Final power picks for SD/BA?
My SD/BA (Shield/Axe) Tanker has been rocketing up in levels. I wasn't really prepared for this. He's now...47. I took
All Shield powers except One with the Shield and Grant Cover All Battle Axe powers except Chop and Taunt (note that this gives me a good selection of attacks for a tank) Fitness to Stamina, Fighting to Weave, Leaping to Super Jump. I will be soft-capped to melee, ranged, and AoE when my last bid for that sixth Touch of Death pieces fills. It's a cheap and dirty soft-capping -- Combat Jumping, Weave, Steadfast 3% IO, and TOD set (for melee) and BOTZ 3-set (picked up the expensive -knb with merits) for ranged and AoE defense. Note that that left me a few tenths of a percent BELOW the soft cap for those last 2 positions, and I dropped a def IO into Combat Jumping to make the breakpoint. With 2 picks and not many slots left, I can't get into the upper level Epic pool powers. Foremost among my remaining choices: Hasten Grant Cover (for def debuff resistance) One With The Shield (would stack with Tough and Defection to about 70% s/l resistance) Taunt (if I decide to go there) Conserve Power Thoughts? Suggestions? Blindingly obvious choices I haven't made? |
Hasten or Conserve Power --- only if they seem to meet pressing needs of your character.
Is this a team meatshield tanker or a farming tanker?
<《 New Colchis / Guides / Mission Architect 》>
"At what point do we say, 'You're mucking with our myths'?" - Harlan Ellison
Sort of an all-rounder. This character has run a lot of Task Forces, but to date I haven't really tested him as an AV-anvil tank; the AVs in the TFs just sort of started attacking and then melted under a cloud of color-customized powers, and I didn't notice a problem (that doesn't mean there wasn't one. :P)
When I'm idle, I like to use his area potential on massed enemies, but I'm hardly a power farmer.
I haven't really picked a direction to go with IOs, as I am working on several other projects, and desirable IOs now hit the market so seldom that I can't really work on numerous builds at once. So he's been back-burnered, except for the part where I realized I was running about 42% defense and it would be worth effort to hit the soft cap.
His attacks have sloppy frankenslotting for values like 95% dmg, 40-45% acc, 95% recharge, and 30-40% end reduction in the single-targets; same acc and dmg, but 81-86% recharge and 63-78% end red in the area attacks. In other words, much better than SO slotting but not particularly optimized (I was grabbing cheap stuff and tossing it in). It works pretty well, but in long fights I still bottom out the blue bar occasionally. I have no recovery bonus slotting (so I can improve that) and can somewhat improve the end reduction of the frankenslotting when I get serious about spending, though, so I think the endurance issue isn't particularly scary.
Frankly it would be nice to have an epic AoE like Fireball to go with Shield Charge, but I don't know what I'd give up -- I tried a travel-power-less Scrapper and always felt lame and un-super, so I would hate to give up my travel power, and it would take significant investment to replace the fighting pool's defense. I could give up two single target attacks, but that would deprive me of the nice alternate chains (Beheader/Gash/Swoop/Cleave for single targets and Pendulum/Whirling Axe/Cleave/occasional Shield Charge for AoE). So I've resigned myself to not having another AoE and finding something on which to spend these last two power picks.
If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
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The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog
Frankly it would be nice to have an epic AoE like Fireball to go with Shield Charge, but I don't know what I'd give up -- I tried a travel-power-less Scrapper and always felt lame and un-super, so I would hate to give up my travel power, and it would take significant investment to replace the fighting pool's defense. I could give up two single target attacks, but that would deprive me of the nice alternate chains (Beheader/Gash/Swoop/Cleave for single targets and Pendulum/Whirling Axe/Cleave/occasional Shield Charge for AoE). So I've resigned myself to not having another AoE and finding something on which to spend these last two power picks.
|
Going without a travel power is quite feasible if you buy the ninja pack.
<《 New Colchis / Guides / Mission Architect 》>
"At what point do we say, 'You're mucking with our myths'?" - Harlan Ellison
My SD/BA (Shield/Axe) Tanker has been rocketing up in levels. I wasn't really prepared for this. He's now...47. I took
All Shield powers except One with the Shield and Grant Cover
All Battle Axe powers except Chop and Taunt (note that this gives me a good selection of attacks for a tank)
Fitness to Stamina, Fighting to Weave, Leaping to Super Jump.
I will be soft-capped to melee, ranged, and AoE when my last bid for that sixth Touch of Death pieces fills. It's a cheap and dirty soft-capping -- Combat Jumping, Weave, Steadfast 3% IO, and TOD set (for melee) and BOTZ 3-set (picked up the expensive -knb with merits) for ranged and AoE defense. Note that that left me a few tenths of a percent BELOW the soft cap for those last 2 positions, and I dropped a def IO into Combat Jumping to make the breakpoint.
With 2 picks and not many slots left, I can't get into the upper level Epic pool powers.
Foremost among my remaining choices:
Hasten
Grant Cover (for def debuff resistance)
One With The Shield (would stack with Tough and Defection to about 70% s/l resistance)
Taunt (if I decide to go there)
Conserve Power
Thoughts? Suggestions? Blindingly obvious choices I haven't made?
If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
----------------------------------------------------------
The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog