Its hard to say imo its all down to your play style , i still love my fire/fire and now that ive used a respec and lost burn he seems to be even better.
I also just started a inv/ss tank whos working out well, Fire/Ice seems to be around alot more at the moment to due to ice slick and burn.
If you want something thats not seen much then try war mace dont think ive ever seen one.
Its all a matter of personal choice really.
Mr.Tanktastic is a Inv/SS and I was very determined he would be nothing else, as it fits in with the way I think of the character.
Tbh I screwed him up a bit in that I'm now level 20 and STILL don't have Temp Invulnerability (although I have unyielding and Invincibility) and I took hurdle but then got fly as my travel power (I took Air Superiority as an extra attack as its pretty damn handy).
I can still take a good beating and dish it out pretty well, I took Resist Physical Damage at level 1 and I picked up handclap along the way, which I regret now. I also want super jump instead of fly (although I'll probably keep Air Superiority as its a nice attack and fits in with the SS set, as it knocks opponents over like 95% of the time and it chains nicely).
I'm just waiting to get to level 24 and do the respec trial so I can 'fix' him - he's my first ever character and I was still a n00b when I made him (still am in some ways) but now I understand a lot more about the mechanics of the game and want to do him right.
Plus, Knockout blow has the funniest animation ever. FACT.
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Plus, Knockout blow has the funniest animation ever. FACT. [/color]
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Yep everytime i see it i think of popeye
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Plus, Knockout blow has the funniest animation ever. FACT.
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Just imagine that on a 3' tank, like my Ice/SS. That's just painful...
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
Even if you dont realy like a Granite Tanker, they are the best. Period 
50)Sinergy X/(50)Mika.
(50)MaceX/(50)Encore
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... in terms of Damage Mitigation. There's plenty of negatives to the Stone set, literally in the form of -Recharge, -Speed, -Damage etc etc.
But then, I am an Invuln fanboi. 
In my very humble opinion as I don't have much tanking experience 
I would go either invul/energy or invul/fire, depending on whether u want single target attacks or aoes
Each of the Primaries has advantages and disadvantages.
Stone Advantages : In Granite, the best damage mitigation, non-granite a regen tank. Aura has slow effect.
Stone Disadvantages : Mobility, has -jump and -fly in powers as well as self slow. Non-granite suffers from higher levels and high ranks until I7.
Inv Advantages : Slash Lethal damage and melee king!
Inv Disadvantages : Weak against non S/L damage types unless in Melee. No damage Aura.
Ice Advantages : Best Aggro holder, good consistant defences verses SLEN. Capped resist against cold. Aura has slow effect.
Ice Disadvantages : Weak against Fire. Suffers from higher levels and high ranks until I7.
Fire advantages : Consistant resistances verses SLEN. Capped resist against fire. Has the most usable combat heal. Most damaging primary from the best damage Aura + Burn + Fiery Embrace.
Fire disavantages : Weakest overall defensively, has no Hitpoint increasing power. No knockback protection meaning that you are 'forced' into the Leaping pool.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
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Stone Advantages : In Granite, the best damage mitigation, non-granite a regen tank. Aura has slow effect.
Stone Disadvantages : Mobility, has -jump and -fly in powers as well as self slow. Non-granite suffers from higher levels and high ranks until I7.
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Granite also has -Recharge (add 70% to all your recharge times) and -Dmg (about 30% less damage).
Granite is the only tanker toggle that can't be toggle-dropped (it can be overcome by a high enough Hold Mag though).
In PvP you are limited by the lack of mobility and vunerable to knockback without GA+Rooted combination. And everybody knows what a great tactic standing still is in PvP.
Imho PvP should not be considered into the question 'whats a good tanker', its a optional thing with way different aspects to consider compared to PvM (PvE) tanking. Mobs are stupid and always go for the tanker (taunt, punchvoke), players are a tiny bit smarter and skip the tanker most of the time.
