Two thoughts:
a) The main function is to take precicely enough %age aggro for the team. Enough that you and team will live. This %age alters according to team (scrappers? skwishies? other tanks), and the support you get from defenders / trollers.
b) Ini certain situations, such as rad/dark debuffs, or with lots of AoE, it becomes more impertitive to cluster the targets tightly together.
So tank tactics need to be flexible IMO.
1) Run towards enemy, getting shot lots.
2) Reach enemy, get hit in face
3) Fall over
4) Get rezzed by friendly empath
5) Re-engage toggles while team finishes most of mob
6) Start taunting just in time to catch the last minion as it goes down.
7) Run towards next mob...
DON'T eat muffins while I'm developing you.
Pants! Turkey Magnates! A man in a box! Rogue AI! Come one, come all, to arc ID 10107 - It's [i]'Not as long as some other arcs'[/i]!
[/color]<blockquote><font class="small">En réponse à:[/color]<hr />
Two thoughts:
a) The main function is to take precicely enough %age aggro for the team. Enough that you and team will live. This %age alters according to team (scrappers? skwishies? other tanks), and the support you get from defenders / trollers.
b) Ini certain situations, such as rad/dark debuffs, or with lots of AoE, it becomes more impertitive to cluster the targets tightly together.
So tank tactics need to be flexible IMO.
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nearly perfect ^^
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Two thoughts:
a) The main function is to take precicely enough %age aggro for the team. Enough that you and team will live. This %age alters according to team (scrappers? skwishies? other tanks), and the support you get from defenders / trollers.
b) Ini certain situations, such as rad/dark debuffs, or with lots of AoE, it becomes more impertitive to cluster the targets tightly together.
So tank tactics need to be flexible IMO.
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Well according to the Statesman School of Tanking, the main function is to engage whichever group of minions are least likely to hurt you while the rest of the team deal with the other mobs, then pop a few respites and go have a sit down.
According to the Spad School of Tanking (Open during I3, now closed for renovations) the main function is to hold the entirety of the aggro for the team. Scrappers and Blasters are then free to engage without danger while defenders and controllers can concentrate on healing, buffs, debuffs and locking down the enemy. Should any mob attempt to escape, a quick taunt should bring them back in line - otherwise Char does wonders if they're determined to scarper. In the event that it all goes pear-shaped, the tanker goes down with the ship, so to speak, in the hope that the rest of the team can get away.
Of course this can be insanely hard in I6 if your team are a bunch of muppets and still challenging if your team is only average. Put together a good or even excellent team, and you'll have no problems with the above.
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Put together a good or even excellent team, and you'll have no problems with the above.
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One could argue thats the problem. These teams rarely need a tank anyway 
I pretty much considder my tank dead. Its not that he cant survive, hes just not as good as other toons, namely trollers.
A Paragon Defender
Well my highest lvl toons are an ice/ice tank and a rad/elec Def
I retired my tank in issue 6, played my defender up to lvl 38 atm.
NOw i can assure you two things
a) My tank felt a whole lot safer basking in radation than with an empath
b) My radation defender worships tanks (particularly ice tanks)... cluster, debuff, kill. I rarely need to heal, empaths feel useless. Now this is a tight team, but it wouldny work without a solid tank who knows how to cluster.
...what i am trying to say is tanks have a very important role in clustering mobs when u play with debuffers or AoE blasters. You CAN do it without a tank, but its that much harder. So I have completely revised my opinion from playing my tank (tanks are useless) to tanks are extremely helpful... not for only managing aggro (although that is very helpful) but for manuevering enemies.
actually my tankin style will depend on the team
if i'm allowed i will go in an do my best to hold the agro whilst keeping watchfull eye on team mates, an sling my old hammer arround occasionly at the boss.
however as in a lot teams these day every other AT feels the need to be 1st in with there attacks, whether the controller thows down the hold before i,m off the starting block or a blasters firing an aoe
so if the battles already started and the enemy is spread then i'm a scranker.
idealy i would like to see more of this combo
tanker gets agro an taunts the enemy group ,controller thows his holds as the groups all in same area , thow out the aoe from the blaster and defenders, then the scrappers mop up
never fails but rarly happens 
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Put together a good or even excellent team, and you'll have no problems with the above.
