IMO a tank without taunt just isnt a TANK.
This is probably more because it represents the psychology of the tank. Taunt is such a good power, not taking it can really only mean one thing... the tank is not particularly team minded.
Taunt is 4 second recharge, 0 end cost, auto hit, 5 target.
There is no way that any epic ranged attack can come close to this.
If some poor defender is getting blasted into the red... what do you think that defender wants? a fire bolt that might hit one of his/her assailants, or a 100% certainty that they will all be pulled of him/her?
Taunt only requires 1 slot to be effective (you can slot more to be more effective, but it works right out of the box).
Also... Cabal? have you tried being a tank without taunt? Forget it, you may aswell not being on the team. Porters and Skyraiders can make life difficult.
To my mind there really is no excuse for not taking taunt. You can be an ok tank without it, but who wants to be just ok?
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As soon as humanely possible.
And if you are an invun tank, take it at 10 or you wont be worth much to a team.
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How come that applies just for invun tanks?
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Cos ya not worth much till 18 without it:P
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Indeed, and from personal experinece of Tanks, I'd say get it as early as you can, but overall, for the other powersets, only get Taunt when YOU feel, you can cope with the aggro you will attract -- if you have backup Empath/Kin-heal all good take it at level 10, but only if YOU yourself feel you can tank and cope with it...
Taunt on a tanker is a powerful ( if now rather nerfed ) power.. and shouldn't be underestimated when tanking with it, it can kill you just as easily as save your teammates.
Id rather have taunt and not need it, than need it and not have it...
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Id rather have taunt and not need it, than need it and not have it...
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Well said.
My oppinion of taunt is to get it at lvl 10.
I think every tanker can handle all the aggro at that level that they can generate. Doing the respec tf with Ghostmaker (my lvl 26 Inv/Axe tank) recently I was taking most of the aggro when allowed to with only yellow SO's in my shields (proably equivilant of Do's in effectivness) we did have 2 team wipes that I remember. One was caused by a second group being aggroed and me not realising until too late as I was trying to consolidate the aggro of the first group so it was me the players fault not the tanks aggro handling abilities fault. The second in the reactor where I just couldnt cope with the number of mobs about which I would put down to a lack of damage and knowledge on the team.
I would say that I coped ok with limited defences although Raz may be able to provide an objective view as he organised the respec.
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My oppinion of taunt is to get it at lvl 10.
I think every tanker can handle all the aggro at that level that they can generate. Doing the respec tf with Ghostmaker (my lvl 26 Inv/Axe tank) recently I was taking most of the aggro when allowed to with only yellow SO's in my shields (proably equivilant of Do's in effectivness) we did have 2 team wipes that I remember. One was caused by a second group being aggroed and me not realising until too late as I was trying to consolidate the aggro of the first group so it was me the players fault not the tanks aggro handling abilities fault. The second in the reactor where I just couldnt cope with the number of mobs about which I would put down to a lack of damage and knowledge on the team.
I would say that I coped ok with limited defences although Raz may be able to provide an objective view as he organised the respec.
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Considering what we was upagainst 
You did remarkable well. Kudos to ya.
i just used a respec... i took taunt at 49.... 
UNION
Officer Cuffz lvl 50 Inv/Nrg Tank
Badge lvl 50 dwarf/human Peacebringer
Dark Air lvl 50 Ice/Cold Corruptor
Ayre lvl 50 Storm/Elec Defender
Total Cat: @Officer Cuffz
"When I say interview, I mean engage in combat and defeat..." -Laura Brunetti, on how to deal with Warriors.
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i just used a respec... i took taunt at 49....
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Whaaat?
At least now I have it. Ive finally joined the ranks of "a real tank". At least now I can lay at rest any teammembers worries about my resolve of keeping their squishy behinds safe and protected against their own incompetence by just having them look at my bio...
(Truth be told, whenever I myself am on any of my squishier alts, the tanker having taunt DO put my minds at ease.)
So, why not earlier..
