Ice is a good set and much tougher than it used to be.
Not sure about Ice melee however...?
How about Ice/Energy Melee or Ice/Super Strength?
Both of those would give good defence and good damage.
I have a Inv/SS tank who solos and teams quite well.
Well, I'm obviously advising you roll an Invuln/SS tanker because it's THE tanker.
Nothing can come close to that build because you're as tough as it comes without being debuffed to hell and back, have a proper attack chain (unlike Ice and EM) and can manage your endurance well (unlike if you get a proper attack chain with Stone Melee)plus, there's the most important factor of all, YOU'RE SHINY!!!
If you played an Invuln brute you may have noticed how ugly the look of the set is on the villain side and that Resist Physical Damage, Unyelding, Invincibility and Tough Hide are the cornerstones of the set, while the other passives are a bit [lot] pants 
i really wouldnt advise ice melee for soloing without a damage aura and so 'any but invuln'/ice melee would be okay to me because it would be slow soloing. You solo better with aoes because you can do more damage to groups at a time rather than single targets and ss is very late on its pbaoe at 38 and also very late on its damage buff at 28.
For teams you cant go wrong with any as long as you play to your strengths and work on doing something about the weaknesses. Especially by playing to give the other people in the team the best chance to do what they do well - very well. If you dont allow time for buffs and/or safety for debuffs and controls then things can go badly.
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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Well, I'm obviously advising you roll an Invuln/SS tanker because it's THE tanker.
Nothing can come close to that build because you're as tough as it comes without being debuffed to hell and back, have a proper attack chain (unlike Ice and EM) and can manage your endurance well (unlike if you get a proper attack chain with Stone Melee)plus, there's the most important factor of all, YOU'RE SHINY!!!
If you played an Invuln brute you may have noticed how ugly the look of the set is on the villain side and that Resist Physical Damage, Unyelding, Invincibility and Tough Hide are the cornerstones of the set, while the other passives are a bit [lot] pants
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When rolling a tank, the last thing you want to do is listen to Jiaozy. 
Inv - Yes... good resistance and yes your shiny.
Energy Melee - Yes... It's amazing.
Super Strength - No... bog standard, everyone has it, pants.
Ice/Ice is a very nice tanktrollerish combination in teams but anything but nice solo. Ice/ice sucks end like mad. Before stamina the toggles totally cancel out normal end recovery and even after stamina ice builds tend to be quite tight endurance-wise.
A friend and me circumvent this problem by him playing the ice tank and me playing my kinetic defender. This way we have an astonishingly survivable core and can build quite decent PUGs around us... as long as people listen to the advice that it is not a good idea to intercept the incoming herd with AoE attacks - or even immobs - before they are nicely bunched around the tank.
With foes slowed by Chilling Embrace, jumping up and down on the Ice Patch and constantly taking damage from Icicles you could almost forget that ice has some decent defense on top of that.
If it has eyes, you can blind it, if it has blood, you can make it bleed, if it has a mouth, you can make it scream.
Ive Been toying with the idea of doing an Ice/Axe tank, not sure how it would work though. build advice much apreciated ^^
I've got an Inv/Fire tank and although it takes a few levels to get going properly I find it's a very good combo for teaming and soloing. Enough has been said about Inv but fiery melee gives decent damage output and has great AoEs for grabbing aggro when you team.
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Ive Been toying with the idea of doing an Ice/Axe tank, not sure how it would work though. build advice much apreciated ^^
[/ QUOTE ]It worked just fine for me, L41 atm.