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One could argue thats the problem. These teams rarely need a tank anyway
I pretty much considder my tank dead. Its not that he cant survive, hes just not as good as other toons, namely trollers.
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every one to there own opinion.
for me if i'm leader on another AT , i prefer follow the tank an let him do the job hes supposed to.
as for the tank not being needed , well no particaliar AT is needed just gud comonsense players.
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b) My radation defender worships tanks (particularly ice tanks)... cluster, debuff, kill. I rarely need to heal, empaths feel useless. Now this is a tight team, but it wouldny work without a solid tank who knows how to cluster.
...what i am trying to say is tanks have a very important role in clustering mobs when u play with debuffers or AoE blasters. You CAN do it without a tank, but its that much harder. So I have completely revised my opinion from playing my tank (tanks are useless) to tanks are extremely helpful... not for only managing aggro (although that is very helpful) but for manuevering enemies.
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Clustering enemies is certainly what Ice tanks do best due to the long aggro time of Chilling Embrace.
I spent the last few days teaming my Ice tank with a Nova specialised Peacebringer. Tanks and AoEs mix wonderfully. This is where the bonus of having a tank comes from, Nova Khelds and Fire Blasters ( better due to no knockback ) benefit hugely from being able to let rip without worry. It is one of those mutually beneficial relationships.
Add a rad defender in there too and you have one of the scariest trios ever.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
Had the pleasure of teaming with a decent low level Ice tank over the last 2 nights. First night was me (lvl 10/11 Fire / Rad troller) a defender (11 Rad / Rad) and an Ice Tank (level 11 too). We were fighting +2/3 trolls (orange / red minions).
Talk about effective tanking. They run in and as they were doing so we'd double RI on one lieut. They didn't just run in and start bashing, instead they did the Aura herding thing properly, I'd threw in Fire Cages and a hold on the non-anchor lieut and stand beside them with Hotfeet on and everything would die, anchor last. Every time.
So nice to work with a Tank who knows the trick isn't being the first one running in and basically scrapping, its to grab all the aggro (well enough so even Fire Cages could safely be deployed) and hold it, including grabbing aggro back off the squishies.
Especially when its a low level Hollows pick-up group. Did Frostie with the same player yesterday and it got me completely from 11 to 12.
Ice seems to be the flavour of the month in CoX though. The amount of Ice Tanks & Controllers running around...
Target a Lt or boss who is roughly in the middle of the group and then run or tp in. Hit Fault which has a fairly big AoE and should get the attention/knock down most of the group. Tremor straight after for the same affect. Check the situation whilst the Tremor animation is running. If the group is nicely packed, rinse and repeat - possibly taunting any bosses just to be on the safe side. If spread out a little I'll throw a taunt to pull in any small group of strays or if it's just the odd one, hit them with fossilize. Only when most of the group is dead will I try and do any damage with my big attacks.
For teams that wait for me to go in first I'll usually signal "Ready". For the more impatient lot, I'll tp in without warning to make sure I beat them to it and will often move onto the next group before the first is totally finished (as long as I know I can handle another group with no backup at all). All depends on the team and situation of course.
I think my methods very similar to Unthing with my ice/ice tank.
1. Run/Jump into middle of mob
2. Hit EA to get their attention and boost my def a little.
3. Ice patch!
4. If there are any bosses then I try holding them. I have two holds one from secondary pool and one from the epic pool. If AV's are there then again keep throwing holds at them hoping they will stack with other team members holds.
5. CE normally keeps the agro on me, if there is anyone outside of CE's influence I try to taunt them to keep their attention on me.
6. Keep an eye on the team window to watch people's health, if anyones health drops I click on them and hit taunt.
I try to keep the mobs as tight as I can around me. As its easier then to keep their focus which I depend on CE for (and taunts where its out of range etc), I don't have AOE's.