Well. Only time it is an issue is when exemplared, and I dont do that very much... except when visiting PvP zones.. and there are other powers that would serve me better at those occasions. Like being able to avoid detection, (invisibility) travel, (fly) or actual attack powers.
You know, to hurt the opponent.
UNION
Officer Cuffz lvl 50 Inv/Nrg Tank
Badge lvl 50 dwarf/human Peacebringer
Dark Air lvl 50 Ice/Cold Corruptor
Ayre lvl 50 Storm/Elec Defender
Total Cat: @Officer Cuffz
"When I say interview, I mean engage in combat and defeat..." -Laura Brunetti, on how to deal with Warriors.
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Whaaat?
At least now I have it. Ive finally joined the ranks of "a real tank". At least now I can lay at rest any teammembers worries about my resolve of keeping their squishy behinds safe and protected against their own incompetence by just having them look at my bio...
(Truth be told, whenever I myself am on any of my squishier alts, the tanker having taunt DO put my minds at ease.)
So, why not earlier..
Well. Only time it is an issue is when exemplared, and I dont do that very much... except when visiting PvP zones.. and there are other powers that would serve me better at those occasions. Like being able to avoid detection, (invisibility) travel, (fly) or actual attack powers.
You know, to hurt the opponent.
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fair nuff
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how you have aid other to help heal them is pointless if you can't pull those odd few mobs off the blaster who's nowhere the bulk of the enemy
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Ooooooooooooohhhhh, this is soooooo QFE.
*Tanker heals you for 187.5 points*
Me (as Rad Defender): "Eh? Why are you healing me?"
Tanker: "Because that guy is attacking you."
Me: "OK, but I'm a Rad Defender, I can heal my self. What I can't do is take several hundred bullets to the gut. Guess what? That's your job! So, here's a new plan: DO YOUR OWN [censored] JOB AND GET HIM OFF ME!!! "
/em bursts blood vessel, and rightly so 
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OMG i love that!!!
On topic i have duo'd as a blaster with a tanker and seen other duo's of blasters with tankers and in all cases taunt has been necessary. As my blaster i could safe in the knowledge that most definately all aggroed will be consolidated unleash everything i had on the herd (being assault rifle your more planted due to action times so need it more).
Taunt aura holds 10 so after the tanker has herded 17 (a blaster can hit upto 16 at once so thats good xp/time), 7 can quickly come for you, the higher the level you face the less chance of a blasters survival if you have to run to the blaster and possibly miss with a non autohit gauntlet. If the blaster dies the damage stops and it could mean a run for it from you or die too (poor blaster me thinks). Surprises do happen, unexpected waves of mobs, patrols, a blaster moving to prime multihit position may accidentally infringe perception range of another group. A tankers job is to on choosing a herdpoint offer the position up without chance of a nearby group as best possible. Many tankers dont and this is where trick archery's flash arrow can come in handy (a mere example of how a member of the team can make up for a tankers lackings which is nothing compared to where its get awayable to be up close to an AV as a tank and subject the rest of the team to the AVs cones, aoes and pbaoes when you have the AV -dam debuffed especially and - acc debuffed but not when you have one empath for example who cant offer everyone fortitude at the same time, doesnt have regeneration aura permable and cant heal everyone huge amounts at the same time, nothing to debuff the AV with so when half the team are wiped the empath often due to inexperience would be trying to resurrect players or heal other people other than the tanker whose healthbar is taking a downward trend, kiting can make it so only the tanker gets hit and not by much either usually and an empath doesnt have to panic thinking they have to try and be everywhere at once).
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.
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Taunt aura holds 10 so after the tanker has herded 17 (a blaster can hit upto 16 at once so thats good xp/time), 7 can quickly come for you
[/ QUOTE ]Chilling embrace applies instantly and lasts a while, with a bit moving around you can keep 17 foes with it.
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So, depending on when you want to start TF'ing, you'll get AV's from level 10 onwards (Cavern of Transcedence, Synapse (but not Positron) etc.).
Just get Taunt. Only then will I stop bugging you.
[/ QUOTE ]CoTT has EB, not AV, so earliest would be L16.