A advantage granite/rooted has, end-drain protection (hello sappers!!)
Then again, i'm realy not a coh-pvp fan 
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(50)MaceX/(50)Encore
Sign the petition, dont let CoH go down! SIGN!
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Imho PvP should not be considered into the question 'whats a good tanker'
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That wasn't the question of the poster - and I disagree with you anyway - but moving on, the question was 'what sort of tank should i start..?'.
When I started with a Stone tank PvP didn't exist, now it is part of the game and the limitations (and benefits) of Stone in PvP are pretty clear. The movement limitations of GA are far less a problem in PvE than PvP and this is something a new player should know about.
you are free to disagree with me, each is free for his own opinion.
though:
topic title: Best Tank (good better best)
First line: what sort of tank should i start
so my question-stating is correct.
i found pretty good ways to get around in PvP zones, specialy in the cap30(or was it 31?) zone where GA isnt even available. Besides PvP is still a additional feature of the game, you dont have to play it and per definition not every player is going PvP.
50)Sinergy X/(50)Mika.
(50)MaceX/(50)Encore
Sign the petition, dont let CoH go down! SIGN!
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you are free to disagree with me, each is free for his own opinion.
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Could we drop the 'your opinion' 'my opinion' nonsense? It's perfectly obvious things I state are my opinion.
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though:
topic title: Best Tank (good better best)
First line: what sort of tank should i start
so my question-stating is correct.
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I was responding to your 'Imho PvP should not be considered into the question 'whats a good tanker' - so you think I should simply not comment?
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i found pretty good ways to get around in PvP zones, specialy in the cap30(or was it 31?) zone where GA isnt even available.
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Pre-Granite you have Rooted as your mezz protection, which is as limited as GA for movement.
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Besides PvP is still a additional feature of the game, you dont have to play it and per definition not every player is going PvP.
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You don't have to do TFs, Trials, Cape mission, Aura mission, go into the Hollows, go into the Shard get any of the Accolades - or in fact take any missions at all - but those things are still there.
I made a very simple point - Stone's (and especially GA) lack of mobility is a disadvantage in PvP, and the fact that it can't be toggle-dropped is an advantage. Why you think I shouldn't comment on this is beyond me.
if you are that short-minded, its pretty useless to reply any further for me.
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Well I have a 50 inv/ss tank and a 39 stone/stone tank (have a 40 stone brute as well, which is more pleasent to play than the stone tank but thats a different story)
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Toughest without a doubt is stone (after granite). Best is debatable.
Mobility or lack there of is a pain, don't underestimate the usefulness of being able to jump/sprint around in combat to grab back agro. Sure teleport or a speed boost help for granite but its not as good for mobility.
Soloing: If you want to solo, stone is pretty bad to be honest, lack of speed again can be an issue.
Agro control: While agro control on a stone tank is helped greatly by mud pots, the slower recharge once in granite does have a down side to all of your other powers, spamming attacks, taunts etc requires more effort with granite, doubled with you lack of mobility it again makes tanking that bit more difficult.
PvP: If you do want to do pvp, don't pick stone, I have pvped with all my characters at some point quite a bit, slam your head against a wall instead of playing stone, or just stay clear of granite for pvp its more enjoyable. Sure few will be able to kill you, but lets face it why bother even trying to kill a stone tank, just avoid it, its pretty easy and if you do use non granite then you are easy pickings due to lack of resistances (again though do try it, at least its more fun and you might if you are lucky kill something).
I won't comment on ice or fire as I've not played them.
Toughest but least versitile is stone, the rest are more balanced and rounded overall be it inv/ice or fire.
Best tank heh?
(/em ranton)
The best tank IS not a greedy scrapper wannabe who dosent want any debt, like most of the low level tanks i see these days. the amount of tauntless tanks is incredible. Often can barely hold their own fair share of aggro, let alone the lions share
(/em rant off)
The best tank IMHO is simply this:
A tank who can hold a goodly proportion of the aggro without falling.