In terms of who I attack it really don't matter as I don't do much damage anyway (compared to the proper damage dealers), I will normally start off with the highest lvl/rank mob and work my way down usually.
If trying to tank AV's then I really need to remember to hit Hoarfrost before running in for that health boost.
@aaaARMSaaa
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I think my methods very similar to Unthing with my ice/ice tank.
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From your description it sounds more like the static style I use for Golden Golem than the more hectic/dynamic/jumpy one I [sometimes] use for the Hibernal Flea.
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5. CE normally keeps the agro on me, if there is anyone outside of CE's influence I try to taunt them to keep their attention on me.
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I've found ( on Hibernal Flea ) that CE's duration is such that jumping to the offending enemy, hitting an attack and jumping back usually means I don't lose aggro on main group but I can get the outlier into melee mode. A well placed local taunt pre-jump guarantees aggro is kept too. It seems a bit contrary to use taunt like this but seems to work. However you do end up feeling a bit like a sheepdog.
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6. Keep an eye on the team window to watch people's health, if anyones health drops I click on them and hit taunt.
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I tend to look at the people as well as the health bars on both tanks. I don't click on the teammate and taunt, I probably should, as targetting their enemy with the mouse can be slow and sometimes seconds count.
@Carnifax
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Ice seems to be the flavour of the month in CoX though. The amount of Ice Tanks & Controllers running around...
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I went for it because I wanted another tank. I didn't want another Inv ( I have 2 ) , I have a rotting Fire tank on defiant and a /Fire Brute. I don't like the idea of Stone, it looks ugly and I hate the idea of the equivalent of self imposed caltrops all the time so Ice was the obvious choice.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
My fire/ice-ling is still learning the art of team aggro, but this strategy so far seems to be working.
1) Deathwish
If the bunch is big enough to kill you, icepatch a corner first then taunt and duck into cover. Wait for them to bunch up and your second patch to recharge (I'm hastened) then jump into the crowd and patch them.
2) Headless Chicken
If they aren't a real threat to *you* just run around clocking them with your fists, standing by rangers long enough for them to switch to melee mode and follow you on foot. When you have a decent bunch, icepatch them, maybe burn them if your team needs the damage output, and then ignore them - go collect another bunch with your fists while the last lot are flapping. You can taunt them all together later if they still live when the patch expires.
3) Taunt anything NOT near you. Preferably stuff the team is attacking. Still working on how you spot the best taunt targets.
4) I do not rely on fire aura effects as I cannot quantify them. They definately work, but I won't factor them into any plan. 6 Slotted for 3dam/2acc/end. Probly buy and use taunts instead of damage for extended team runs, then drop them out later. Inf is cheap now (was cheap)
5) The Benny-Hill Maneuver
Had to invent this when most of an 8 man team disappeared on us when facing the certain death of a packed boss room of a cave system. The other 2/3 team members ducked down a side tunnel and stayed *very* still while I taunted the first cluster and ran for my life. The cluster strung out, ran past the side tunnel and the controller locked down the tail end as it streamed past. I was able to delay the rest long enough for the others to kill the first few and recharge lockdown on the first returners, with me taunting and splitting the other returns further.
Things I have to learn :
How to spot a blasters big AoE on sight and panic taunt the area to prevent his faceplant.
How to lower battlelag, especially in tunnels where you don't know where the hell you are from one frame to the next. I smell a macro.
To stop getting cocky when tanking on a purple mashing team. Things can go pear shaped *oh* so quickly...
To learn how to politely stop knockback players rescuing defenceless enemies from your icepatches, then faceplanting as they get up and thank him.
[i]If they get there first they'll make our dreams come true.
If we get there first we can stop them.[/i]
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if i'm allowed i will go in an do my best to hold the agro
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If I am not allowed to play as i play my tanker i go get my scrapper! and have successfully scranked tyrant, marauder, siege, malaise, mother mayhem all pretty much lvl 52, siege was 51 but is poo anyway with just my claws/super reflex post ED. How? its alot to do with the team.
