Is "scranking" still a viable play option?

At least, I think that's what it used to be called. Tankers acting like Scrappers, only with higher Def/Res and lower Dam. I haven't heard anything about it in some time, so I thought I'd inquire if it still existed and was considered doable in (mostly) solo PvE.

As I really really like the new animations for SS (though I have to wonder--who's the southpaw that did 'em?), along with the fx-less Inv, I opted for (guess what) a Inv/SS Tank. Haven't gotten real far as yet (only lvl 8, very casual player here), but am having fun.

I guess the overall question here is: Am I setting myself up for frustration and failure in the future? Yes, I know Inv has a huge Psi hole, and a fair number of enemies in the endgame have Psi...aside from that. Thoughts?

I don't know of any changes to the game that would not make this a viable approach, if you want it. If you team up, you may want to let them know that you're more of a scranker, but I don't know of any Tank build that isn't pretty resilient and unable to tank for a team (especially when the team is supporting them). You're still going to want to slot up your shields as a Scranker, so it should all add up.

Pretty much any Tank combo is capable of scranking. Some are more adept at it than others, but even the tightest build can fit in at least 2 quick attacks and 1 or 2 hard hitters. In your case you'll probably want Jab and Haymaker, though Punch does offer better DPS than Haymaker, at the cost of a slower animation. KO Blow is your first heavy hitter, available at lvl 20 and capable of one shotting even con minions once you get some damage SOs in it. Foot Stomp is your other heavy hitter, capable of knocking most minions in a spawn down to the 1-hit range of HP left, and making good dents into LTs and Bosses.

~WP

If anything its got easier.

If you have the Sands of Mu vet power, use it. Invincibility and Rage both give you a permanent To hit bonus that will prevent it whiffing too often, and because it ignores damage buffs, it still works during the Rage crash.

Plus having an extra damage type for use against Smashing resistant enemies is always nice.

Some of the IO damage procs are quite nice in your smaller faster attacks like Jab for a bit of extra punch and alternative damage types.

Invulnerability lacks a damage aura, which is nice when soloing, but you'll still be quite viable without one.

Nothing in the game has changed to make scranking on a tanker unviable. On the other hand, the way defense bonuses now work, and the partial merger of positional and typed defense bonuses, mean that it may be technically easier (if expensive) to build a high survival scrapper than to build a damage based tanker.

This is not what I used to believe. I can tank for a team easily on an electric/shield or a spines/willpower scrapper. I have tanked Reichsman and Romulus on those characters. The Spines scrapper is also a favorite to tank Lady Grey TF with. They are my characters of choice to run Kahn, because that TF needs an offtank even if a tanker is there, A shield scrapper can hold aggro from any character without a taunt aura. My Spines scrapper doesn't need the Willpower aura to hold aggro.

Other scrappers like my Dark/Reflex scrapper can be quite hard to kill, but have no aggro management abilities. You want a mixed defense based set with an aura, and you can make a scrapper that tanks.

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You could build a balanced character and do both tanking and 'scranking'.
Though a scrapper or brute is probably the best for doing both.

Scranking simply doesn't amount to tanking. Sure there will be people who say Tankers are over rated, but they're not the most knowledgeable of people. I guarantee it.

My WP/SS tanker is more Scranker than tank, most of the time. The aggro it pumps out is massive, so I mostly can just attack and pop out a taunt every now and again when something looks like it wants to eat a squishy. AVs aren't as fun to Tank, but not hard to do at all.

With Dual Builds, it's now even easier to have your cake and eat it, too.

Tanks are the only toons I use Dual Builds on. One build is usually my Solo build, in which I make more of a "scranker": rarely have Taunt, always have Hasten, focus on six-slotting attacks instead of defenses, etc. My Team build is the more traditional Tank: six slot defenses before attacks, always Taunt, rarely Hasten.

Yes, it can get expensive. But I mitigate that by usually just using Generic IO's until the 40's and only use Set IO's on the build I use the most (Solo build for me, but YMMV).

Besides the fact that inv/ is a main battle tank I guess you could try to scrank on it.

Id suggest fire/ if you want to be a good scranker.

ya fire/ss for sure.

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