Ok, first I strongly recommend teleport for a stone tank; any other travel power forces you to turn off your mez protection in order to move at more than a crawl. I'm not a big fan of TP either but it really is the best choice for combat mobility on a stoner.
Primary powers you'll want:
- Rock Armor - slot to ED cap defense
- Earth's Embrace - ideally ED cap recharge & heal
- Rooted - slot to ED cap heal
- Mud Pots - this is an oddball, I slot a mix of Multi-strike & Scirocco's to ED cap damage & end reduction with decent accuracy but there's lots of other options. It will likely be your #1 damage power over time.
- Stone Skin - this is fine with one resist in the base slot, that caps you out with Granite.
- Granite Armor - ED cap resistance then ED cap defense.
Pool powers
- Swift - 3 runspeed, Health, Stamina - 3 endmod (I'm sure you already know this part)
- Recall/TP - no other travel power works with Rooted or Granite... you won't be able to even hop over a curb without it unless you detoggle first.
- Hasten is useful
- I've found Hover makes a HUGE difference with using TP for zone travel... you don't have to worry about falling out of the sky.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 37 Natural Tanker
Primary Power Set: Stone Armor
Secondary Power Set: Electrical Melee
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Flight
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Rock Armor -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Charged Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Earth's Embrace -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Jacobs Ladder -- Empty(A)
Level 6: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 8: Rooted -- Empty(A)
Level 10: Taunt -- Empty(A)
Level 12: Recall Friend -- Empty(A)
Level 14: Teleport Foe -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Health -- Empty(A)
Level 18: Mud Pots -- Empty(A)
Level 20: Stamina -- Empty(A)
Level 22: Stone Skin -- Empty(A)
Level 24: Thunder Strike -- Empty(A)
Level 26: Havoc Punch -- Empty(A)
Level 28: Chain Induction -- Empty(A)
Level 30: Hasten -- Empty(A)
Level 32: Granite Armor -- Empty(A)
Level 35: Hover -- Empty(A)
Level 38: Lightning Rod -- Empty(A)
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
Answering questions as they appear:
Fly and Sprint, and Rooted are mutually exclusive: Toggling one will shut off the other, so you shouldn't really need to mess around with special binds for it. However, do note that Rooted cannot be activated while off the ground, so maybe the binds would be useful for Fly/Rooted. Sort of. You'd still get hung up by the grounding requirement.
For minimums on leveling, Rock Armor and Minerals. Crystal Armor can be helpful but isn't necessary. Brimstone...meh. I never really found it to be useful.
Depends on what you need. Soft-capping is always a good plan however. Movement and recharge are probably the next desirable bonuses, with movement being the top in my opinion.
-DMG: Maybe. It's only 30%. If you slot for (for ease of comparison) 100% damage enhancement in each attack, you're looking at an overall 15% loss. I wouldn't slot for it explicitly but I'm sure you'll pick some up in the crossfire from other bonuses. But if you really are that concerned about the damage, trying to shoehorn in Assault would go a long way towards solving that "issue".
-RECH: Yes and to have a bonus while in Granite is possible.
-SPD: Easily. 3 slotted Swift alone will counter Granite entirely (well, except for like -2% depending on how close you get to 100% enhancement). With slotted Swift, base speed in Rooted only takes another 20% which is pretty simple to acquire.
Blue: ~Knockback Squad on Guardian~
Red: ~Undoing of Virtue on [3 guesses]~
Thank you Awesome!
Yes, that was what I expected: TP and nothing but TP .. lol
That's where Lightning Rod would have come into play, but guess it's on a way too long timer and not enough range to be of any use on a good team.
Granite, the restrictions will really bite me since I'm a damage and recharge freak.
You say Hover, does that mean Hover allows to keep Rooted and/or Granite on?
Or just to prevent falling between TP applications?
I'd really like to have a flying stone - or diamond in this case - tank, but guess it's not going to happen, unless Hover does work wit Granite on.
Thanks for the template, looks like an all-out Granite (respec?) build. 
LostHalo,
first off thanks for the tip with 3-slotted Swift, never thought about that (only 1-slot on all my other toons, maybe have to look more into that now).