I get my tank to play as a tank to suit my tanks build. If i dont get to play my way i often: A) leave team, B) go get an alt if i know people on the team, C) on a TF which i cant quit, park myself (I normally always have star).
Anyway that was derailing this thread a bit. My tanking tactics changes with different enemies and different people, you have to work with different AT's to an extent and different people of different experience to an extent so all i can offer are my general playstyle/ingame rules as a tank and some things thrown in. Some i may slack on at times as i sometimes forget ED has happened especially the allowing for an empaths buffs, i do myself prefer proactive buffing.
1) Have no one else pull! unless there is a possibly needed, but easily had, whittle down of numbers on offer but be ready to intercept aggro. Hopefully blaster will run past the outside corner your tank is on.
2) Tell people you prefer to have everything get to your aura before anyone fights no matter what (when i am really impatient people only have to attack pre-emptively ONCE and i am gone <head hits wall>. Its more frustrating from co-level 50's). Its also better for all types of defenders to have me grouphugging the enemy.
3) Try to have all cones etc in your direction only where reasonably possible by being the opposite side of enemy to team and therefore having the enemies backs to the team. You may have to taunt whats just outside of aura.
4) Be aware that people can effectively pass you in tight spot so they can get more aggro than the team needs through unaggroed enemy perception so herd groups away from eachother. (I often simply tell people not to pass me thinking that they wont..doh!)
5) Be facing the team as much as reasonably possible so you can easily see if other people get aggro and taunt.
6) Be ready to taunt in between every attack.
7) Take sappers out for oneself and gain aggro at sametime (at least you know the whole deed is done and fair enough a little bit of scranking is involved).
8) When you find you have Mr Knockback "Energy Blaster of 2006" on the team smacking enemies towards nearby groups watch for those in the other group to stand upright (thats often when they see someone even closer to them than you the tank is) and if so jump in.
9) Always respect the enemy - no showing off, being clever.
10) Be a confident tank, I personally like to be the only tanker as i am not sure about having another tanker in team. In fact i hate it.
11) Always watch healthbars in case someone has got themselves trouble and be ready to click their name and taunt because maybe you cant see them and often the person has targetted the enemy thats attacking them. (On a team without a healer its not good to have a stunned blaster toddling about for 15 secs slowly having their health bar drop whilst your attacking a stupid minion). I personally get very jealous if someone elses healthbar is moving.
12) Spread groups - move to where most enemies are grouped and aggro others through taunt, ranged and/or aoe powers coil up (weave them into you as much as possible).
13) Happily go down for a GOOD team but not for a BAD team where's the justice? (i have done just about every tf, trial, all AV's quite a few times over and over so i can often tell a blatant difference. When I hadnt i couldnt.
14) Dont tank in small rooms (aoes are bad for all) herd out (plus can be graphically blinding- lag).
15) Try not to have a squishie behind you as you taunt (as often cant be helped as they are looking for a stun grenade etc).
16) Offer blasters etc safe range because they will likely move into the best position to maximise their multihit potential (some often wont).
17) Allow space behind an AV so people can attack from there (that way hopefully the cone attacks meant for you doesnt get them too).
18) Try to be the only one the a healer has to heal as much as possible (lots easier that way, its a percentage heal and you can take multiple strikes at once anyway). Not taking the whole spawn for aggro = other people needing healing plus mess plus low DoT, taking all the spawn = just you for healing, no mess and fast multihits ftw. Defenders are more effective too. You know your doing well when people freely give you their insps just incase too.
19) Allow for buffs for the team as its better. Team survival = tanker survival.
20) Dont be ready till the defender says ready. People asking for clearmind cant get any while people are needing to be healed for example. Unforeseen events can happen.
21) Dont type to tell people anything whilst tanking even if its what they should of not done. Eyes down sometimes fails on the aggro keeping.
22) Let noobs die till they learn (as they can often help faceplant whole team if they dont). I have met some people I'd prefer to have laying dead as things are alot better that way for everyone else.
