supes into the arena so its no bother to me he wouldn't be any good there.

Nah I've got the correct numbers. It's not a slotting error it's a numerical error. Invince is better then I posted

I ran a couple of tests with my build last night (I removed the end reducers from TI and Unyielding) With all 3 up, you should have no problems and do not even need TH. With Perma-Hasten you have a Defense of 14.6 vs. ranged/melee and Resists of 102.94 vs lethal/smashing, 90.6 vs cold/fire/energy/neg energy, and 47.6 vs toxic. The decimals are only a guess and I drew and tested most of the numbers from CoH Planner 1.5a (www.joechott.com/coh).

TH 6-slotted only takes your defense up to 32.45 defense vs. ranged/melee...

I have Resist Energies/Elements 5-slotted, RPD 1 slotted, and Unyielding 6-slotted with Resists. Invince is 4-slotted with defense and 2 with to hit.

I personally, after doing the tests and checking my build off of the wonderful help here, see no reason to take TH. Yes, you won't get hit as much, but when something that can one-shot a blaster does only 25 damage to you, does it matter? All that might happen is you might have to hit Dull Pain a little more. The enhancements can be put to better use elsewhere and another power might be better in your build.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

[ QUOTE ]
I ran a couple of tests with my build last night (I removed the end reducers from TI and Unyielding) With all 3 up, you should have no problems and don't not even need TH.

[/ QUOTE ]

I feel the same way about TH... its a lose-able power. My Fire/SS tank is lvl 43 and has little trouble tanking most normal stuff (Ice and Psi kick his butt). He doesn't have hardly any defense (just hasten 5% and combat jump 5%), cause I put weave off till 44 (he is 43). Now I figure that if the Fire can tank well... my Invuln tank that has BETTER resists and gets INVINCIBILTY for defense... should make him even better than my Fire. So why bother with TH.

Wow. I love this guide! Would you mind posting what the build would look like if you were to take Taunt at lvl 4? I want to be able to keep mobs off my team, no questions asked.

Just swap Dull Pain and Taunt.

In a team you will kill things quickly enough that you don't need Dull Pain as early PLUS you'll probably getting heals from the controllers/defenders to offset that loss of a heal

WOOOT!

CuppaJo rocks and fixed my errors for me!

CuppaJo is the bombdigity you all better remember that

Yes, CuppaJo is the bomb diggity. And thanks for the end cost numbers on the toggles. Now I need to slot out my attacks with EndReds. Sure, Cpt. Liberty is only lvl 9 at the moment, but the lowbies in my SG team with him. I recently tanked about a dozen green Hellions. Don't know if that's a big achievement at lvl 9, but I gotta start somewhere...