Selling Your Soul for Dummies! 2.0

[u]Selling Your Soul for Dummies! A reference guide for the rest of us (Dark/Dark)[u]
So, you want to join the legions of the mighty Dark/Dark Tankers do you? Know that though the road ahead of you is a long one. The road can be pretty damn fun and is very rewarding at the end.
[u]I Primary Powers

II Secondary powers

III Tactics

IIIA Tanking 101

IIIB Advanced Tanking

IIIC Building Your Tank

IIIC1 Advantages of Dark/Dark Tank

IIIC2 Pitfalls of a Dark/Dark Tank

IIIC3 Pool Powers

IV Build[u]

[u]I Primary Powers I[u]
The following is a discussion of the powers in your primary (obviously) and a good deal of information about each power.
Death Shroud Available at: Level 1
Description: You become a focus point for the Netherworld, allowing its Negative Energy to seep from your body. This will continuously damage all foes in melee range.
Pointers: Although this power is available at level 1 I highly recommend you wait until your twenties to take it. The power costs .52 endurance per second, more endurance than all three shields combined. This power’s cost in end is enough to out-weigh the benefits gained in the low-levels. That being said however, as soon as you have the end to stomach it (read: at 22 when you have access to Stamina and Single Origin Enhancements) I recommend taking it.

Numbers:
-End Cost: .52 End/Sec
-Average Damage: (NEG)

Dark Embrace Available at: Level 1
Description: You tap into the energy of the Netherworld to protect yourself from damage. This Dark Embrace shrouds you and grants resistance to Lethal, Smashing, Negative Energy and Toxic damage.
Pointers: Grab this at Level 1 instead of Death Shroud. Slot this with Resistance enhancements, despite how tempting it is to slot it with EndRedux. I’ll tell you why in just a minute.

Numbers:
-End Cost= .21 end per second
-Resistance (Base) Values:
Smashing = 30.00%
Lethal = 30.00%
Negative Energy = 20.00%
Toxic = 20.00%

Murky Cloud Available at: Level 2
Description: You create a Murky Cloud enshrouding you. This cloud can absorb all forms of energy, making you more resistant to Fire, Cold, Energy, and Negative Energy attacks, as well as Endurance Drain effects.
Pointers: This is almost a useless power at level 2, but in that changes quickly with the introduction of the Outcasts, who use exotic damage types like they’re going out of style. Same pointer as Dark Embrace slot for Resistance not EndRedux. This powers is also highly useful for later in the game, where you really need resistance to –Recovery powers, especially with the set being as end heavy as it is.

Numbers:
-End Cost: .21 end per second
-Resistance (Base) values:
Fire = 30.00%
Cold = 30.00%
Energy = 20.00%
Negative Energy = 20.00%
Recovery Drain Resistance = 150.00%

Obsidian Shield Available at: Level 6
Description: You can create a special Obsidian Shield that grants good resistance to Psionic damage. With your mind enshrouded in darkness you are protected from Sleep, Fear, Hold and Disorient attacks.
Pointers: This power is your mez (Hold Stun Fear and Sleep Effects) protection power. That means pick it as soon as it’s available, cause every enemy group has at least one form of mez, and a Tanker that’s sleeping on the job isn’t doing it’s team any good. This power offers amazing psi resistance (50.00% at base value) which helps immensely in the higher levels with the introduction of heavy Psi use. Same pointer again, slot for Resistance, not EndRedux.

Numbers:
-End cost: .21 End per Second
-Resistance (Base) Values:
Psionic = 50.00%
Sleep = 7.67 mag
Hold = 7.67 mag
Fear = 7.67 mag
Stun = 7.67 mag

Dark Regeneration Available at: Level 8
Description: You can tap the dark essence of the Netherworld to drain a small amount of life from all enemies nearby, thus healing yourself. The more foes affected, the more you will be healed.
Pointers: Behold the black halo that is the crown of Dark Armor: Dark Regeneration! Every foe hit with this power restores one fourth of your health. This means by hitting just four people (not hard to gather as a Tanker I assure you) you can go from flashing red to full health just by clicking the power. It has a short recharge to boot (30 seconds) making it undoubtedly one of, if not the, best heal in the game. However –tohit/-accuracy debuffs are the bane of this power’s existence, less accuracy means less mobs hit by the power, less contact means less health for you. This is also the one power from Dark Armor I recommend slotting for EndRedux. Only novas carry more end cost greater than this: 33.0 end per click (One third of your total end’s base value).

