The Temporal Scout Tanker (Willpower/ Dual Blades / Energy Mastery)
Here is a guide to cover a very different approach to the willpower / dual blades tanker. I tested the idea first with my scrapper then moved to a willpower / strength tanker and finally to the final incarnation of my character Temporal Scout.
Basically, the build uses a high amount of chance for damage enhancements to boosts its damage potential to an amazing level.
Why tanker and not scrapper? Well, first off, the survivability of a tanker is way beyond a scrapper. But, more importantly, the tanker has 2 things that give it a damage advantage with this build over the scrappers naturally high damage index and critical hit chance.
1) Dual blades and gauntlet means each attack taunts the monsters around what you are attacking, this also means its given that many more chances to proc damage.
2) Gauntlet allows for every tanker attack to be given the taunt invention chance for psi damage
Lvl 1 High Pain Tolerance Take this instead of mind over body, at the early level the endurance drain just slows things down (remember, willpowers key ability is its ability to regenerate, everything else comes 2nd)
Nimble Slash This is a very important ability to slot, by lvl 50, you will need it 6 slotted. (this will end up having the taunt chance for damage, the 2 normal melee ones, and the unique purple melee chance for damage .the other 2 slots will be accuracy)
Lvl 2 Fast healing Take this and 2 slot it (3 or 4 later on for invention sets) again, regeneration is key!
Lvl 4 Ablating Strike This is a nice attack, because it can be slotted with chance for damage from defense debuff, taunt, and the 2 melee types (with the last 2 slots being accuracy)
Lvl 6 Mind Over Body Things are starting to hit a bit more, nice to get this out of the way
Lvl 8 Indomitable will CoT and other monsters begin holding / sleeps, just a basic
Lvl 10 Rise to the Challenge The defining ability of willpower, slot this all the way and get 3 healing enhancements into it (also 3 dark watchers despair for the end and nice bonuses)
Lvl 12 Recall friend Getting ready for travel power, though it wont come for some time (slot with one interrupt reduction so you can use it in more situations with a group)
Lvl 14 Quick Recovery Very nice at lower levels, 2 slot early on 3 once you can get the performance shifter: chance for endurance (put this enhancement in stamina also and you have 2 difference chances for 10 endurance gain every 10 seconds very very nice)
Lvl 16 Typhoons Edge Now you can use the weaken combo! Makes a better tank! Put in recharge reduction, accuracy, the taunt: chance for psi damage, the PBAOE chance for damage, and at 50, the purple PBAOE chance for damage.
Lvl 18 Heightened Senses A basic, slot with some defense
Lvl 20 Taunt Up till now, things arent really that serious as a tank, the aura is normally enough. Taunt is coming a little later then most like (you can switch recall friend for this if you would rather, but recall is very handy for tank stealth things like positron taskforce)
Lvl 22 Teleport Finally! Travel power!
Lvl 24 Swift Slot with a fly enhancer
Lvl 26 Health More regen is nice!
Lvl 28 Stamina More stamina is even better!
Lvl 30 Hover slot with a couple fly and defense this is over 3 percent defense boost and gives big maneuverability when tanking (you are able to hover taunt / tank out of range, you are also able to hover right over very very large pulls so your aura / ae hits more of them)
Lvl 32 Boxing The other 3 attacks do most the work, I ignore this pretty much (though, the accuracy proc enhancement can be nice in this)
Lvl 35 Tough The ability to survive sky-rockets, slot with some resist damage and endurance reduction (so many toggles, this is why stamina AND quick recovery)
Lvl 38 Weave Even more, your ability to tank goes up! Endurance reduction and defense!
Lvl 41 Focused Accuracy Nice ability, slot with a chance for buildup enhancement, endurance reduction, and to-hit buffs (eats endurance, but worth it)
Lvl 44 Laser Beam eyes Very nice ability! Slot with def chance for damage proc, the lvl 50 purple ranged damage proc, the chance for -20 resistance (from def sets), recharge reduction and accuracy. This can pack a punch when enhanced.
Lvl 47 Strength of Will Finally, a little extra help when you need it (some like it sooner, but tough / weave will do a lot more to allow you to survive then this will). Acts like a break free when you get held *nice for pvp*
Lvl 49 Resurgence Even a great tanker dies sometimes, being able to get RIGHT back up and continue tanking can save your team from an ugly end valuable ability, its a shame it has to be put off for so long.