I just opened Mid's and the -RECH from Granite totally wreck havoc on all other powers.
Lightning Rod is now totally out of the equation for combat zapping.
Was looking forward to a around 30 second timer with Hasten and global -RECH.
Okay simple question:
Is Stone playable without Granite at all? The other shields seem to work together, then adding Weave (and Tough) to work towards defense soft-cap.
Reason I ask is because I really like to fly, especially on that toon. If Granite is a must-have, I might be better off with Ice/ and then try to get the looks right.
Sorrys for double post, but I think this deserves a new post
In Mid's when I slot Winter's Gift: Slow Resistance (20%) it seems to counter Granite's speed and recharge debuff by a good chunk. Is it true?
edit:
nvm, Granite was turned off when I turned Hover on. Just checked in game and detailed info says all of Granite's debuffs are unresistable.
Toon is getting deleted, I'll try to go with Ice/ now. Thanks for the feedback so far.
I want the "diamond armor" for the looks and Fly is a must have too.
Granites debuffs (unresistable) are too much on top of the travel power denial.
I was debating over an Stone/Elm or Stone/DB. This is how Ive seen most Stone tanks go, and probably how you would want to go if you don't end up dropping this toon. Take Teleport (self), TP Foe, Swift, Lightning Rod. That way you will be TP (self) every other mob and LR'ing in between with the occasional TP Foe. Like Call Me Awesome said, mud pots is probably your most damaging power ( I would slot some procs in it IMO). You arent going to be dealing massive amounts of damage in a tank anyway, but the AoEs on ELM are nice, especially w/ mudpots & Taunt keeping foes in range. I would remove recall friend and put in either Hover/Fly or AS/Fly. You can still fly in between zones/missions, you will just have to turn off Granite. Pretty much once you get granite you wont be running much else. I would take the defensive powers as I/O mules only (Aegis movement, LotG +rech, Kismet + Acc, ect). You shouldnt be worried about movement too much while in granite form as most foes will be in melee range already and runners will be taken care of w/ TP foe. I wouldnt delete this toon, but thats me. I thinks its a great concept. If it weren't for the curiosity of seeing a Granite DB spinning, slicing, and dicing I would have made this one already and PL'd him to 32ish. just my 2 inf tho.
Quote:
The latter, Hover makes life much easier when you're traveling with TP.|
Originally Posted by munecaroon
Thank you Awesome!
Yes, that was what I expected: TP and nothing but TP .. lol That's where Lightning Rod would have come into play, but guess it's on a way too long timer and not enough range to be of any use on a good team. Granite, the restrictions will really bite me since I'm a damage and recharge freak. You say Hover, does that mean Hover allows to keep Rooted and/or Granite on? Or just to prevent falling between TP applications? |
Quote:
|
I'd really like to have a flying stone - or diamond in this case - tank, but guess it's not going to happen, unless Hover does work wit Granite on. Thanks for the template, looks like an all-out Granite (respec?) build.
|
On the template, that's what I would run as a leveling build... Brimstone and Crystal are, for the most part, pointless to have as the S/L defense of Rock will function against the majority of exotic damage and the regen in Rooted is enough to handle the occasional attack that doesn't have an S/L component. I've leveled two stone tanks to 50 and have never had Brimstone or Crystal armor and have never missed them.
Minerals is only good vs Psionic damage; and Psi is very rare... below level 40 it's almost non-existent. Off the top of my head I can think of 4 AV's and a half dozen missions where Psi damage predominates and all of them are in the 40-50 range. Even for those rare situations Minerals isn't required by any stretch, my Invuln who had zero protection to Psi didn't have any significant problem with those enemies when I was leveling him back in issue 3 long before IO's came into the game.
I've had Minerals in and out of my Stone builds; for those very few situations where Psi predominates (remember, you can't have Granite running while Minerals is up) I'm not sure it isn't better to just carry a different inspiration load or count on your teammate's buffs.
