I gotta try out DA one of these days ... see if it's as bad/good as people say.
It's terrible in the early stages. 
But its WAY overpowered later when paired with the proper primary.
Its horrible at the early levs, and if you don't have the right primary, its all out hell in the later ones. Seven toggles was never my idea of fun. especially when you need to hit enemies, or atleast want to. DM would be the perfect primary due to Dark Consumption. I hate to sceam Io, but yeah, it definitely would benefit more from IO's early on. Great Psionic resist and good synergy with DM, but It's last on my list of tanks I want to get to 50.
"If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything"
"You're like Giraffe's, the way you look down on me, with your vegetarian scorn."
I played a Stone/Dark brute for a long time, and experimented with a Dark/Stone tank - these gentlemen speak the truth. It is powerful. Insanely powerful. You are a walking ball of disorient, with damage, knockdowns, holds, fears and the best PvE heal in the game backing it up.
The blue bar is managable, but you have to be VERY careful. Even with heavy IO slotting, I'd run out of endurance if I didn't pay close attention. It's probably got the highest skill requirement of sets I've played - it's very easy to go wrong, and devastating when you do. But the power is amazing when you play it right.
I resisted DA for a long time, and finally got one to 40. DA/Ice - built for pure team support, never even try to solo on that character.
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Dark/Energy has worked really well for me - Oppressive Gloom turns all my punches into boss-level stuns.
Solos pretty well too.
I agree that Dark/Stone sounds absolutley sick though 
Glad to hear the end game of this toon is good. I have mine at lvl 28 and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
@MarvelatMee and @COL Burn
24 - 50s
Too many ALTs
Just got to 50 and played "back up" tank to a stoner on the STF.
He died, I stepped in. I didn't even get a scratch.
I have mine slotted for about 40% melee defense, 30% ranged, and 34% AoE, as well as 76% S/L resist. It's like being a stone tank without all the walking slowly, -damage, and -rech.
Well I'm inspired. I tried DA/Stone to 20. It was OK, but I hated the concept of the character. Think I'll start working on the concept now and role one next server team night run...(so I don't have to solo it)
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Just got to 50 and played "back up" tank to a stoner on the STF.
He died, I stepped in. I didn't even get a scratch.
I have mine slotted for about 40% melee defense, 30% ranged, and 34% AoE, as well as 76% S/L resist. It's like being a stone tank without all the walking slowly, -damage, and -rech.
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I'm curious about your build because I slotted my dk/dm for typed defense, reaching ~71% S/L Resist, all other resists at 50-55% enhancement and ~46% S/L defense thinking it would be easier to soft cap due to kinetic combat. Did you take CJ+CoD+Weave?
CJ, CoD, Tough, and Weave, yeah. I sacrificed the soft cap for melee defense for the better defense of Ranged/AoE.
I used Touch of Death, Titanium Coating, and Zephyr sets, as well as Razzle Dazzle in OP and Stupefy in Fault. :P
Not gonna use Mids cus I'm lazy and dont want to rebuild it.
Dark Embrace, Murky Cloud, Obsidian Shield - 6 slotted with Titanium Coating
Dark Regeneration - Frankenslotted.
Op Gloom - 6 slotted with Razzle Dazzle
Cloak of Darkness - 3 slotted (LotG 7.5, Defense, Def/End)
Death Shroud - Two slotted with Multistrikes
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Fist, Mallet, Heavy Mallet, Seismic Smash - 6 slotted with Touch of Death
Build Up - 2 slotted with 50 recharges
Fault - 6 slotted with Stupefy
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Zephyr sets in CJ, SJ, and SS. Takes care of KB ^_^
Aegis 5 slotted in Tough.
Weave - One LotG Defense, and the 7.5
Yeah, that's what I figured. Part of the reason I didn't go with positional was the amount of slots it would take but it seems like you still manage to get respectable def numbers.
Sitting at 46 and let me just say: I've never seen something with the pure mitigation of DA/SM on a tanker.
Tanker: the point of resistance between bad guys and squishies.
DA/SM - Perma-Mag 4 AoE Stun and a giant ST Mag 4 Hold.
Hi, I cans tank.
And my endurance is not that bad at all! Since everything is perma-stunned, I don't even have to use DR!
I finally found a tank I like. ^_^