Numbers:
-End Cost: = 33.0 end per click (Ouch)
-Base Accuracy = 75%
-Heal = 25% (base value)


Cloak of Darkness Available at: Level 12
Description: A shroud of Netherworld darkness envelops you, making you difficult to spot at a distance. You can be seen only at close range, or if you attack a target. Even if seen, the Cloak of Darkness grants you a bonus to Defense to all attacks and some protection from Immobilization. This Netherworld Cloak also allows you to see things in a new light, allowing you to better see Stealthy foes. Unlike some Stealth powers, Cloak of Darkness has no movement penalty. Cloak of Darkness will not work with any other form of concealment power such as Shadow Fall or Steamy Mist.
Pointers: At first, this power seems contradictory, it’s intended purpose masked by the fact that it’s a stealth power… on a Tank. The actual purpose is to make it easier to agro one spawns but keep surrounding spawns from attacking you. It also grants a small Defense bonus, that when stacked with other defensive powers offers another layer of damage mitigation. It is also your Immobilization defense, so yeah, you’ll want to run it. Finally it prevents Perception debuffs, which you’ll want to avoid, since you need to hit in order to heal (and use Dark Consumption).

Numbers:
-End Cost .26 end per second
-+Defense to All = 5.00%
-Stealth radius = 35 ft
-Resistance to Perception debuffs = 60%
-Resist Immobilization: Mag 13


Cloak of Fear Available at: Level 18

You can wrap yourself in a nightmarish Cloak of Fear. Foes close to you are treated to visions most horrific, forcing them to tremble in terror, only attacking if attacked, and even then, at reduced Accuracy.
Pointers: Unlike the other toggles in the set, I recommend that this be slotted with end reduction, as it has the same end cost as Death Shroud. This power stacks well with the Fear power in the Dark Melee secondary as well as those in the Presence Power Pool. One way of going about a build is to use this an

Numbers:
-.52 end per second.
-Fear Magnitude: 2


Oppressive Gloom Available at: Level 26

Description: The Netherworld has many mutable properties, such as the Oppressive Gloom. This power allows you to use your own Hit Points to keep enemies near you Disoriented and unable to use any powers. Endurance cost for this is minimal, but the power can be dangerous to use.
Pointers: This a great power for stunning lower mobs like Lt.s and Minions, but it truly shines when given a stun heavy secondary, which just doesn’t work with DM unfortunately. Thusly, this is a skippable power on DA/DM which gives you some extra slotting opportunities. The self damage in this power is minimal by the way and the end cost is thus nearly nonexistent. Really on this power it’s up to you.

Numbers:
-End Cost: .08
-Damage on Self: 4.45


Soul Transfer Available at: Level 32

Description: Should you fall in battle, you can perform a Soul Transfer, sucking the life force of all foes around you to bring yourself back from the brink of death. The more foes nearby, the more life is restored to you. Drained foes are left Disoriented. The dark effects of this Soul Transfer will actually leave you invulnerable for a brief time, and protected from XP Debt for 20 seconds. There must be at least one foe nearby to fuel the transfer and revive yourself.
Pointers: Hmmmmm. Hmmmm. This is possibly the most debated subject in all of Tankerdom (Aside from all INV/ arguments, as there are many). The Tier 9 ability and what it should do. Most people claim that this power should be used as an “OH <self - censored>!” Button that can save you from taking the plunge, but two powers, Rise of the Pheonix from the Fiery Aura set and this power, both require that you commit the ultimate sacrifice, and face death first. The debate is that the final power should be the be all end all say if something ever goes wrong, very Wrong, like “An INV/ tanking a level 52 Clockwork King without any Accolades wrong,” that if this power were activated, it would save you and your team certain defeat. Another argument in this is that if a particular spawn ended your life it’s likely it’ll do it again. It’s great to have a self-rez if you really need to be back on your feet in this particular mob. Oh yeah that’s right. You have to hit in order to actually be rezzed. It’s like Dark Regeneration in the way it works but. Dang, at least Fire/’s self-rez does a cubic crap-ton of damage. If you’re into self-rezes this is a “fun” power, but if you’re not you’ll want to skip this.
Numbers:
-Recharge: 300 seconds (5 minutes)
-Heal: 15.4% per mob hit
-+End: 30 per mob hit


[u]II Secondary Powers II[u]
The following is a guide to the powers of your secondary, Dark Melee.