Quote:
|
I just opened Mid's and the -RECH from Granite totally wreck havoc on all other powers. Lightning Rod is now totally out of the equation for combat zapping. Was looking forward to a around 30 second timer with Hasten and global -RECH. Okay simple question: Is Stone playable without Granite at all? The other shields seem to work together, then adding Weave (and Tough) to work towards defense soft-cap. Reason I ask is because I really like to fly, especially on that toon. If Granite is a must-have, I might be better off with Ice/ and then try to get the looks right. |
It seems pointless to me to play a stone tanker and not have Granite available; the supreme durability of Granite is most of the reason to play the Stone set.
The second most durable tank, counting moderate IO investment, is Invulnerability and it has none of the drawbacks of Stone. Another good choice would be Shield... slow starting but once it matures it will be a phenomenal tanking and damage dealing machine. Once again, no real restrictions on travel.
I have a level bumped Shield/Electric at 50 on Test (from the closed beta testing) and that's a mighty impressive combination. Light on the single target damage but very strong AOE and highly survivable even on a straight SO build.
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
Quote:
Of course my method just uses a single Kinetics but hey. And it's surprisingly easy to make use of if you know what to look for.
|
Originally Posted by Call Me Awesome
There's no way you're going to be able to fly with Rooted or Granite... it just isn't possible. Also, you will not be able to jump at all, not even over a 2' curb. Well, someone did get together ~14 kinetics to all hit Inertial Reduction on a Granite tank and he was able to jump... but that's a parlor trick, not something that's useful. It took way more than a full team worth of kinetics to pull it off.
|
Blue: ~Knockback Squad on Guardian~
Red: ~Undoing of Virtue on [3 guesses]~
Quote:
Speed Boost is very useful of course, but the parlor trick I was referring to was allowing a Granite to jump... that takes a BUNCH of kinetics to stack enough Inertial Reduction to overcome the -jump of Granite. No way a single Kin will get a Granite airborne.|
Originally Posted by LostHalo
Of course my method just uses a single Kinetics but hey. And it's surprisingly easy to make use of if you know what to look for.
|
Before anyone jumps in <so to speak> and comments, the experiment in stacking Inertial Reduction on a Granite to allow him to jump was just a "I wonder if it's possible" thing and it took lots of work and a bunch of kins to pull off... it's nothing that applies to actual teaming.
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
I'm just gonna add a different perspective. I've several stone tanks and on one I did something different, while It has granite I decided to use it as a panic button. I took all the stone armours and Super Speed instead of TP. After slotting with IO's and set bonuses the set came alive and I love it, It's a mix of soft cap S/L E/N and psi with 39% S/L resist and 44% F/C with a good dose of Regen. For day to day tanking granite stays off and there are no penalties. When something goes wrong or tanking an AV, Granite goes on, I stop with the damage powers and switch to pure taunt, fault and tremor (with Mud pots) The -Spd and -Dam are not an issue as I'm not moving or dealing damage.
Personally I think it's about utilising the whole set. I don't need TP as for most of the time I'm not in Granite and turning rooted off between mobs isn't really a problem.
Just my take on things.
Quote:
It's not Speed Boost that does what I'm doing and it only takes a single IR.
|
Originally Posted by Call Me Awesome
Speed Boost is very useful of course, but the parlor trick I was referring to was allowing a Granite to jump... that takes a BUNCH of kinetics to stack enough Inertial Reduction to overcome the -jump of Granite. No way a single Kin will get a Granite airborne.
|
Blue: ~Knockback Squad on Guardian~
Red: ~Undoing of Virtue on [3 guesses]~
Interesting. What does your toon look like with all of those weird armor add-ons? I love the look of Granite though. The hulking goliath of stone. lol. I've heard there is a way thru set IOs to negate all of the debuffs from granite to run @ sprint speed and possibly faster.
Problem for the OP is that he wants to fly, and unless he wants to turn granite off and then fly, he's kinda SoL.
Quote:
I confess to being clueless to what one IR can accomplish for a Stone tanker... it won't get you off the ground if you have Granite or Rooted up. Care to share what the trick is?
|
Originally Posted by LostHalo
It's not Speed Boost that does what I'm doing and it only takes a single IR.
|
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
Basically, I take advantage of the +MovementFriction/+MovementControl buffs from IR and use it to...rail up the slope. The video linked in my signature shows exactly what I'm talking about (and for amusement's sake, there's a video response of people doing the alternate method of stacking IR for traditional jumping).