Some questions you might have .
Why teleport? Because some monsters will slow you while pulling or block the door / otherwise trap you being able to teleport past those situations and keep going is very very valuable. Your ability to survive skyrockets with this
Why so few attacks? Because you dont need them, you use 3 main attacks (nimble slash, ablating strike, and typhoons edge) with laser beam eyes thrown in the huge number of damage procs in these attacks is enough to decimate huge groups of monsters (though, sometimes you run into unlucky strikes where things dont proc and your hitting for 10 damage .but then there are times when they all go off and everything dies in seconds its just the nature of the build).
Advantage of procs? Well first, they go past defense and armor (and they can even go off if you miss, because of gauntlet!!!!) these can cut into a stone tanker or an invulnerability tanker in PVP like butter. Also, because the main attacks are gotten so early, and enhancements work while you are exempted .you become a mini god when you are exempted with all the damage proc enhancements in place.
Disadvantage? The raw damage is much lower then you would find from something like energy melee. You dont see huge 300+ hits and you cant count on an attack packing a bunch or not (sometimes you hit for 10, sometimes 50 sometimes 300 ). All the core attacks are about equally valuable so you just keep slashing away and things die, it doesnt matter which attack you mash (though, you do want to do the weaken combo as much as possible, very nice debuff ). ALSO! This build does not gain much from buffs (other then accuracy) or debuffs the main focus is from the procs, and those arent effected by outside sources. The core attacks are the early / weak / fast ones they dont really compare to the later ones in terms of raw base power.
Focus on regeneration! With invention sets, you want to focus on recovery boosts and regeneration. The rise to the challenge only works when you are close to monsters, so increasing your ability to shrug off damage when pulling or moving is very important with health and fast healing, you should be able to pull a decent regeneration rate.
Cost? The cost of doing all of this is in the hundreds of millions so not everyone will be able to do this. Also, finding the enhancements for sale and collecting them (without overpaying a ton) takes a lot of time .building this is much harder then just killing EXP bags over and over.
The Temporal Scout Tanker (Willpower/ Dual Blades / Energy Mastery)
Here is a guide to cover a very different approach to the willpower / dual blades tanker. I tested the idea first with my scrapper then moved to a willpower / strength tanker and finally to the final incarnation of my character Temporal Scout.
Basically, the build uses a high amount of chance for damage enhancements to boosts its damage potential to an amazing level.
Why tanker and not scrapper? Well, first off, the survivability of a tanker is way beyond a scrapper. But, more importantly, the tanker has 2 things that give it a damage advantage with this build over the scrappers naturally high damage index and critical hit chance.
1) Dual blades and gauntlet means each attack taunts the monsters around what you are attacking, this also means its given that many more chances to proc damage.
2) Gauntlet allows for every tanker attack to be given the taunt invention chance for psi damage
Lvl 1 High Pain Tolerance Take this instead of mind over body, at the early level the endurance drain just slows things down (remember, willpowers key ability is its ability to regenerate, everything else comes 2nd)
Nimble Slash This is a very important ability to slot, by lvl 50, you will need it 6 slotted. (this will end up having the taunt chance for damage, the 2 normal melee ones, and the unique purple melee chance for damage .the other 2 slots will be accuracy)
Lvl 2 Fast healing Take this and 2 slot it (3 or 4 later on for invention sets) again, regeneration is key!
Lvl 4 Ablating Strike This is a nice attack, because it can be slotted with chance for damage from defense debuff, taunt, and the 2 melee types (with the last 2 slots being accuracy)
Lvl 6 Mind Over Body Things are starting to hit a bit more, nice to get this out of the way
Lvl 8 Indomitable will CoT and other monsters begin holding / sleeps, just a basic
Lvl 10 Rise to the Challenge The defining ability of willpower, slot this all the way and get 3 healing enhancements into it (also 3 dark watchers despair for the end and nice bonuses)
Lvl 12 Recall friend Getting ready for travel power, though it wont come for some time (slot with one interrupt reduction so you can use it in more situations with a group)
Lvl 14 Quick Recovery Very nice at lower levels, 2 slot early on 3 once you can get the performance shifter: chance for endurance (put this enhancement in stamina also and you have 2 difference chances for 10 endurance gain every 10 seconds very very nice)
Lvl 16 Typhoons Edge Now you can use the weaken combo! Makes a better tank! Put in recharge reduction, accuracy, the taunt: chance for psi damage, the PBAOE chance for damage, and at 50, the purple PBAOE chance for damage.
