Best Primary/Secondary for PURE tank?

My opinions are as follows, and I appologize for the randomness of this post. I jot down ideas as I type.

Stone is the be all and end all for surviveabilty but that does not make it the best. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Stone is perma god mode but you sacrafice some hefty damage output and mobility is restricted without ridiculous IO slotting or a pocket Kin.

The best pure tank I would probally say would be a Stone Ice. Very tough and lots of aoe tools to not only hold agro but mitigate damage for your team.

Another really good option is a Stone Dark. Allthough mine is a brute its ridiculously surviveable. Great for tanking the really heavy hitters since Dark has a self healing attack. Downside is you will do very low damage with this option and its aoe damage is rather terrible. To be honest I think this would be overkill on a tank though it was rather effective on my brute.

Anything Stone will be able to be the alpha tank on any content in the game without alot of assistance though so if your heart is set on another powerset by all means take it.

After stone I would say willpower or invuln. Secondaries become a bit more important but not a whole lot. I like super strength and stone melee for the knockdown effects. Stone Melee has a two nice aoe knockdowns which works very nicely for a willpower. Gives you lots of breathing space for your regen to kick in. Invuln handles the alphas better but Willpower is more sustained.

Ice armor and Dark armor can also both be very effective but for a new player I would avoid them. Both are a bit touchy to play and I would not recomend them to a begining player.

Fire armor and Electric armor are more damage dealers. I have seen them tank anything in the game but that is usually with some very significant outside buffs. Fire armor is a bit tougher I think due to the faster recharging heal and with firey embrace does a bit more damage but you will never have endurance issues with electric armor. I have an Electric SS and am considering giving a no fitness build a try just to see if it can do it. Honestly its that good for sustaining its endurance, something that most people I belive underrate on it.. However both of these are not "pure tanks" built right they can do the job for 95% of the game. The last 5% they can also do but will need some extra help from the rest of the team.

Hope that helps.

the only thing i cant take with invul is the lack of a +end power like consume or qr or dark consumption

and yes i know end costs help but really they wont help as much a + end type situation. for that matter id rather play my wp tank

with stamina AND qr its a much better tank at lower lvls and just fun all around...

for pure damage aoe fire is the only choice. ss only has one aoe and you get it very late at lvl 38

st damage i would also go with stone melee..full of tank smash type powers!

Inv/Dark tank and Dark/Invul brute are both stupid strong. Other posters seem to agree with this assessment. I would be interested in hearing more about frankenslotting siphon that Mauk mentioned.

Here, let me help CMA.

Lvl 50 Fire/Fire, Stone/Stone, Dark/Dark
Lvl 46 SD/SS
Lvl 37 Inv/Dark
In the twenties Fire/SS and Ice/Mace
A lowbie that's currently WP/ELM but I think I'll switch him over to Kinetic Melee.

Mind you that's on one server.

Because of the TT series I also have on various servers the following tanks none of which have gotten over the mid to lower 20's, if that: SD/ELM, SD/Drk, SD/Axe, WP/Fire, another Stone/Stone, WP/Mace and one or two I'm forgetting.

Need Moar Tank!

"Pure" tanks that do nothing but absorb damage are not as useful as tankers that can kill stuff, especially since killing stuff grabs aggro. You should reconsider your outlook. This is not the type of game where a "pure healzor" or "pure tank" is appreciated on a team over someone who can do that while simultaneously contributing damage.

Actually, anything can get it done as a pure tank in this game. There is no combination of Tank powers which can't do a great job as a pure tank. I'm currently playing an electric/electric, which isn't what people think of when they think of the best 'pure' tank, and it does just fine. It's more about your build, your play skill/style, who you team with, and eventually, whether/how you IO out your toon that will determine how you do as a 'pure tank' - Primary/Secondary selection is probably about 2% of it.

I would offer a half hearted challenge to that. Dark Armor. Horrid as a brute, not even a question. There is no synergy between brute play style and this armor set. Quite different as a tank, i know. Still, I doubt this is a set to turn into a "pure" tank. Might be okay as a concept toon. (Just do not use it redside)

Actually I was talking about dark armor. From what I understand Dark Melee is a top damage dealing choice, especially when in a 10+ spawn. I think with Dark Armor you are almost wedded to Dark Melee because of end issues, but there are probably a couple other sets that would work with it.

DA is fine for pure tanks, IMO. It may require a lot of infamy to really make it shine, but when you do, it's as monstrous as any other Tanker primary.

Now you guys have me wanting to set up a Dark Armor/Dark melee tank concept toon. Hmmm, Malkavian Vampire with a "I see dead people" fixation. Heh, goes off wringing his hands and laughing.

I have the following tanks at lvl50:

Inv/stone - stone is hard on end bar; good mitigation; IO sets with kin combat and +def sets in primary make it very sturdy.

Wp/stone - just a non-stop bag of *SMASH* very fun, very survivable due to stuns and KD gives chance to regen well --*GET FAULT*

stone/dm - stone/ is good with anyting, but granite slows down the tools of DM too much to make it really shine unless there is a kin around -- cant really say I recommend this build. Better with other secondary, but see * below.

inv/dm - very sturdy - this synergy shouldnt be underestimated at all, especially if build for recharge - the tools are just great. Add some Def like in the primary ala Call Me Awsome's builds and this actually can predictably out-last my Stone/dm, even when using granite (currently re-tooling stone/dm to see if im doing something wrong). Plus if Im the only one around, my damage and movement is still good enough to (slowly) take out the spawn.

I've had other tanks that come and go but I did not list them due to never really getting into the subtleties of the builds and losing interest.

To answer the origenal question: Stone/Ice Stone/stone is historically the two I think of for pure tank builds.

* As I solo a lot, I dont find Stone/ as fun to play. I had A LOT of help with stone/dm and really like /dm in general, so I had to try it.

For those interested, the best slotting on Siphon Life found in the scrapper forums was with HO's with some really good numbers with Hecatomb and other HO's but I hate to see Heca not slotted to at least the 10% recharge.

Just another nod here for Inv/SS. Fun to play and there are some Awesome () guides out there.

My Inv/SS was a bundle of fun to play to 50; apart from endurance issues. That can be mitigated for slotting acc/end redx then damage last.

A review of CMA's Defence Guide (in his sig), improved survivability a lot and made him noticably more sturdy. Endurance was still an issue despite having End Redx in Footstomp and Knockout Blow. (I will admit that I was tight on slots so relied on set bonuses in Jab/Haymaker.)

However, since I've picked up the two End boosting Accolades there have been less of an issue.


I'm currently buying stuff for a second build which will improve his +max end (because while I'm doing it I might as well) and his Psi Res/Def (because the first TF I solo tanked was a Faathim and they annoyed me ). Other than Psi damage he's a brick. And I don't have perma Dull Pain (will on build two) nor do I have Unstoppable.

I can't say as to pure tankage (but they do seem the "goto" type) but Stone/Stone is fun. I admit I like the attacks more than the Armour. Especially Fault. I don't care if it doesn't do any damage. While stuff is on their rears, they aren't hitting me or my team.

I do suspect the question is effected by two things, though.
1) Your playstyle
2) How much you want to spend

Good luck with whatever you decide and a belated "thank you" to CMA.

Pretty hard to choose a primary that is not well suited to the playstyle your looking for if paired with the right secondary/pools and a few choice IOs. Rather than type another novel I will simply point you to the tank guide in my signature which includes a section addressing how to pick and build a meatshield.

sounds like you need to roll a fire tank to me cma!.a invul and two stones?..pfft you havent even tasted the tank community yet!..your missing out man!