New to the game....Tanker questions

I just created a Tanker, I think he is a Mutation/Fire build? He is pretty fun to play, but I would like some suggestions on the build from anyone that has experience as a tanker or working with them.

I opted to not get a Running/Flying/Jumping power and got the taunt power section, hope that wasn't a mistake...

I have been working up my defensive side and now have 3-4 slots in the passive defense and 2-3 slots in my limited invulnerability spot. Also recently got the resist elements power and have 2 slots in that now.

On the fire side, I have Combustion, Fire Swords and 1 other (AOE type ability)

For the taunt, I took the 2nd choice, which I believe is Provoke as it seemed to be better than Challenge.

So my question is this...What should I focus on now? What would make my tank more "Group Friendly" in the near future. I just did my first partnering today with a scrapper and it was a lot of fun. He helped me kill Frostfire, which I could not do on my own.

I am pretty casual in my play, playing a bit here and there, moreso very late at night PST. I play on the first server too, Victory? So if anyone would like to partner up, shoot me a message here and I will seek you out. I should be level 12 next time I log in. Name: Agent Flashover

Thanks for any replies!

Welcome to the boards and to City of Heroes.

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Originally Posted by Strykr I just created a Tanker, I think he is a Mutation/Fire build? He is pretty fun to play, but I would like some suggestions on the build from anyone that has experience as a tanker or working with them.

I'm no Tank Master, but I can give some simple advice.

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I opted to not get a Running/Flying/Jumping power and got the taunt power section, hope that wasn't a mistake...

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For the taunt, I took the 2nd choice, which I believe is Provoke as it seemed to be better than Challenge.

The Presence Pool is not terribly useful for Tankers. As a power option in your Secondary at level 8, there should have been a Taunt Power. This power is more effective than Provoke. In addition to the Tanker's inherent Gauntlet, which does a potential "Taunt" everytime you attack an opponent, Taunt should be all you need to hold the aggro from large numbers of enemies.

Despair not. We should be getting a free respec with Issue 16, and you could also use your alternate build as a "poor man's respec" until then.

Be aware, at low levels, your defenses are not mature enough to actually handle all the aggro you could generate. Once you get in your 20s, you will see a dramatic increae in your survivability.

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I have been working up my defensive side and now have 3-4 slots in the passive defense and 2-3 slots in my limited invulnerability spot. Also recently got the resist elements power and have 2 slots in that now.

Passive powers that only enhance one attribute almost never benefit from having more than 3 slots devoted to them. When you respec or use your alternate build, you should take the extra slot or two from Passive Resist Damage Power, and put them in Temporary Invulnerability. Temporary Invulnerability enhances your Damage Resistance to a greater degree, and it takes more than one kind of enhancement.

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On the fire side, I have Combustion, Fire Swords and 1 other (AOE type ability)

Three attacks at level 8-10 sounds about right.

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So my question is this...What should I focus on now? What would make my tank more "Group Friendly" in the near future. I just did my first partnering today with a scrapper and it was a lot of fun. He helped me kill Frostfire, which I could not do on my own.

At this point, you can probably still "wing it." You aren't doing enough damage? Take another attack at the next opportunity. You seem to be taking more damage than you think you should? Add another defensive power. Dull Pain, then Unyielding would be good choices for you next on the defensive side of things.

You should be seriously reconsidering that Travel Power, though. A fast moving team hates to wait for people to arrive at the mission door. As a conscientious player, you can get by without one if you know your way around the city. I've been delaying my travel power picks lately, and I'm almost never the last one to arrive at a mission door.

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I am pretty casual in my play, playing a bit here and there, moreso very late at night PST. I play on the first server too, Victory? So if anyone would like to partner up, shoot me a message here and I will seek you out. I should be level 12 next time I log in. Name: Agent Flashover Thanks for any replies!

The game is pretty casual friendly. The "loot" isn't required to succeed, and nothing you "equip" or craft will change the look of your character unless you want it to.

Maybe I'll see you in game. I'll see if I have anyone level 10-12 on Victory.

Wow, guys, thanks a ton. That is all extremely helpful and I'll have to look into the respec thing. Seems I made some mistakes that I'd like to take back. I just leveled up to 12 and took the Taunt ability and it works really good, saved a defender with it today. And I am certainly missing out on the travel powers so I'd like to look into that as well.

I'll check out the wiki and the tanker forum. All great suggestions and much appreciated.

It was mentioned above, if you don't want to wait for the Free Respec when the new issue comes out, you can use the Second/Duo/Alternate Build feature.

Talk to a Trainer NPC (like Ms Liberty or Blue Steel).
- You'll see a choice for "Select Your Active Build". Choose it.
- Next screen is "Select Build 1 or Build 2". Choose Build 2. You'll notice your powers tray emptying out.
- Then talk to the Trainer again to "Train up to next level". You'll be starting from level 1.
- Repeat training up until you get back to your current level. Choose wisely.

Note: you can swap back between Build 1 and Build 2 at any time (with a 15 minutes recharge between swaps).

Note: each Build is independent of the other, so each will require its own set of enhancements. The first time you use it, all your slots will be empty when you finish.

Since you mentioned that you're level 12, don't bother re-buying the Training Origin (TO) enhancements. You ought to moving on to the Dual Origin (DO) enhancements at this time anyway. Dual Origin enhancements are twice as effective as Training Origin enhancements. Later at level 22, you'll want to start using Single Origin (SO) enhancements, which are twice as effective as DOs. Around the 30s, you may want to start looking into the Invention Origin (IO) enhancements, either the "common" IOs or the named "Set" IOs.

If you need Influence. let us know and we can give you some tips on how to build up some.

I also want to reiterate, for the Invul/* powerset,
- Temp Invulnerability
- Dull Pain
- Unyielding Stance
- Invincibility
are your heavy armors. Get them as soon as they become available. Slot them up.

The passives Resists are the light armors. You can pick them up later when you can.

In terms of the attacks, they're all ok, so it's up to you. The general rule of thumb I follow is to get 2-3 attacks so you can actually defeat foes on your own. Include an AOE attack as soon as it become available to help with keeping all the foes in the immediate area interested in you. In the early levels, slot each attack with an Endurance Reduction enhancement first, then Accuracy and Damage as you can allocate slots to the powers.

Taunt is up for debate, but it's not priority. I take when I can fit it in and feel that I can actually survive the extra aggro.

In regards to Travel powers, you'll need to take one of the prerequisite powers first. I'd like to point out that Air Superiority from the Flight power pool is great. Aside from the decent damage, it has guaranteed knockdown. You can keep a Boss completely out of the fight by bouncing him. And while he's getting up, you can dish out 1-2 attacks before he's ready. Air Superiority can ensure that he's never ready. 2 Accuracies is the minimum slotting for it and it will save your life. You can add more enhancement later if you feel like it. And, of course, Fly is really nice.

How important is Resist Physical Damage? I am getting the idea that Limited Invulnerability is the primary that I should have with 2-3 slots in it.

I am going to re-spec using the Alt-Build, I'll have to sell some of the salvage I have accumulated to do so, but that is fine, I am still very young so I will not have lost too much in the process.

In game, in the chat, type:

[Resist Physical Damage] and [Temp Invulnerability] (with the square brackets)

This will create links that you can click to bring up the info on the powers. You can see for yourself what the numbers are.

Or you can go to http://coh.redtomax.com/data/powers/

Make mistakes and asks questions. It's how the knowledgeable people learned in the first place.

Welcome to the game.

The advice given above is excellent, of course.

I appreciate your concern that a tanker should taunt, I won't suggest you go tauntless (I have both types) but I do almost always recommend delaying taunt a bit.

Low level tanks are not bad, but other than good hit points, are not as survivable as you might assume. It's probably best to rely on gauntlet to pick up its share of aggro until you can handle more attention.

At early levels on a team, either you'll be fighting reasonable sized mobs that gauntlet would probably do good enough on (when Taunt would be overkill) or you are fighting unreasonably sized mobs that will get you killed fast, and then the team would have no tank. In those cases, it's best for the team to deal with excess aggro that a living tank isn't grabbing, vs. all the aggro that the dead tank isn't grabbing.

Once you get some hardened defenses and resistances, then choosing to take taunt is not a bad choice. I'm not saying delaying taunt into the 30s or something (although... it's interesting to do that...) just don't feel that you need it immediately.

Again, thanks for the great information. I had done the alternate build and actually went with combat jumping and now Super Jump at 14. For some reason, I like the idea of a tanker type being a jumper not a flyer, I guess more so for roleplay reasons. It might hinder me a bit not having the additional attack right now, but my original build is actually not horrible for soloing, not great either but more effective than my alt build at this time. (Also I am still earning money to reslot all my stuff on the alt build and doing so with DO's so it is expensive)

The build planner is a really great help to me. Although I am straying a bit from the flight path, everything else is great info and I'll implement it as soon as I can.