Lvl 18 Heightened Senses A basic, slot with some defense
Lvl 20 Taunt Up till now, things arent really that serious as a tank, the aura is normally enough. Taunt is coming a little later then most like (you can switch recall friend for this if you would rather, but recall is very handy for tank stealth things like positron taskforce)
Lvl 22 Teleport Finally! Travel power!
Lvl 24 Swift Slot with a fly enhancer
Lvl 26 Health More regen is nice!
Lvl 28 Stamina More stamina is even better!
Lvl 30 Hover slot with a couple fly and defense this is over 3 percent defense boost and gives big maneuverability when tanking (you are able to hover taunt / tank out of range, you are also able to hover right over very very large pulls so your aura / ae hits more of them)
Lvl 32 Boxing The other 3 attacks do most the work, I ignore this pretty much (though, the accuracy proc enhancement can be nice in this)
Lvl 35 Tough The ability to survive sky-rockets, slot with some resist damage and endurance reduction (so many toggles, this is why stamina AND quick recovery)
Lvl 38 Weave Even more, your ability to tank goes up! Endurance reduction and defense!
Lvl 41 Focused Accuracy Nice ability, slot with a chance for buildup enhancement, endurance reduction, and to-hit buffs (eats endurance, but worth it)
Lvl 44 Laser Beam eyes Very nice ability! Slot with def chance for damage proc, the lvl 50 purple ranged damage proc, the chance for -20 resistance (from def sets), recharge reduction and accuracy. This can pack a punch when enhanced.
Lvl 47 Strength of Will Finally, a little extra help when you need it (some like it sooner, but tough / weave will do a lot more to allow you to survive then this will). Acts like a break free when you get held *nice for pvp*
Lvl 49 Resurgence Even a great tanker dies sometimes, being able to get RIGHT back up and continue tanking can save your team from an ugly end valuable ability, its a shame it has to be put off for so long.
Some questions you might have .
Why teleport? Because some monsters will slow you while pulling or block the door / otherwise trap you being able to teleport past those situations and keep going is very very valuable. Your ability to survive skyrockets with this
Why so few attacks? Because you dont need them, you use 3 main attacks (nimble slash, ablating strike, and typhoons edge) with laser beam eyes thrown in the huge number of damage procs in these attacks is enough to decimate huge groups of monsters (though, sometimes you run into unlucky strikes where things dont proc and your hitting for 10 damage .but then there are times when they all go off and everything dies in seconds its just the nature of the build).
Advantage of procs? Well first, they go past defense and armor (and they can even go off if you miss, because of gauntlet!!!!) these can cut into a stone tanker or an invulnerability tanker in PVP like butter. Also, because the main attacks are gotten so early, and enhancements work while you are exempted .you become a mini god when you are exempted with all the damage proc enhancements in place.
Disadvantage? The raw damage is much lower then you would find from something like energy melee. You dont see huge 300+ hits and you cant count on an attack packing a bunch or not (sometimes you hit for 10, sometimes 50 sometimes 300 ). All the core attacks are about equally valuable so you just keep slashing away and things die, it doesnt matter which attack you mash (though, you do want to do the weaken combo as much as possible, very nice debuff ). ALSO! This build does not gain much from buffs (other then accuracy) or debuffs the main focus is from the procs, and those arent effected by outside sources. The core attacks are the early / weak / fast ones they dont really compare to the later ones in terms of raw base power.
Focus on regeneration! With invention sets, you want to focus on recovery boosts and regeneration. The rise to the challenge only works when you are close to monsters, so increasing your ability to shrug off damage when pulling or moving is very important with health and fast healing, you should be able to pull a decent regeneration rate.
Cost? The cost of doing all of this is in the hundreds of millions so not everyone will be able to do this. Also, finding the enhancements for sale and collecting them (without overpaying a ton) takes a lot of time .building this is much harder then just killing EXP bags over and over.
Mew