My video is getting old and embarrassingly low quality but I'm also getting older and lazier so whether or not I make a new version showing the actually useful applications of the effect is up in the air.
Blue: ~Knockback Squad on Guardian~
Red: ~Undoing of Virtue on [3 guesses]~
Made a Ice tank dummy to see what armor might look better.
They're both not close to what a diamond looks like.
Rock is too dull and Ice is too transparent, but with more shields added later I'd say Ice will probably win. I plan to add a sparkles aura after lv 30.
So here's a quick comparison (ignore the actual costume, it's not set in stone, yet)
Now there's one thing I noticed in the powers custom colour editor (for Stone Armor).
That's when I check Granite, I can't seem to customize anything there on a new toon.
Is it just me or will they add custom options for Granite at a later time maybe?
If anyone with Granite hits the tailor and might give it a try, I'd be happy to know, thanks in advance.
Yes, I'm a bit too crazy about the costume now lol
What Legislate mentions makes me curious now, running all shields from Stone and then switch to Granite only for extreme fights. I kinda like this approach.
LostHalo, you're jumping Rock video made my day. That's so super!
Granite is a special problem. What it actually does is swap your character's model out for an NPC, specifically, the Devouring Earth's (wait for it....come on....stay on target....here it comes....it's almost....ready................) Granite. Due to the mechanics involved in that, BAB can't just outright modify the power to be customizable, hence why there is an informal poll he made with a thread under A&P General, since the power would have to change fairly dramatically to get any sort of customization.
Blue: ~Knockback Squad on Guardian~
Red: ~Undoing of Virtue on [3 guesses]~
You know, you can roll an Invuln and simply accentuate the sparkle and glow of the toggles with power customization. With an appropriate costume choice you could pull off a pretty good shiny, sparkling and glinting highlights look.
Something for you to consider anyway, does the look have to be an overlay of the character or would having the character shine and sparkle work?
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
Quote:
Yes I understand, like the Kheldian forms.|
Originally Posted by LostHalo
Granite is a special problem. What it actually does is swap your character's model out for an NPC, specifically, the Devouring Earth's (wait for it....come on....stay on target....here it comes....it's almost....ready................) Granite. Due to the mechanics involved in that, BAB can't just outright modify the power to be customizable, hence why there is an informal poll he made with a thread under A&P General, since the power would have to change fairly dramatically to get any sort of customization.
|
Think I'll create AE custom critters and see how those look, then go from there, thanks again Halo.
Quote:
The character model alone won't get close enough to what I have in mind. Even with Sparkles and stone. So yeah overlay is better, probably even have to use a +STEALTH IO to blend the toon itself a bit more with the crystal looks.|
Originally Posted by Call Me Awesome
You know, you can roll an Invuln and simply accentuate the sparkle and glow of the toggles with power customization. With an appropriate costume choice you could pull off a pretty good shiny, sparkling and glinting highlights look.
Something for you to consider anyway, does the look have to be an overlay of the character or would having the character shine and sparkle work? |
IMO the crystal/cell looks from customized Rock Armor are pretty spot on.
Besides I got a Invul/ tank already and wanted to make Stone/ now or Ice/, still undecided.
In the end I'll probably make and play both up to around lv 32/33 at least.
This is what I could come up with for a hybrid build (out of Granite - in Granite)
Some problems ...