23) Dont let people allow you not to tank your way (my most common mistake levelling up is the teams actions/people seemably in a hurry sometimes dictated to me how i should tank - pressure can lead to mistakes).
24) Mistakes are made learn from them, everyone makes them.
25) Hamidon for debt badges!
26) Check your toggles as you enter the mission as you may not of necessarily forgot to have them on or turned them off yourself, it maybe some kind of bug.
27) Dont run into groups standing on blind corners there maybe a group just around it, dont run straight around blind corners.
28) Dont tank any group between any group vertically or horizontally as you will most often would of effectively herded the team into danger because someone is bound to be seen.
29) Fly-by taunts - taunt just as you hide behind a corner it minimises attacks you may recieve as enemy come to you (maximises chance for teams to rush in before consolidated aggro i know
). It can allow time to pick out a sapper if he was blind to you.
30) Never think that your the best, that success was down to you, as the team count for everything. As a blaster or especially as a defender i can make any tanker look seriously bad. Any numb nut can kite an AV the pressure is really on the rest of the team imo.
31) Insult(the egotistical)/advise(the ones you wanna be real good) other tanks for anything so that they may either like/hate you. They may most likely remember what you said about their tanking or about what they did or didnt do alot more and then become better for it and hopefully better than you, or perhaps equally importantly throw stuff back in your face so you may go "well yeah thanks for pointing that out" and get better as a tanker, some people just cant be critical and i do expect criticism.
32) Unstoppable crashing (my personal rules remember) - sometimes it does pay more to leave a team for just ten seconds block yourself have the crash and return than to have some defender try to ressurect you right next to an AV who will kill you again in no time.
32) 90% of the time dont expect to get to tank the way you want to (i do try semi-pick up teams out occasionally) and have scrapper mates that wrecklessly scrank, with them i mostly get my scrapper.
I see the tanker as a bodyguard and bodyguards have to tell their clients whats best for them sometimes and some of the above comes from low level experiences of which i am reminded with my other 3 tanks.
Tanking can sometimes be a thankless and unrespected task mostly to people who you may have slowed the xp rate for or caused boredom from being too careful, but thats because we all play for different reasons and so we should try to be with likeminded people. A mission is always failed in my eyes if someone dies. I am playing a hero, heroes dont shrug of deaths lightly, its my sense of roleplay. I dont play for xp. I'd rather be getting in, achieving objectives and getting out unscathed. We will all be good and bad in different peoples eyes for different reasons and some people will judge people over one thing and hold onto it.
All in all i think i can tank well enough for my 50 scrapper, 48 blaster, 34 controller, 50 defender but i am not playing other peoples toons. The chance for complete safety is often there but alot of people dont take it. Alot of what i learn about tanking comes from playing those other toons and knowing how things can be for them and some of that knowledge has come after my tanker made 50.
He will honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. What he promises he will fulfill. He does not care about his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another's troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, or shamelessly extol his own virtues. - Sima Qian.
1) i ask if the team is ready, I will only tank if I get a response about being ready or not.
2) I position myself somewhere which will make them spawn bunch together, but leave me somewhere so that I move around if needed.
3) I taunt the spawn and lead them to my spot, with mud pots on and rooted, I just wait for the team to take out the mobs.
4) if needed, I taunt around the edges of the spawn to keep any aggro my mud pots cannot keep, sending out a cone attack every now and then to help with the damage output.
5) if something goes wrong, I hit the run button and try to get the mob somewhere safe while the team runs, then I frost em for the slows, which coupled with mud pots can stop them long enough for me to escape aswell for another go, unless I have face-planted by now.
I am the Blaster, I have filled the role of Tank, Controller and Defender
Sometimes all at once.
Union EU player! Pip pip, tally ho, top hats and tea etc etc
a) How do you engage the enemy?
