Take every power in the Invuln Primary. Get Temp Invulnerbaility, Unyielding, Invincibility and Unstoppable as soon as possible. The Passives (The three Resist X powers and Tough Hide) can be delayed in favour of more interesting things, but still pick them up eventually.
As for Energy Melee, Stun is about the only power you don't really want. Energy Transfer and Total Focus are awesome, take them ASAP. Taunt is obviously also an auto-pick, but it's up to you when to take it (however having it ASAP will help your Tanking lots). Everything else is useful, however Barrage is pretty weak overall and although I'm forced to take it, I haven't slotted it and don't use it anymore at lvl 50.
There is a debate raging currently about whether the Fighting Pool is a smart choice for Invuln Tankers. Yes, it adds a lot of survivability, but the End cost of the additional toggles will flatten your Recovery and I'm really not sure they are needed with Unstoppable there to take up the slack. I don't have the Fighting Pool on MBar and I probably never will.
Invuln/EM is good in teams and solo. Levels 40 - 50 can be tough as the amount of Psi Damage the badguys do increases, but with a little Defender support, you'll be fine. [img]/uk/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]
My advice is :
Get Temp Invulnerability and Dull Pain before Resist Physical Damage.
Get Unyielding and Invincibility ASAP ( 8 and 18 ).
Don't get the Resist elements / energies until the 20s.
Don't spend too many slots on Unyielding early, it makes practically no difference.
Slot up Dull Pain to 6 slots by the early teens, you can then slot 6 recharge on it and have it up 2/3rd of the time. 40% more hitpoints makes you way harder.
Add 2 slots to invincibility ASAP.
Because of a lack of a damage Aura until level 18, you have to rely on Punchvoke and taunt to gain aggro.
AoEs for tankers are good. Whirling Hands is an average AoE but is worth taking and 6 slotting ( perhaps in the early 20s? ).
If you are going to go for the fighting pool, you are probably best respeccing into it in the 20s. With the fighting pool you really don't need Resist Physical Damage.
I've found low levels tanks are quite tedious to solo without getting lots of attacks. This limits your usefulness in teams. Normally I get 2 attacks and taunt before 22, stamina and a travel power. The rest are armours.
Energy has the problem that it's really heavy attacks come at level 35 and 38, which means fighting bosses solo before that is a complete pain. ( I had the same problem but worse with /Fire ).
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
I agree with Unthing completely on this. Ravenhart was my first toon and I took all the passives to early and struggled a little. Dull Pain is a fantastic power and increased my durability no end. I would also try and fit in stamina ASAP as with all those toggles running your blue bar will suffer. Finally as a personal preference I took CJ and SJ as travel powers mainly due stacking defence with CJ. (No Need for Acrobatics).
Ravenhart Lev 50 Inv/War Mace Tanker
CactusJack Lev 20 Plant/Thorn Dom
ChillWinston Lev 9 Ice/Ice Dom
CJ is a nice power. It stacks with Tough Hide / Invincibilty and also provides great combat maneuverability.
However from other travel pools
Hasten is good too, it boosts the recharge of Dull Pain so it is up more often.
Air Superiority is a great power for using as a knockdown on bosses etc.
I have both Hasten and CJ on both my tanks.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
I run with Air superiority and Fly on my inv/em.
AS is pure juggle goodness and can keep bosses up in the air.
With Fly i laugh at Earth thorns mudpots, Tsoo and Knives of artemis caltrops.
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.
Most important thing to do as your tanker is refelct back to when you played your defender and look at all the things the tankers have done in the past that made you less effective.
Did they not wait for you to buff other people or them?
Did they run in to a small room with a herd or pull forward for too long blocking themselves from heals?
Was it a small room of jaegers that people felt compelled to fight in and had no way of escaping the aoes?
Did they force you to run past mobs just to get to them?
Did they not herd up making you have to heal the team instead of just the tank?
Did they try to direct the line of fire away from teams so that cone type mezz effects or attacks are directed away from you?
Or maybe they were going to before that n00b scrapper and co jumped in and started fighting before the tanker got to finish the herd and consolidation part of things.
Builds are one thing but actually playing to suit the defensive sets in the team is imo what tankers should really be trying to do for survivability.
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.
I allready now have a lvl 50 Empathy Defender and now wish to build a Tanker for teaming NOT PvP.
I am looking to go with Invun / Energy. I wish to know if i build this right, will i be able to hold the aggro for the team at the same time be able to do the damage if need be, if i wish to solo.
I did try a Stone / SS but didnt like the Granite Armour even with recharge reductions in my 2ndry powers it took years for them to come back even Taunt [img]/uk/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] Which is a pain if im soloing.But then again im new to this so it might of been me slotting it all wrong.
So any advice on a build or other choices i should look at would be appreciated. Basicaly im being greedy i want a tank that would help out a team & at the same time be able to solo without problems and have fun. Thanks all [img]/uk/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/uk/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]