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So, depending on when you want to start TF'ing, you'll get AV's from level 10 onwards (Cavern of Transcedence, Synapse (but not Positron) etc.).
Just get Taunt. Only then will I stop bugging you.
[/ QUOTE ]CoTT has EB, not AV, so earliest would be L16.
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Eh? He is? Since when?
I always though it was a AV. Its a full party heroic, so AV-EB wont be triggered anymore (below 5 its only EB on heroic). And i think the log off trick is pretty hard to do in this trial.
50)Sinergy X/(50)Mika.
(50)MaceX/(50)Encore
Sign the petition, dont let CoH go down! SIGN!
Hmmm... I could swear he was an EB, he went down so fast...
EDIT: Bah, NoFuture lists him as an AV....Well, if he is one, he sure is the squishiest AV ever.
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Hmmm... I could swear he was an EB, he went down so fast...
EDIT: Bah, NoFuture lists him as an AV....Well, if he is one, he sure is the squishiest AV ever.
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Well, you can't expect much at level 15.
FWIW, when i did CoTt last week, he was a "Monster" class villain - so probably sitting in between the EB/AV divide (hence the squishiness)
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Taunt aura holds 10 so after the tanker has herded 17 (a blaster can hit upto 16 at once so thats good xp/time), 7 can quickly come for you
[/ QUOTE ]Chilling embrace applies instantly and lasts a while, with a bit moving around you can keep 17 foes with it.
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It won't be applied instantly. It will be at best a 1 second or 0.5 second tick rate, which I think it is and it makes it one of the better auras. The 10 target applies per tick, so yes with moving around you could in theory get 17. I'd like to see that done though, it would be interesting to watch.
I'm not sure how long the actual taunt duration is, it may be as long as the debuff ( about 5 seconds or so IIRC ) but I suspect it isn't.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
Is it me or did someone just **** in here?
i say that cos all your how to get by without taunt so far offers no one any potentially nigh on guaranteed safety and i like potentially nigh on guaranteed safety.
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.
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Chilling embrace applies instantly and lasts a while, with a bit moving around you can keep 17 foes with it.
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And while you are moving around, those 7 strays are firing off one attack each at the original object of their aggro, the squishy AoE magnet blaster.
My view on this is that you can hold aggro OK without taunt but you can't gather aggro unless you're the player that triggered it.
Then you're down to the question of why on earth not to take it in the first place? Tanks jobs are aggro management and taunt is one of the most effective tools for it. If you skip taunt, chances are you're putting an extra attack in or something else to fill out a role that is not the tanks and they're ill suited
It's like an empath taking absorb pain instead of aid other. They both a heal a target in trouble but one is so blindingly, obviously designed for it that it's madness
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Is it me or did someone just **** in here?
i say that cos all your how to get by without taunt so far offers no one any potentially nigh on guaranteed safety and i like potentially nigh on guaranteed safety.
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hey.. thats why they invented Empathy
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It's like an empath taking absorb pain instead of aid other. They both a heal a target in trouble but one is so blindingly, obviously designed for it that it's madness
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Indeed.
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Is it me or did someone just **** in here?
i say that cos all your how to get by without taunt so far offers no one any potentially nigh on guaranteed safety and i like potentially nigh on guaranteed safety.
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aye, but as i said in my question it's for duoing not regular teaming, so i'm wondering if that difference means that i'd be more use scranking as i only have one aggro target to worry about rather than building for pure tanking when little aggro management is required.
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how you have aid other to help heal them is pointless if you can't pull those odd few mobs off the blaster who's nowhere the bulk of the enemy
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Ooooooooooooohhhhh, this is soooooo QFE.
*Tanker heals you for 187.5 points*
Me (as Rad Defender): "Eh? Why are you healing me?"
Tanker: "Because that guy is attacking you."
Me: "OK, but I'm a Rad Defender, I can heal my self. What I can't do is take several hundred bullets to the gut. Guess what? That's your job! So, here's a new plan: DO YOUR OWN [censored] JOB AND GET HIM OFF ME!!! "
/em bursts blood vessel, and rightly so