Usually TP into the middle of the mob... running is too slow (unless teamed with a kinetics!) and the team have usually aggroed by the time I get there If there isn't time to stop and TP in I will throw a fireball off to get their attention. Once TPed into the mob, will fire off a whirling hands and a taunt towards the back of the mob to focus the attention on me.
b) How do you retain aggro and control the enemy?
Combination of mud pots, whirling hands, taunt and fire ball. Will often use Fireball on a second mob rather than the mob around me if there are 2 groups of bad guys to pay attention to.
c) What targets do you go for with your attacks?
Generally bosses and lieutenants, but it depends on the enemy we are facing. In some cases there are bad guys that are more damaging to a team and will target those ones first. Rarely go for a minion unless one sneaks away to cause trouble.
Been a long time since I've really focused on tanking rather than scranking, but I go about it something like this...
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a) How do you engage the enemy?
Nothing fancy at all... just Sprint or Super Jump in the middle of the mob, positioning myself more or less optimally for the Taunt effect of Invincibility to affect as many foes as possible.
b) How do you retain aggro and control the enemy?
Primarily with the help of Taunt and Foot Stomp. Don't really take advantage of Punchvoke so much; once locked on to a specific foe, I'll usually stay on the foe until he's laying face down and not getting up.
c) What targets do you go for with your attacks?
Not following the Tanking School of Statesman, that's for sure. The highest ranking foe (AV -> EB -> Boss -> Lt. -> Minion) or the one posing the greater threat (Sapper, Quantum/Void [if I see them, that is]). Taking advantage of lower ranking foes for the defense buff of Invincibility while whittling down the health of the target (the Red Cap ambushes while taking on Snaptooth - awesome example, rarely got hit at all... except for when Rage crashed).
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To recap; more of a scranker these days than a tanker, really.
run thru the first mob group so you are at the back of the group, using the taunt aura this will pull this first group onto you.
taunt 2nd more distant group
the running to the far side of the group turns all the mobs round so any aoe or cone attacks coming out the mobs will be in your direction only, thus the rest of the party dont get all that hard to avoid damage.
I so rarely see any tank do this.
@ExtraGonk
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run thru the first mob group so you are at the back of the group, using the taunt aura this will pull this first group onto you.
taunt 2nd more distant group
the running to the far side of the group turns all the mobs round so any aoe or cone attacks coming out the mobs will be in your direction only, thus the rest of the party dont get all that hard to avoid damage.
I so rarely see any tank do this.
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I don't play my tank as much as I used to (gross understatement to be honest ) but when I do I almost always jump over the group before or while hitting taunt, unless the mission map doesn't easily allow it. I'd never involve a second group though, unless there was a good chance of them being aggroed anyway.
Defiant 50�s: Generalissimo, Righteous Bob, Splortch, Brutus Cayuga
Union 50's: Chimera Obscura, Diet Anthracite, Grim Proctologist, Puny Little Minion, Raging Bitumen
In Soviet Russia, mission farm you!
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run thru the first mob group so you are at the back of the group, using the taunt aura this will pull this first group onto you.
taunt 2nd more distant group
the running to the far side of the group turns all the mobs round so any aoe or cone attacks coming out the mobs will be in your direction only, thus the rest of the party dont get all that hard to avoid damage.
I so rarely see any tank do this.
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It is a more risky strategy than the 1 spawn at a time tactic but works well in some circumstances. However if as a result you can get all of them in melee with you it worthwhile as then AoEs can be used to quickly take 2 spawns out in about the same time as one.
Generally I would only do this is the team is clearly doing well, is AoE heavy and doesn't have too much in the way of knockback. Also I would have to be feeling confident that I could take 2 spawns, that 2 spawns is less than the aggro cap ( 17 enemies ) and that enough of the enemies will close with me ( mostly melee enemies ). On large teams you will hit the aggro cap. On small teams, duoing and trioing this becomes a good way to clear missions faster.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
tactics vary depending on the enemy involved, how many levels they are above me and how good my team are but my main aim is to not let the team attack until I have the aggro sorted.
I always make it clear the team should attack when I say ready because if the aggro isnt contained, they get it when they attack.