Shadow Punch Forced down your throat at: Level One
Description: You wrap your fists with Negative Energy channeled from the Netherworld, then perform a quick punch that deals minor damage. Shadow Punches cloud the target's vision, lowering his Accuracy for a short time.
Pointers: Whether or not you actually want this power isn’t your decision. You have to take it. That’s part of being a Tanker. Now that having been said however the power isn’t that bad, it does do damage that not a lot of foes are resistant to (Negative Energy).Slot this power with 3 end redux, 1 accuracy and 2 –to hit debuff. I’ll tell you why in the tactics section.
Numbers:
-End Cost: 4.37 seconds
-Recharge Time: 3 seconds
-ToHit debuff: -5.25% for 13.5 seconds


Smite Available at: Level 2
Description: You wrap your fists with Negative Energy channeled from the Netherworld, then perform a Smite that deals more damage than Shadow Punch, but has a longer recharge time. Smite clouds the target's vision, lowering his Accuracy for a short time.
Pointers: Smite is your second attack, and it does considerable damage, and is on a rather fast recharge. This power is darn necessary to do real damage on /dark, as it’s one of the few real damage powers. Use the same slotting from Shadow Punch on this power.
Numbers:
-End Cost: 6.86 End
-Recharge: 6 seconds
-To hit Debuff: -5.25% on target for 13.5 seconds


Shadow Maul Available at Level 4
Description: You wrap your entire arms with Negative Energy channeled from the Netherworld, then perform a series of blows that deal a lot of damage over a short period of time to multiple targets in front of you. These blows cloud your target's vision, lowering his Accuracy for a short time.
Pointers: Although this power does a lot of damage, this power is best kept for your 20’s. This is by far one of the longer animations in the game, and if you miss with this power it’s a lot like slitting your wrists, it’s painful to watch and doesn’t get anything accomplished.
Numbers:
-End Cost: 8.53 end
-Recharge: 8 seconds
-To Hit Debuff: 5.52% for 13.5 seconds


Taunt Available at: Level 10
Description: Taunts a foe and all foes around him to attack you. Useful for pulling villains off an ally who finds himself in over his head. Taunted foes tend to ignore other enemies and focus on you for quite a while, so use this power cautiously. An accuracy check is not required to taunt your foes.
Pointers: Because you won’t, well, shouldn’t get your first aggro aura until the 20’s I highly recommend picking up Taunt at 10. This power puts a long duration taunt on any NPC and can pull agro off of another player for quite some time. You’ll need to get in close though, and you’ll want to throw in some punches because both distance and damage dealt are considered into threat, which determines who a foe will attack.
Numbers:
-Duration 30.8 seconds

Siphon Life Available at: Level 16
Description: You tap the power of the Netherworld and create a life transferring conduit between a foe and yourself. This will transfer hit points from your enemy to yourself. Foes siphoned in this manner have their Accuracy reduced.
Pointers: Siphon Life is a small heal that effects one target, damaging it and healing you. Unless it’s slotted heavily, I’ve never really found a use for it. The damage it does is minimal, as a matter of fact it’s less than Shadow Punch’s, and the healing it provides isn’t as effective at higher levels unless it’s 3-slotted for Healing. In the build I’m providing, I didn’t take it. If you want, copy your character onto the Test server and play around with it there to see whether or not you enjoy having it.
Numbers:
-End cost: 12 end
-Recharge: 15 seconds
-Heal: 10%
-To Hit Debuff: 5.25% for 13.5 seconds


Touch of Fear Available at: Level 20
Description: The Netherworld is one scary place, and with but a touch, you can give your enemy a glimpse into this dark world. This will cause them to helplessly tremble in fear. Foes in this state of panic have reduced Accuracy.
Pointers: This is a staple of the Dark/Dark combo, since with it; you can stack enough Fear to make a boss soil his pants in fear of your awesomeness. Fear works almost exactly like a hold, instead however if the target is attacked, they may attempt one counter attack, or run away for ten seconds. If you don’t attack the mob that is cowering at your mercy, they won’t attack you, leaving you free to take out anyone around them that may pose a significant threat to you.
Numbers:
End Cost: 8.53
Recharge: 8 seconds
Fear Duration: 22.4 seconds
Fear Magnitude: 3


Soul Drain Available at: Level 28
Description: Using this power, you can drain the essence of all nearby foes' souls, thus increasing your own strength. Each affected foe will lose some Hit Points and add to your Damage and Accuracy.
Pointers: This is your Build-Up Power. It works like Dark Regeneration and Consumption, in that the more foes you hit, up to a total of seven targets, the more you are buffed. Take it at level 28, and at 29 throw two slots into it and fill all three slots with RechargeRedux. With these three in the power it becomes a half-up, half-down power on thirty second intervals, It does have significant end cost (15) so you might want to put an EndRedux into it.
Numbers:
End Cost: 15 end
Recharge: 120 seconds
Duration: 30 seconds
Damage Buff: 12.5% per enemy hit.
To Hit Buff: 5% per enemy hit.


Dark Consumption Available at: Level 35
Description: The dark power of the Netherworld allows you to tap the essence of your foe's soul and transfer it to yourself. This will drain the Hit Points of your enemy and add to your Endurance.
Pointers: Like Dark Regeneration and Soul Drain, the more enemies hit with this power the more you are buffed, in this case the power restores your endurance bar. Unfortunately, it has a long recharge (3 min.’s base value) and so is up as often as is sometimes necessary. Personally I enjoy having this power around as a great “Oh $#!7, a SAPPER”* power, that can boost your endurance back to full when you really need it the most.
*Note that due to the careful planning that goes into assaulting Malta strong holds, and the endurance drain protection in Dark Armor, Malta Sappers, and Dark Ring Mistresses, aren’t really that difficult. That being said, it’s entirely possible for them to surprise you even when you combed the spawn looking for them so it’s fun to have in extreme circumstances.
Numbers:
Endurance Restored: 25% per enemy hit
Recharge Time: 180 seconds.


Midnight Grasp Available at: Level 38
Description: Mastery over the forces of the Netherworld allows you to create dark tentacles that can immobilize a foe and continuously drain his life force.
Pointers: While yes this is an immobilization power, it’s actually front-loaded into becoming a damage power. The damage this power does is amazing, so you’ll want it whether or not you need an immobilize.
Numbers:
End Cost: 12 end
Recharge: 15 seconds
Immobilization Duration: 17.9 seconds
Immobilization Magnitude: 3


[u]III Tactics III[u]
[u]IIA Tanking 101 IIA[u]
If you’ve never tanked before, keep reading, if you have, by all means skip ahead, you probably already know the information I am about to address.
Now then the basic function of a Tanker is to hold aggro, i.e. be the sole target of the rage that burns in each enemy. Along with Taunt, and your taunt aura, aura’s in your primary that affect enemies, and Gauntlet, the Tanker’s inherent ability, you’ll pull aggro inwards.
How to do this:
1. Understand Gauntlet, or in other words, punch-voke.
Each of your attacks are enhanced with an AoE Taunt, that when the attack hits, the five closest foes to the target are hit with a Taunt, and thus are now going to attack you. By selecting different targets around you, you can hit different targets with this taunt; this is called punch-voking.
2. Know how to mix Taunt and Gauntlet together and become an aggro hog.
Knowing, not only what to taunt but where to taunt, can be life-saving for your teammates. Since you can punch-voke mobs in melee into attacking you, ideally, you should hit foes that aren’t close to you with Taunt.
This will take a lot of practice, but it will eventually come to you. If you can, try to pull the melee mobs over to the range users, and you’ll include both in your punch-voke assault.
[u]IIIC Building your Tank IIIC[u]
This is where half of your Tanks survivability is determined. How well you build your tank can determine whether or not you are worthy to live in life or death situations. In order to best build your tank, you’ll have to understand where your strengths and weaknesses lie.
[u]IIIC1 Strengths of a Dark/Dark Tank[u]
1. High Resists. The Dark/ tank has an amazing amount of resists. It features pretty strong resists to every single damage type. This slows down the oncoming damage into something you can mitigate more easily.
2. A fast recharging, powerful Heal. Dark Regeneration can carry you from the brink of oblivion to back in the ring ready to rumble in a single activation, and it’s on a 30 second recharge.
3. No Psi Hole. Psi Holes are the status quo on a lot of tanks. Having no Psi hole makes you immensely more welcome on teams that are going up against heavy psi damage and areas where Psi Damage is used commonly.
4. Endurance Drain Resistance. Also called recovery resistance, this allows you to take Malta Sappers and Dark Ring Mistresses like a bull in a China shop.
5. FEAR! Nothing beats locking down a boss mob in agony by jumping up and down yelling, “Ooga Booga Booga!”
6. To-Hit Debuffs Slapping To-hit debuffs onto hard hitting enemies, and watching them whiff like the batters of a Little League game is a common theme of the /Dark tank.
7. The many tools of /Dark. /Dark offers what is possibly the widest variety of tools of any tanker secondary. A self +end, a fear power, a heal, a fast-recharging, long-lasting build-up, and an immobilize, on top of –to-hit debuffs.

[u]IIIC2 The Pitfalls of a Dark/Dark[u]
1. No Slow Resistance. Major slows are a major PITA for Dark/ tankers. Slowing down Dark Regeneration is a major killer on Dark/Dark tanks.
2. Heavy End Cost. Dark/ is one endurance heavy set. The cost of the mitigation it provides is that it costs bundles of endurance. What really helps here is slotting all of your secondary powers with endredux. Believe it or not but your secondary powers contribute more to the problem than those in your primary.
3. Low Energy Resistance. At the late levels Energy becomes a very common damage type. Energy resistance bonuses from IO sets and Increased Density are going to be your biggest friends here.
4. No Knockback Resistance. Being knocked around like a ragdoll is no fun it screws up your positioning and places you in nasty positions to use Dark Regeneration.

[u]IIIC3 Pool Powers IIIC3[u]
Pool Powers can help make up for what your main power sets are missing these are the ones I recommend.
Leaping – Leaping as a travel power lowers the number of power slots used in order to get to Acrobatics which fills the KB resistance hole.
Fighting – Adds extra S/L resistance, which makes up the lion share of damage even late game, and anything you can stack onto what you already have adds significant damage mitigation.
Fitness – Obviously. I recommend this for any character, but that’s just because of Stamina which greatly boosts recovert of end, something that Dark/ needs.

[u]IV A Build IV[u]
This is a build for the Dark/Dark. I personally believe that you should make your own build though, as I can’t tell you how to play this tank and you probably don’t think the same way I do.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

King Darksource: Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Dark Armor
Secondary Power Set: Dark Melee
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Dark Embrace <ul type="square">[*] (A) Resist Damage IO: Level 50[*] (3) Resist Damage IO: Level 50[*] (9) Resist Damage IO: Level 50[*] (15) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (31) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (34) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 1: Shadow Punch <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (5) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (11) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (33) Accuracy IO: Level 50[*] (34) To Hit Debuff IO: Level 50[*] (39) To Hit Debuff IO: Level 50[/list]Level 2: Murky Cloud <ul type="square">[*] (A) Resist Damage IO: Level 50[*] (3) Resist Damage IO: Level 50[*] (9) Resist Damage IO: Level 50[*] (15) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (36) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (37) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 4: Smite <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (5) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (11) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (34) Accuracy IO: Level 50[*] (40) To Hit Debuff IO: Level 50[*] (40) To Hit Debuff IO: Level 50[/list]Level 6: Obsidian Shield <ul type="square">[*] (A) Resist Damage IO: Level 50[*] (7) Resist Damage IO: Level 50[*] (7) Resist Damage IO: Level 50[*] (17) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (37) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (37) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 8: Dark Regeneration <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (13) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (13) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (17) Accuracy IO: Level 50[*] (40) Accuracy IO: Level 50[*] (43) Accuracy IO: Level 50[/list]Level 10: Taunt <ul type="square">[*] (A) Taunt Duration IO: Level 50[/list]Level 12: Combat Jumping <ul type="square">[*] (A) Defense Buff IO: Level 50[/list]Level 14: Super Jump <ul type="square">[*] (A) Jumping IO: Level 50[*] (43) Jumping IO: Level 50[*] (43) Jumping IO: Level 50[/list]Level 16: Hurdle <ul type="square">[*] (A) Jumping IO: Level 50[/list]Level 18: Health <ul type="square">[*] (A) Healing IO: Level 50[*] (19) Healing IO: Level 50[*] (19) Healing IO: Level 50[*] (50) Healing IO: Level 50[/list]Level 20: Stamina <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Modification IO: Level 50[*] (21) Endurance Modification IO: Level 50[*] (21) Endurance Modification IO: Level 50[*] (42) Endurance Modification IO: Level 50[/list]Level 22: Death Shroud <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (23) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (23) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (25) Damage Increase IO: Level 50[*] (25) Accuracy IO: Level 50[/list]Level 24: Acrobatics <ul type="square">[*] (A) Knockback Distance IO: Level 50[/list]Level 26: Shadow Maul <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (27) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (27) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (45) Accuracy IO: Level 50[*] (45) To Hit Debuff IO: Level 50[*] (45) To Hit Debuff IO: Level 50[/list]Level 28: Soul Drain <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (29) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (29) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (48) Accuracy IO: Level 50[/list]Level 30: Cloak of Darkness <ul type="square">[*] (A) Defense Buff IO: Level 50[*] (31) Defense Buff IO: Level 50[*] (31) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 32: Cloak of Fear <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (33) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (33) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 35: Dark Consumption <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (36) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (36) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 38: Midnight Grasp <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (39) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (39) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 41: Boxing <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (42) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (42) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 44: Tough <ul type="square">[*] (A) Resist Damage IO: Level 50[*] (46) Resist Damage IO: Level 50[*] (46) Resist Damage IO: Level 50[*] (46) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 47: Touch of Fear <ul type="square">[*] (A) Fear Duration IO: Level 50[*] (48) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (48) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]Level 49: Soul Transfer <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (50) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[*] (50) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 50[/list]------------
Level 1: Brawl <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Sprint <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 2: Rest <ul type="square">[*] (A) Empty[/list]Level 1: Gauntlet