no Epic pool powers
no Hasten
no Fly (I need the Veteran badge to pick Fly instead of Hover)
Can't even get close to soft-cap Fire/Cold Defense outside of Granite
Can't cap Energy/Negative Res in Granite (have to go through all sets/bonuses again, like to cap Energy Res for STF)
Comments, critique, suggestions very welcome
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1,601
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Diamond Sky - hybrid (WIP): Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Stone Armor
Secondary Power Set: Electrical Melee
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fighting
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Rock Armor
Level 1: Charged Brawl
Level 2: Earth's Embrace
Level 4: Stone Skin
Level 6: Swift
Level 8: Rooted
Level 10: Taunt
Level 12: Teleport Foe
Level 14: Teleport
Level 16: Thunder Strike
Level 18: Health
Level 20: Stamina
Level 22: Mud Pots
Level 24: Brimstone Armor
Level 26: Crystal Armor
Level 28: Chain Induction
Level 30: Hover
Level 32: Granite Armor
Level 35: Boxing
Level 38: Lightning Rod
Level 41: Tough
Level 44: Weave
Level 47: Build Up
Level 49: Minerals
------------
Level 1: Brawl
Level 1: Sprint
Level 2: Rest
Level 1: Gauntlet
Code:
| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1426;737;1474;HEX;| |78DAA5935B4F134114C767BBADCBD29616CAB5D05228D896DA4AA326025E4204130| |CD502155FD466292BAC942DD96EA2E88B1FC0275F7C32FAA2DFC1F8194CBCC417F1| |EE930FFA05BCD473191ADFDD74FFBFD999FF9C39733A53BC391710E2CE69A104CED| |48C46A35236EC2DD3F1158D0DAB1A9DB38CEDBABD9E58D9DA4DE4129BBB6B8EB59E| |485F5A286534214494BD9539F39A6937CCFC8A5BB7CDCAACB35D776272A868D64C3| |33F5F33ABAE63558D1A77742ED89BA663DA6E7EBF1128D5EBB5FC59CBB5CD46A38B| |3ECAE0DCA93BAEE15A75DBCFE3356B63D30D4A2F342D7B2332BF6355F3B34ED5B5A| |A95A2D1704D67B71F92CBC0BBA78328F08AA65778A191121E8DA113BC614041787B| |08CF43423E602F0146C58125C632A16D855126BCD76570B02B8B14A1BDC8384F085| |C609408EFC0AE72321E7592BA3A0A8CA3041FD4D4C706C59713D815667C84A99ADC| |87364F9987CF11BA96686AD74542F72AE105EC43E7C414FDBA8746B6080761093F8| |F087F9662A7A02B28CDC1B7E4EADD23BC84305C91A62FF493477E11FA7F33FE10A2| |4D8650111AC4EBE45CD5CE315A6248621ABA63227E8AD006BE882C47244186F83D0| |A14BF4FF8005BE86183AFE79B07E724BE337E306ED0AC915B8CDB844F30AB4F96AA| |6F8C6A34922124B9E6492E76F218E133D80764B6037C18C6228C6E061F8DD750884| |1F95F0FA6B8966946863141486509BA8609729D631CE12BAC342CAB39CCB1533C92| |EAA3826438BFCC1106A7A96878D238D068131EF106321997998C4FD16AB969C60CE| |1F009C649820A01D27283E9381562629831CA48F24D005F56D62DDB4E6B1FF23382| |8C0E422E44780559E4390B35FF90177C44283C663C217C815D4FCA333DC9F52DF0A| |E87BCADCB063FDCD9E2BF3D2A4D2F795B574C2864CA785B57FABF9EA781FDC5F4E5| |76D0324A094459C5D665942BF879155B06B6D650AAF8D97CD69A1D3A8E094DA14CA| |3CCA0DC45938617CD8F124009A274A08450C22811945E9428CA0394E65F96B50031| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|
Hi
Started a new tanker Diamond Sky (Sky Rocker was taken) tonight without much planning ahead.
Just thought it's a bit different mix: Stone Armor + Elec Melee
We made it to level 10 after the usual Sewers and King's radio + Safguard missions.
Any advise on the Stone/ part?
So far I have:
Stone: Rock Armor, Earth Embrace, Mud Pots and Rooted.
Elec: Charged Brawl, Jacob's Ladder
Fitness: Swift
My toon will Fly, how should I best go (keybind wise) between Fly, Sprint and Rooted?
What shields are required, I'm a bit confused what powers are exclusive to each other and what combination of shields would be good.
I have Invul/, Fire/, Ice/, Dark/ and WP/ tanks, they're all somewhat straightforward (no travel limitations from mezz protection or shields that won't work together).
What's the best thing to go for with Stone/ ?
And is it possible to counter -DMG, -RECH and -Speed completely with IO set bonuses?
Thanks in advance for any help.
P.S. Alternatively I would reroll into Ice/Elec (my Ice/EM is not getting played anymore).