My build:
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Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
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Level: 50
Archetype: Tanker
Primary: Ice Armor
Secondary: Battle Axe
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01) --> Hoarfrost==> Rechg(1)Rechg(3)Rechg(3)Heal(7)Heal(17)Heal(17)
01) --> Gash==> Acc(1)Dmg(9)Dmg(13)Dmg(15)
02) --> Frozen Armor==> EndRdx(2)DefBuf(5)DefBuf(5)DefBuf(7)
04) --> Chilling Embrace==> EndRdx(4)
06) --> Beheader==> Acc(6)Dmg(9)Dmg(13)Dmg(15)Rechg(46)EndRdx(46)
08) --> Wet Ice==> EndRdx(8)
10) --> Hasten==> Rechg(10)Rechg(11)Rechg(11)
12) --> Hurdle==> Jump(12)
14) --> Super Speed==> Run(14)
16) --> Health==> Heal(16)
18) --> Glacial Armor==> EndRdx(18)DefBuf(19)DefBuf(19)DefBuf(23)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20)EndMod(21)EndMod(21)
22) --> Swoop==> Acc(22)Dmg(23)Dmg(25)Dmg(25)Rechg(37)EndRdx(46)
24) --> Aid Other==> Heal(24)
26) --> Energy Absorbtion==> Rechg(26)Rechg(27)Rechg(27)DefBuf(34)DefBuf(34)EndMod(37)
28) --> Whirling Axe==> Acc(28)Dmg(29)Dmg(29)Dmg(33)Rechg(34)EndRdx(43)
30) --> Aid Self==> Heal(30)Heal(31)Heal(31)Rechg(31)IntRdx(33)EndRdx(33)
32) --> Hibernate==> Heal(32)
35) --> Cleave==> Acc(35)Dmg(36)Dmg(36)Dmg(36)Rechg(37)EndRdx(40)
38) --> Pendulum==> Acc(38)Dmg(39)Dmg(39)Dmg(39)Rechg(40)EndRdx(40)
41) --> Char==> Acc(41)Hold(42)Hold(42)Hold(42)Rechg(43)Rechg(43)
44) --> Fire Blast==> Acc(44)Dmg(45)Dmg(45)Dmg(45)
47) --> Fire Ball==> Acc(47)Dmg(48)Dmg(48)Dmg(48)Rechg(50)Rechg(50)
49) --> Taunt==> Rechg(49)Taunt(50)
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Medicine pool at 24 and Taunt at 49... Say, you don´t team too often, do you?
Even for an ice tanker lvl 49 is a little bit very late for Taunt with all those AVs running around in the 40ies.
If it has eyes, you can blind it, if it has blood, you can make it bleed, if it has a mouth, you can make it scream.
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Medicine pool at 24 and Taunt at 49... Say, you don´t team too often, do you?
Even for an ice tanker lvl 49 is a little bit very late for Taunt with all those AVs running around in the 40ies.
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Long before that, with Mary Macoumber with her hurricane running around. Will gauntlet work? No. Will it work when they buff gauntlet? No not necessarily. Hurricane is just going to put it to bed. Dr Vahzilock is first and you could go "we need this, that and the other" because of its level to team but i wouldnt as taunt can be used to damage mitigate due to range.
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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Medicine pool at 24 and Taunt at 49... Say, you don´t team too often, do you?
Even for an ice tanker lvl 49 is a little bit very late for Taunt with all those AVs running around in the 40ies.
[/ QUOTE ]Oh, I team all the time, and keep full aggro against anything but AV's. And AV's should be easy to keep focused on the tank with the changes, once they fix auras and gauntlet, so no-taunt build is even more viable nowdays.
I've been doing the Posi TF with my tank exemped to 15 (normally level 50) over the last few nights and it's the first time in almost a year that I've played a tank with no aura. I have to say, if I hadn't had taunt I'd just have been a pretty poor scrapper and a serious underperformer in a team that also consisted of a PB, a scrapper and a blaster. Hell, without my aura I was having to taunt like crazy. And belive me, a Kheldian will appreciate that taunt when the Quants and Void Stalkers appear.
I don't really get the argument against taunt, especially for Inv tanks that don't get a taunt aura until level 18. Even if you are absolutely adamant that you want to try tanking without a taunt I'd say get it and respec it out later or else you're not much of an asset.
At least there's one crumb of comfort from the latest patch that makes taunt aura work on AVs and GMs once again, albeit it's not auto-hit and there's a -20% accuracy penalty. Still better having taunt.
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Energy Melee - Yes... It's amazing.
Super Strength - No... bog standard, everyone has it, pants.
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My take on it... Energy Melee - Slightly camp glowy effects, attacks look comically underpowered, the two attacks worth taking don't arrive til levels 35 & 38, sound effects remind me of Tinkerbell
SuperStrength - Meaty hits throughout, RAGE, chunky sound effects, RAGE, Knockout Blow has the finest animation of any melee attack in the game, says I, RAGE, level 38 power is not only powerful but AoE and with slight soft control. Incidentally, SuperStrength also has Rage.
It may be cliché, but SS is just that damn good.
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]!
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Ice/Ice is a very nice tanktrollerish combination in teams but anything but nice solo. Ice/ice sucks end like mad. Before stamina the toggles totally cancel out normal end recovery and even after stamina ice builds tend to be quite tight endurance-wise.
A friend and me circumvent this problem by him playing the ice tank and me playing my kinetic defender.
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ice tank end heavy? ahahahahahahaha, lv 26 energy absorbtion, slot it for rech and whatever, if you are in big teams, you will NEVER run out of end.