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Great guide Komrade. Nice to see someone else is enjoying Dark / Dark tanking!

A couple questions though, and almost exclusively relating to slotting.

1) 4 Heals in Heal? The 4th heal slot takes your Regeneration rate from 79.6% to only 82.2%. That seems like a very odd choice for a slot, when that same slot could have been used elsewhere to beef a power up by up to 33%.

2) Ditto Stamina slotting. That 4th slot really should be used elsewhere.

3) Some ACC enhancements in your attack powers would go a long way to helping out. While Endurance Reduction is a staple of DA tanking, a Midnight Grasp (at 75% accuracy) that misses just completely wasted the even reduced amount of endurance that you used. Whereas taking one of those End Reducers out and tossing in a Acc would beef that up to reliably hit, and do a more more damage. This is a common trend throughout your build.

4) 3 Endurance reducers in Dark Embrace and the other two shields is a bit much as well. 2 IO end reducers takes the endurance use per second to .11, whereas three takes it to .10. That is one awfully expensive slot. Pop those 6th slots out of there and toss them in your attacks. Heck, even that second Endurance Reduction enhancement only takes it from .15 to .11. I have this far slotted both Dark Embrace and Murky Cloud with 3 Damage Resistance and 1 Endurance Reduction.

5) Cloak of Fear only has a base accuracy of 50%. It desperately needs either some ACC slots, or some Enhancement Set loving, but we won't get into that here.

A lot of this is nitpicking I know, but there you have it. Most of my tanking is done against mobs that are conning orange or higher to me, so the ACC is a big issue for me. Perhaps that isn't your experience, and that would certainly colour the perceptions.

Your advice on power selection is pretty much on par with my experiences as well. Overall, nice guide.

Haven't looked it over, but it seems like you're committed to making this a good guide.

One suggestion. Mention Dark/Dark TANKS in your title. Dark/Dark is shared by three ATs. It'd be super helpful to indicate which AT it is, in addition to being good form to mention that it is a dark/dark guide in the title.

[ QUOTE ]
Oh yeah that’s right. You have to hit in order to actually be rezzed. It’s like Dark Regeneration in the way it works but. Dang, at least Fire/’s self-rez does a cubic crap-ton of damage.

[/ QUOTE ]

There is no to-hit roll involved in Soul Transfer, and thus is affects (as well as draws from) any enemies inside its radius.

As for the build, I personally believe you should slot more for accuracy in the attacks... if they don't hit then they're just a waste of endurance.

Also, if you're going to bother with Cloak of Darkness, why not also pick up Weave, and slot Combat Jump for defense?

[ QUOTE ]
Great guide Komrade. Nice to see someone else is enjoying Dark / Dark tanking!

A couple questions though, and almost exclusively relating to slotting.

1) 4 Heals in Heal? The 4th heal slot takes your Regeneration rate from 79.6% to only 82.2%. That seems like a very odd choice for a slot, when that same slot could have been used elsewhere to beef a power up by up to 33%.

2) Ditto Stamina slotting. That 4th slot really should be used elsewhere.