If you do this as a stoney, you better make sure you are well equipped and skilled to grab the aggro, big time (taunt not optional, probably heavlily slotted).
If you do this as an ice, you will need to make sure you dont grab ALL the aggro and die .
So its skill, not AT - getting enough aggro (and that means most of it folks) to protect your team whilst not dying.
Of course, im answering from a team perspective...
(/em ranton)
If you are a selfish "Ohyeahiteambutreallyijustwanttosoloandsometimeste amwithoutevergettingdebtandwatchingmyteammatesdie" kindof tank, as seems FOTM, id go for a invun/energy tank and skip taunt.
(/em rantoff)
Pardon me, I have a filty cold, which as a mag3 irritable effect 
I personnally think Best Tank can be more easily defined more by what its secondary is than its primary. I will try and give an example...
Take stone a permy granite one
Give it say mace....
Ok u have a tough tank tho you will have the enemy pounding on u alot of thge time
Now take a stone/ice tank with ice patch u can all but half the amount of them pounding on you therefore increasing the effectivnous of your ability to survive.
Now depending on you interpret Tankiness, and in my opinion its the ability to hold and negate damage, therefore the stone/ice wins tankability handsdown.
i would say any tank with ice as a secondary is gonna be more Tanky than the others.
Im sorry if what im trying to say has come out not very clear, i have in my mind what im meaning to say buit im not sure if the words have come out right
ok thanks for your ideas, im going for a rock/ice tanker, thanks guys
The problem with stone/ice is that the -recharge will effect the ice secondary. This is second hand info, but a stone/ice player told me that he was unable to perma ice slick with granite on.
Therefore, it seems that granite still will suffer from the agro grab problem relative to other tanks.
Given that granite is the most resiliant one can get, if there was not a serious aggro-grab problem with it, the sets would be very unbalanced.
Ice hands (first /ice power) is a good punchvoke, the recharge is realy small. Put it together with the normal brawl, you have a pretty fast chain going on.
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(50)MaceX/(50)Encore
Sign the petition, dont let CoH go down! SIGN!
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The problem with stone/ice is that the -recharge will effect the ice secondary. This is second hand info, but a stone/ice player told me that he was unable to perma ice slick with granite on.
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He's mistaken, unless for some reason he refuses to slot it for recharge. It's not an aggro grabbing power, though. You need to grab the aggro before dropping it.
By my 50s shall ye know me:
Tundra, DVM, The Late, Neutrino Ghost, Sir Clanksalot, End Of Days, Prof. Migraine
Howler Monkey
if you're looking for a fun tanker, i'd go for fire, if you're looking for a quick game, go stone, if you're looking for a team player in the early stages of the game, I'd say ice, but if you're looking for a team player all the way though, then go for invulnerability
i meant stone fists etc and ice armor
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The problem with stone/ice is that the -recharge will effect the ice secondary. This is second hand info, but a stone/ice player told me that he was unable to perma ice slick with granite on.
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He's mistaken, unless for some reason he refuses to slot it for recharge. It's not an aggro grabbing power, though. You need to grab the aggro before dropping it.
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Thanks for correcting me... Ill tell him when I see him
Personally, I have always been a bit uneasy teaming with a perma-granite (not stone in general) tanks... I never feel they truly grab the aggro. Have seen one wisely take taunt and the presence pool though... much more reassuring and probably the best tank you could get
I have sneaking supsicion that ice tanks will be FOTM in issue 7 - and from the looks of the plethora of experienced players rolling ice tanks up to 20 (when unscaling defence starts to be problematic) I would say Im not the only one
What will be interesting is Ice tanks are the only tanks with debuff for a defence (CE) and we will start to see stacked CE... How would you like your pentad team to face 5 ice tanks and suddenly be caught in five chilling embraces and hit by five energy absorbtions...
what sort of tank should i start i dont really want a granite tanker because there are so many of those.... what do you guys think?