Indeed OoOozy. My Ice/SS tank has all her attacks slotted with acc/dmg/recharge - no end redcutions at all and I can attack non-stop with only the occasional pause to taunt a stray mob.
Also, as MaX says, once gauntlet is fixed (again) a non-taunt build will be perfectly viable with the only problem being mobs who stay at range/run away and there are ways around that.
Octavian Vanguard
@ohmsEU and @ohms 2
Badging character: Bimble on the Union server, Badgehunter.com and City Info Tracker.
Looks like auras still wont cut the mustard folks. Need "to hit" for AVs. So unless you plan on heavy aura slotting (and i mean heavy) taunt remains a must level 40+. Id still be pretty nervous taking on an AV with a tauntless tank myself.
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Also, as MaX says, once gauntlet is fixed (again) a non-taunt build will be perfectly viable with the only problem being mobs who stay at range/run away and there are ways around that
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Aura and gauntlet will be poo against AVs after the changes.
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.
[ QUOTE ]
Super Strength - No... bog standard, everyone has it, pants.
[/ QUOTE ]
I don't 
Afaik Ice melee is ok for tanking (ice patch) but not so much for damage. All tanker primaries have good points now. Fire has become the regen of tankers (however without dull pain) with healing flames . Invul and Ice are propably the most 'ordinary'. Stone can be indestructible at the expense of damage.
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Medicine pool at 24 and Taunt at 49... Say, you don´t team too often, do you?
Even for an ice tanker lvl 49 is a little bit very late for Taunt with all those AVs running around in the 40ies.
[/ QUOTE ]Oh, I team all the time, and keep full aggro against anything but AV's. And AV's should be easy to keep focused on the tank with the changes, once they fix auras and gauntlet, so no-taunt build is even more viable nowdays.
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That doesnt mean you should make one
DOes anyone have a linky to gauntlet / aura changes. I read somewhere that auras will have to pass a "to hit" roll at -20% accuracy to keep a AV interested.
If this is the case, I cant see taunt being anything other than invaluable im afraid.
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DOes anyone have a linky to gauntlet / aura changes. I read somewhere that auras will have to pass a "to hit" roll at -20% accuracy to keep a AV interested.
If this is the case, I cant see taunt being anything other than invaluable im afraid.
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If this is the case then Ice/Invuln will have a massive advantage over Fire/Stone as the "tick rate" of their auras is much higher, resulting in a much higher chance of hitting the AV before the previous taunt wears off.
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DOes anyone have a linky to gauntlet / aura changes. I read somewhere that auras will have to pass a "to hit" roll at -20% accuracy to keep a AV interested.
If this is the case, I cant see taunt being anything other than invaluable im afraid.
[/ QUOTE ]I recall somebody (_Castle_ maybe?) saying that even with the ToHit penalty, a tank who has aura on and keeps attacking the AV should keep his attention for most of the fight.
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DOes anyone have a linky to gauntlet / aura changes. I read somewhere that auras will have to pass a "to hit" roll at -20% accuracy to keep a AV interested.
If this is the case, I cant see taunt being anything other than invaluable im afraid.
[/ QUOTE ]I recall somebody (_Castle_ maybe?) saying that even with the ToHit penalty, a tank who has aura on and keeps attacking the AV should keep his attention for most of the fight.
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Just use taunt. So much for 'massive advantage'.
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Also, as MaX says, once gauntlet is fixed (again) a non-taunt build will be perfectly viable with the only problem being mobs who stay at range/run away and there are ways around that
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Aura and gauntlet will be poo against AVs after the changes.
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Castle disagrees:
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Auto-Hit powers roll a To Hit check, but then ignore the result (ForceHit = TRUE) However, since the Gauntlet effect is ForceHit = False vs. AV's, that portion of the power still uses the To Hit check. So, Invincibility if unmodified in any other way, would have a 55% chance every second of having the Gauntlet effect take effect.
Honestly, though, the effect should be pretty transparent. If you have an aura on and are constantly attacking, there is a virtual certainty that you will be able to grab and maintain aggro on an AV or GM within a couple seconds of engaging.
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Some interesting discussion in this thread on the US forums including a more detailed explanation from Castle on how it works.
Octavian Vanguard
@ohmsEU and @ohms 2
Badging character: Bimble on the Union server, Badgehunter.com and City Info Tracker.
I am so bored of scrappers so gonna roll a tank, but know sweet FA about them, but i got a SS/INV brute which i love,
)
so what power sets should i go for, i'll be doing solo and groups, i've teamed up with an ice/inv tank and i just love his ice patch ( or whatever it's called ).
I'm leaning towards ice/ice just coz it's cool.
any advice would be great many thanks.