4) 3 Endurance reducers in Dark Embrace and the other two shields is a bit much as well. 2 IO end reducers takes the endurance use per second to .11, whereas three takes it to .10. That is one awfully expensive slot. Pop those 6th slots out of there and toss them in your attacks. Heck, even that second Endurance Reduction enhancement only takes it from .15 to .11. I have this far slotted both Dark Embrace and Murky Cloud with 3 Damage Resistance and 1 Endurance Reduction.


[/ QUOTE ]

The reason that the fourth slot is in there and why there are (3) End Reductions in the three shields + DR... is addressed in the IO build... which I realize isn't there but that is arriving at a later date. The slotting on the IO (SET) Build is the exact same as the regular build.


[ QUOTE ]
3) Some ACC enhancements in your attack powers would go a long way to helping out. While Endurance Reduction is a staple of DA tanking, a Midnight Grasp (at 75% accuracy) that misses just completely wasted the even reduced amount of endurance that you used. Whereas taking one of those End Reducers out and tossing in a Acc would beef that up to reliably hit, and do a more more damage. This is a common trend throughout your build.

5) Cloak of Fear only has a base accuracy of 50%. It desperately needs either some ACC slots, or some Enhancement Set loving, but we won't get into that here.

[/ QUOTE ]

Never had a problem hitting anything with CoF or by only slotting one ACC in an attack, but then I only ever turn on CoF when I'm soloing or on an ST heavy team, as getting hit breaks the fear.

[ QUOTE ]
There is no to-hit roll involved in Soul Transfer, and thus is affects (as well as draws from) any enemies inside its radius.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmmm. Friend's used ST and not hit anything... it could be that he was referring to not having any mobs in range, which is a problem. Wouldn't know personally, I've never used it. =P

[ QUOTE ]
Also, if you're going to bother with Cloak of Darkness, why not also pick up Weave, and slot Combat Jump for defense?

[/ QUOTE ]

Honestly, I only picked up CJ as a pre-requisite to SJ and Acro. Also I picked up CoD for the unsuppressed Stealth so I don't accidentally aggro nearby mobs.

Necromanced:
[ QUOTE ]
just a small suggestion but if you dont wanna go the route of acro you can place kb protection in place of one end reduc in thos shields like i did.

great place of it.! and 12 mag kb protection is nice..
if using i.o's their great for 4 slotting health with miracles ,regen tissue and numina rares

[/ QUOTE ]

Too Broke
(It's also in the IO build but that's another story)

[ QUOTE ]
One suggestion. Mention Dark/Dark TANKS in your title. Dark/Dark is shared by three ATs. It'd be super helpful to indicate which AT it is, in addition to being good form to mention that it is a dark/dark guide in the title.

[/ QUOTE ]

...The only place that has a link to it is on the Tank forum...

[ QUOTE ]
One suggestion. Mention Dark/Dark TANKS in your title. Dark/Dark is shared by three ATs.

[/ QUOTE ]

Tanker, Corrupter, Brute, Stalker and Defender...?

Good overall guide but the end red slotting on the toggles is truly excessive. 1 for each of the cheapest toggles and maybe 2 on things like Cloak of Fear.

A few more things about Soul Transfer...

It is auto hit. There is no accuracy check. It also lays a mag 30 stun an anything it hits, and makes you untouchable for 15 seconds, which, when considering the animation time, gives you a good 10 seconds of time where are able to affect but not be affected.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
One suggestion. Mention Dark/Dark TANKS in your title. Dark/Dark is shared by three ATs.

[/ QUOTE ]

Tanker, Corrupter, Brute, Stalker and Defender...?

Good overall guide but the end red slotting on the toggles is truly excessive. 1 for each of the cheapest toggles and maybe 2 on things like Cloak of Fear.

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't forget the Dark/Dark Scrapper

Nice guide!

The slotting looks pretty strange to me. Generally the reward for the third end reduction slot in a toggle is so small as to be negligible, and you should be saving the slot. I'd slot up the attacks more, and differently -- Midnight Grasp in particular I don't understand your slotting. Also I'd be interested in hearing your rationale for three-slotting Super Jump.

Sailboat

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
One suggestion. Mention Dark/Dark TANKS in your title. Dark/Dark is shared by three ATs.

[/ QUOTE ]

Tanker, Corrupter, Brute, Stalker and Defender...?

Good overall guide but the end red slotting on the toggles is truly excessive. 1 for each of the cheapest toggles and maybe 2 on things like Cloak of Fear.

