To the OP, if you happen to choose Willpower, then I strongly recommend checking out Heraclea's "Complete Amazon" guide (there's a link to it in her sig). I've made two WP tankers, one Super Strength and one Energy Melee, following some suggestions from that guide, and I'll tell you from experience that it handles beautifully. Even if your character conceptually isn't an "Amazon," (as mine aren't) her suggestions work. She shows you how to start a tanker and strip away the three main things that might make your early game boring and frustrating: 1) being too squishy to tank properly, 2) not doing enough damage, and 3) running out of endurance too easily.
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Hey everyone.. I just started playing CoH a couple of days ago, and after some playing around I've decided on making on Tanker. While I am new to the game, I have been a tank for pretty much my entire MMO career. I played and main tanked WoW's endgame as a Warrior, a Paladin, and a Death Knight for almost 4 years. I love to tank, and I understand what tanking is and what it involves (in a general sense, of course).
I did have a few questions regarding Tanking and power sets in CoH before I fully committed though.
For starters, I was looking for a combo that would be good for tanking yet also allow for decent leveling/soloing/small group stuff. I always see people saying "just pick what sounds fun", but fun for me is not using sub-par skills/abilities.
Right now I'm using Inv/SS which seems pretty decent, but I'm still undecided. WP, Ice Armor, and Shield also all look interesting as far as Primary sets go. Same with Dark Melee in Secondary.
So really, I'm undecided as far as the following:
Primary: Inv, WP, IA, and Shield.
Secondary: SS and DM
Are there any combinations of those sets that people might consider "the best"? I'm aware that there might not be a "best", but I'm really just looking for some general strengths/weaknesses of certain combos in different situations.
Thanks for any tips or suggestions.
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Some other tips regarding your criteria with any Tanker you choose:
Get Stamina by L20 (means you need two of Hurdle/Swift/Health first).
Get Hasten in your mid 20s at some point (70% haste).
Utilize the two build option with one defensive and one solo build. You will probably find the defensive build (depending the combination you pick of course) doesn't need IO sets as fast as the solo build (for enjoyment purposes). Eventually (and again depending on the combo you choose) you can merge the builds together (in other words, you can make your solo build tough enough to tank anything in most cases).
Finally I will say that its not the normal hyperbole that any Tanker combo can eventually tank anything. This game, from a tanking perspective, is much more dumbed down then WoW is from the same perspective. You'll find the hardest challenges early on (teens and twenties) and the game becoming ridiculously easy into your thirties and beyond.
Finally, get past the first 20 levels. The first 20 levels of a Tank will make you feel like you chose the AT poorly. Stick with it and you'll be glad you did (in this respect its not totally unlike a WoW Warrior).
Good luck