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To learn how to politely stop knockback players rescuing defenceless enemies from your icepatches, then faceplanting as they get up and thank him.
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You can never explain to an nrg blaster that his useless nrg torrent, power push or explosive blast will only send the mobs flying and scatter them while aggroed on him.
They'll _always_ fire nrg torrent into your herd, always use explosive blaste when you have a nicely packed mob and always push the EB-/Boss away into another mob with power push/power thrust.
They have those powers and they fire them. Anytime they're up. Slotted for knockback.
I tried everything to make them understand but it's been useless, I tried to be polite, I tried to shout and I tried to show them what I meant..To no avail..
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To learn how to politely stop knockback players rescuing defenceless enemies from your icepatches, then faceplanting as they get up and thank him.
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You can never explain to an nrg blaster that his useless nrg torrent, power push or explosive blast will only send the mobs flying and scatter them while aggroed on him.
They'll _always_ fire nrg torrent into your herd, always use explosive blaste when you have a nicely packed mob and always push the EB-/Boss away into another mob with power push/power thrust.
They have those powers and they fire them. Anytime they're up. Slotted for knockback.
I tried everything to make them understand but it's been useless, I tried to be polite, I tried to shout and I tried to show them what I meant..To no avail..
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Most often i herd to a wall or an inside corner so that my footstomp becomes more knockdown than knockback and i ask people with knockbacks to direct them at the walls, I'd say 50% of the time they start doing this, at lower levels though I swear someone let their six year old on the game.
He will honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. What he promises he will fulfill. He does not care about his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another's troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, or shamelessly extol his own virtues. - Sima Qian.
After various thread recently about the importance of various powers ( Taunt and Auras ) I thought I would start a thread about tanking tactics.
So what are your tanking tactics and what powers are most useful in achieving them.
a) How do you engage the enemy?
b) How do you retain aggro and control the enemy?
c) What targets do you go for with your attacks?
Let's start with Golden Golem, Lvl 50 Inv/Fire
Engagement -
Method A: For patient teams or hard enemies, he hides, pokes round a corner and taunts ( slotted for range ). When they reach the corner he leads with Combustion.
Method B: For Gungho teams and easier enemies, he runs jumps and then hits Combustion in the middle of the spawn.
Aggro Control -
Generally he goes for the AoE heavy approach, usually using Fire Sword Circle and Combustion. If enemies insist on staying at range he closes with them, only stubbornly ranged enemies won't engage him then. Sometimes moving in circles or jumping over the heads of enemies helps gather them. Taunt is left in reserve so it can be used for enemies outside the immediate vacinity. The advantage of AoE heavy attacks is that you can look at the squishies when targeting enemies and keep out of range danagerous enemies targetted. Invincibility and Hastened Combustion are the main tools of the trade. The grouping means he can usually get enough defence from Invincibility to not worry about non-slash/lethal damage.
Preferred targets
Usually Bosses then lts, he will leave minion to last as they die from AoE splash damage.
Next my new tanker, Hibernal Flea a level 17 Ice/SS.
Engagement - as per Golden Golem but without Combustion and more blatant use of his aura.
Aggro Control -
The major difference here is far more use of jumping from one side of the spawn to the other and more blatant use of punchvoke with his quick Jabs and Haymakers. Chilling Embrace causes the enemies to slow to a crawl so sub-par defences can be avoided by pretending to be the ball in a primary school football match. This also has the advantage that it entices all the enemies into melee range and makes them run to get you very slowly. Taunt is used occasionally on the stragglers is they start to break from the group. Combat Jumping is essential for this strategy, he also has Hurdle, which gives him better initial jump speed at the expense of landing accuracy. This is a far more mobile tanking style than Golden Golem as involves more tanking from the edge of the spawn than from the middle.
Preferred Targets -
Bosses are nasty for Ice at this level, so they are prime targets for taunting and leaving them in Baywatch mode. Generally he will spread attacks over the group rather than concentrate on anyone. However if there is an energy or fire user around they will get a Haymaker in the painful parts.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.