You're looking at the wrong /em power to judge the set on - whirling hands has always been lackluster. It wasn't nerfed, it was just never very good in the first place. /Em's burst damage was always ST.
The only damage nerf to /em was the ET animation change (barrage was a buff). Yes, they increased the power's cast time by 1.5-2ish seconds (don't exactly remember the length of the old animation, but it was around 1s). It still hits like a truck. I think it's important to keep this in mind - exactly *one* power had its damage nerfed. The way many talk about the set, though, you'd think the devs had replaced every power with [Brawl]. It's still a plenty viable set (I have my gripes about how late the two heavy hitters come, but that's a separate issue). I would definitely wait until you get the best attacks before you judge it. It won't be an AoE powerhouse, but shield charge will help there, and I think you'll find the ST damage acceptable.
Regarding the toughness, I also wouldn't judge it too early. Shields on tanks is relatively easy to softcap, even on a budget. At that point, you *will* be outperforming the scrapper - and even before that, you have more HP, more resistances, and getting shield charge so much earlier helps with mitigation as well as offense.
@MuonNeutrino
Student, Gamer, Altaholic, and future Astronomer.
This is what it means to be a tank!
Energy Melee is ST focused, so Shields is actually a good compliment to it. AAO will boost your ST damage, and Shield Charge will help with your weaker AOE damage.
If you want to be an AOE monster, you shouldn't go for Energy Melee, but it's a perfectly fine set, and you chose a good compliment to it. Ah, and just realized that the many stuns in Energy Melee will work nicely with all your defense, too.
Guide: Tanking, Wall of Fire Style (Updated for I19!), and the Four Rules of Tanking
Story Arc: Belated Justice, #88003
Synopsis: Explore the fine line between justice and vengeance as you help a hero of Talos Island bring his friend's murderer to justice.
Grey Pilgrim: Fire/Fire Tanker (50), Victory
So I have a BS/SD scrapper. She has about 1.5 billion in her, and just absolutely WOW!
However I figured I would try roleing a SD/ tanker. I originally went sd/ss. But re-roled as a SD/NRG. He is only lvl 23 so shield charge isn't present yet, but AAO is. with whireling hands six slotted (2 acc 2 dmg 1 rech redux 1 end redux). I would think it would do more than 80 dmg with a fully saturated AAO.
I was very worried this would happen, that I would see the dmg potental of my scrapper, and then be totally turned off to the set tank side.
Either that, or I rember when NRG was nerfed... Was it nerfed that bad? Or am I not giving this set enough time? I am hopeing that nrg transfer and total focus will help the set. I know shield charge, the way I use it, will devestate spawns... I try to hang on to atleast shield charge lvl's before I make a true judgement.
Just hard to justify this toon when parry makes my scrapper stronger than the tank counter part.
At one time, didn't NRG have the highest Burst damage out of the sets? I like the toon, and my skill shines through him..... Maybe I have just been caught up by scrapper lock. IDK, ty for reading...
protector-knight: lvl 50 invun/axe tank
Lillian Brick: lvl 50 stone/stone/pyre tank
Hybrid-knight: lvl 50 db/regen scrap
Vengful-Nature: lvl 50 spines/sr/bod scrap
Element-Wizard: lvl 50 fire/storm/stone troll