Best Tanker for a Scrapp-a-holic?

Greetings fellow Scrappers!

I am a Scrapper Addict. All other ATs I've tried have paled before the pure awesome that is Scrapperdom. However, I was thinking of trying a Tanker out. My SG has very few (read 2 of dubious effictiveness), and I was going to level one, but I tried out a Fire/EM back in I4 and couldn't get into him, so I am worried about the one I start having a "scrappery-feel"

I was looking at possibly rolling a SD/SS, only because I've never tried a -/SD scrapper, and figured that the novelty would help me stay with the toon. I also was thinking that AAO + Rage + Footstomp would be fun, effective, and have high enough damage that I wouldn't feel terribly gimped in the damage department. I have the inf to sink into SD/- to soft-cap it, so I figured it would be solid for Tanking. I also know Smashing is resisted more late-game than DM or Fire, but I've got a 50 FM/SR and a 42 DM/Regen scrapper, so I was looking to try something new.

I'm not terribly familiar with Super Strength and have no idea whether it has a remotely viable ST attack chain. I have read that SD/SS is end heavy, but between the +recovery uniques and some IO bonuses I was hoping that would be manageble. From the few Tanker guides, I have gathered that Hurl and Handclap are skippable, and Taunt and Punch optional. Sadly, the Tanker forums are somewhat lacking in SD/SS guides as well as -/SS in general.

So, anyone have any input as to whether this would feel more Scrappy than other possible combos, yet still be able to Tank effectively, as well as possible ST attack chains? If not, what would you reccommend and why?

Thanks in advance!

MY Ice/Fire puts out a lot of damage as well as being able to tank well (2 taunt auras, including one that damages, plus lots of AoEs). SD/Fire would also be a great AoE toon. SS only gets its AoE at 38... And shield charge is on a long timer.

If you're looking for a scrappery tank, you can make a DPS tank out of Shield Defense/Super Strength. I'm not a tanker expert, but just fiddling around, I hit 135 DPS with an Invulnerability/Super Strength build in Mids'. A properly-built Shield Defense/Super Strength tanker should be able to solo a pylon and make mincemeat of AVs, if somewhat slowly on both counts.

The attack string I used for it was Knockout Blow -> Haymaker -> Fire Blast -> Boxing -> Haymaker -> Fire Blast. You're looking at +227% recharge in Knockout Blow for that chain, but you want all the recharge you can get to double stack Rage as much as you can. In the example I made, you get five chains with double rage, crash for ten seconds, then do one chain with a single rage, then repeat. I don't think I had endurance down to sustainability, but I think I had it very close. It's definitely in reach.

Fiery Melee is pretty good, but didn't measure up to my maxed-out Super Strength (10 DPS lower). Same story with Energy Melee. I didn't look at any of the others. I personally built a Shield Defense/Dark Melee, which I'm fairly certain would beat Super Strength for both damage and survivability, except that Foot Stomp = LOVE. If you haven't played Super Strength, DO IT It's very smashy. I'm a big fan.

(Edit: Wait, thinking further, Super Strength is kind of a waste of Shield Defense. Since Super Strength gets much of its damage from Rage, the additional damage from Against All Odds will make a much smaller difference. I still think it would be a lot of fun for you, but some other primary would probably beat it on DPS.)

I'd probably go with FA/SS, but SD probably does a decent job too. Rage just seems to provide a lot of extra damage for tanks which puts it on top, at least with the proper IOs. My fire/fire tank which I've had for ages isn't shabby at all though and I've been happy with his output.

I archived this build I found on the forums a little while back by Ishtar. I'm not sure where the original post is. It's expensive, but seems like the most scrapperish tank I've ever seen in or out of game. I'm not sure about the original post anymore, but this build isn't mine.

Ishar's tank:

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If your a scrapp-a-holic i would say, IMHO, wait till i16 and go for an elec/elec tank! not necessarily elec armor but electric melee is great AoE and you will feel very scrapperish.

My 2 inf

Shield/SS is the way to go, you do stupid amounts of damage.

I finally settled on SD/DM for my tank. While SS is a great set, I despise the rage crash. And at the high end, when fully abusing AAO+SoulDrain, SD/DM is tops for damage output.

I've got a Fire/Axe and an Ice/Ice tanker thats been sitting in the mid 40's for years now. Cool concepts, awesome looks, respectable resists and defenses, well slotted with IO's...I just can't seem to play them for more than a few minutes. Going from any of my army of scrapper alts back to the tankers just doesn't work, seems like it takes forever for them to kill things.

I'm not too sure how this would pan out since I haven't gotten around to leveling mine. How about Ice/DB? Two taunt auras, one of them is dmg, end recovery tool, and lovely cones perfect for most ice tank's playstyle. Round them up, cut them up, and watch them drop. Of course, it won't be as much dmg as a scrapper but it will still get the job done and be fun to do... and watch.

SD/DM is the scrappiest tank you will ever play. Mine is sitting at 39 or 40. I often forget I am playing a tank, becaue it just feels so much like a scrapper.

SD/DM tankers have been soloing AV's and such, so the damage is there. And it's a trivial thing to softcap Shields on a tanker.

I'll throw my vote for Inv/DM, because playing mine kinda feels like cheating. If you're planning to IO out the build, softcapping an Inv tanker will pretty much achieve granite levels of tough without the drawbacks. Inv/Stone is heavy on endurance, and the SMASH.

Another option for a scrapper-like tanker is Fire/DM. Two fast recharging self-heals, two end recovery powers, a ST fear, an immob for leveraging burn, two build up powers, and good ST attacks. Fire/DM has pretty much every tool available to it.