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't forget the Dark/Dark Scrapper

[/ QUOTE ]

Gah, I was thinking dark melee/armor, but yes, the terminology for dark blast and miasma overlaps as well. I'd also forgotten that dark was also a stalker set.

The thing is, that this guide might pop up int he general listing of the guide to guides forum. Plus, it can't ever really hurt to actually include the AT of your guide into the title.

[ QUOTE ]

The slotting looks pretty strange to me. Generally the reward for the third end reduction slot in a toggle is so small as to be negligible, and you should be saving the slot. I'd slot up the attacks more, and differently -- Midnight Grasp in particular I don't understand your slotting. Also I'd be interested in hearing your rationale for three-slotting Super Jump.


[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]

Good overall guide but the end red slotting on the toggles is truly excessive. 1 for each of the cheapest toggles and maybe 2 on things like Cloak of Fear.


[/ QUOTE ]

Myself:
[ QUOTE ]
The reason that the fourth slot is in there and why there are (3) End Reductions in the three shields + DR... is addressed in the IO build... which I realize isn't there but that is arriving at a later date. The slotting on the IO (SET) Build is the exact same as the regular build.

[/ QUOTE ]

I apologize for the slow response, school and my 2 extra-curricular activities have taken up quite a lot of my time as of late, how ever now that things are settling down I have a bit more free time.

On the slotting: A lot of the wonky slotting issues can be resolved by knowing that I usually use the same number of slots in the OMGIO's build as in the regular build. That and the fact that I'm always tweaking the build to what I enjoy the most. This is why I slotted for 3 +jumpspeeds in SJ. I hate base SJ. I like not having to worry about end as much as possible after 22 (I know, here I am speaking about Dark Armor and how much I love it). My main has used every vetspec and freespec granted to him, and he'll be using another once I13 hits (but so will everyone else who plays INV/or /INV). That being said however, I did have an issue with the display of recovery versus end drain in Mid's, causing me to falsely believe that the end situation is worse than it was.

Here's a repost of the build from earlier in the thread, redone for the current forum:

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.81
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

King Darksource: Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Dark Armor
Secondary Power Set: Dark Melee
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Dark Embrace -- ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(3), ResDam-I(9), EndRdx-I(15), EndRdx-I(31), EndRdx-I(34)
Level 1: Shadow Punch -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(5), EndRdx-I(11), Acc-I(33), ToHitDeb-I(34), ToHitDeb-I(39)
Level 2: Murky Cloud -- ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(3), ResDam-I(9), EndRdx-I(15), EndRdx-I(36), EndRdx-I(37)
Level 4: Smite -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(5), EndRdx-I(11), Acc-I(34), ToHitDeb-I(40), ToHitDeb-I(40)
Level 6: Obsidian Shield -- ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(7), ResDam-I(7), EndRdx-I(17), EndRdx-I(37), EndRdx-I(37)
Level 8: Dark Regeneration -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(13), EndRdx-I(13), Acc-I(17), Acc-I(40), Acc-I(43)
Level 10: Taunt -- Taunt-I(A)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff-I(A)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Jump-I(A), Jump-I(43), Jump-I(43)
Level 16: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 18: Health -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(19), Heal-I(19), Heal-I(50)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(21), EndMod-I(21), EndMod-I(42)
Level 22: Death Shroud -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(23), EndRdx-I(23), Dmg-I(25), Acc-I(25)
Level 24: Acrobatics -- KBDist-I(A)
Level 26: Shadow Maul -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(27), EndRdx-I(27), Acc-I(45), ToHitDeb-I(45), ToHitDeb-I(45)
Level 28: Soul Drain -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(29), RechRdx-I(29), Acc-I(48)
Level 30: Cloak of Darkness -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(31), EndRdx-I(31)
Level 32: Cloak of Fear -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(33), EndRdx-I(33)
Level 35: Dark Consumption -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(36), RechRdx-I(36)
Level 38: Midnight Grasp -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(39), EndRdx-I(39)
Level 41: Boxing -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(42), EndRdx-I(42)
Level 44: Tough -- ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(46), ResDam-I(46), EndRdx-I(46)
Level 47: Touch of Fear -- Fear-I(A), EndRdx-I(48), EndRdx-I(48)
Level 49: Soul Transfer -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50), RechRdx-I(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
Level 4: Ninja Run

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