Best Tanker primary for Tanking

okay I know the title sounds a bit silly, but what I am looking for is just the best primary for survivability, just whatever will live longest

I like the idea of WP/SS, but if there is anything better then please let me know

I will fully IO the toon, so i'm looking for whichever toon is best with IO's to make it unstoppable


thanks,

Granite is technically toughest but has awful drawbacks.

I'd go SS/WP if that's what you want. With IOs you can softcap your smashing/lethal defense (probably e/n too, check Call Me Awesomes guide, almost all of it is applicable to WP too), cap your hp and you'll be plenty tough.

is there anything which can offer more than a WP can? or is WP the next best thing from stone

I would like to play a stone tank too, but when I used to actively play, I remember them being quite slow without a pocket kin

Shield and Invuln are also very good. Invuln is great because of the stacking mitigation types (a lot of Resistance to S/L damage, decent defense past level 18, and a good self heal/+HP power), and you can get some good IOs to help you add more defense.

Shields are good because they're easy to get to the Defense soft-cap, but have no self heal (though you might not need it), but do have some good offensive tools to help you out.


Personally, I like Ice, though it's not always the sturdiest, with Tough it can be a very good set, and a lot of fun, since after level 26 you'll never run out of endurance.

If your goal is simply to outlast your teammates in difficult situations, it's hard to recommend anything other than Stone.

I find its drawbacks to be rather daunting, though. No IO set is going to make Granite less ugly. Nor the other armors, for that matter, although the options make them a bit more customizable now. IOs can help with the -recharge, but not so much with the -damage or loss of the ability to jump.

Invulnerability can now be built to be almost as tough as Granite, and has none of its drawbacks. If you want to keep the team alive, this is I think a better choice. You'll be able to taunt more often, hold aggro well, and survive anything but massive psionic attacks. You can more easily intercept mobs causing problems for your teammates. (Stone tankers often take Teleport, but I find the targeting of Teleport fussy and unreliable.)

I'd go with Invulnerability as a first choice for team tanker. It pairs well with just about any secondary. For pure toughness I'd go with Dark Melee; Electricity or Fire for more aggro control. There aren't any really bad picks for secondary, although Energy Melee isn't a good pick for anything.

<《 New Colchis / Guides / Mission Architect 》>
"At what point do we say, 'You're mucking with our myths'?" - Harlan Ellison

"Best" is subjective to your play-style.

I like Invuln because it's easy to get both Def and Res to decent levels and to resist one-trick debuffers. It's easy to slot IO sets to plug the Psi and Toxic holes. Add in +Rchg and it's easy to hit max HP with perma-Dull Pain, not to mention being able to self-Heal a huge pile of HP. Add +Regen to that and whoa-momma.

I like Invincibility for being, IMO, the best tanker taunt aura. It taunts, buffs your Def, buffs your ToHit and doesn't count as an offensive toggle unlike WP's Rise to the Challenge (which has -ToHit). It will hold Defense sets but you can also pretty well max it with just three HO Cytos.

WP has the advantages of built-in Psi resist/defense and not needing the Fitness pool. The main weakness is basically a lack of burst-healing, which contributes to a weakness against burst damage/alpha strikes.

Shield Defense I honestly prefer for a Scrapper set. However, as stated already, it is easy to soft-cap Defense and it has a huge resistance to Defense debuffs.

We just need to sticky a thread that explains:

There is NO ONE tanker primary that is best for tanking.

This question comes up once a week, OP, so don't think this response is aimed at you. You see, no one tank is superior to any other. Yes, Granite Armor on Stone is the easiest to learn to use, but it has its shortcomings as well as any other Tanker primary. It all boils down to play style and the dynamics of your teams, as well as the situation your team is in. If you can learn to adapt to these things with the primary you're using, then it's doing the best job.

Toughest = Stone in Granite. Good aura too and you can build for mobility.

Best for tanking in the traditional sense? Shields, because it's tough enough, and can grab & hold aggro better. Mobility = better aggro grabbing. Yeah, my Stony runs fast in Granite too, but can't jump over objects. Plus you get SC as another aggro grabbing tool, not to mention phenomenal offense & mitigation.

Invul & Ice would be a close second/third, because again, they're mostly tough enough, and grab aggro fast. They have a big hole to psi, which is often overstated, but still, it's there.

WP has a horrible aggro aura. Dark, Elec & Fire have to hit rolls in theirs (and pulse slowly to boot). They can all be built to be tough enough (w/holes here and there), but their aggro-generation falls short to the top 4.

BTW, I think Stone & Granite in particular is one of the hardest to use *well*. Any moron can pick Granite up at 32 and never turn it off, but those are some of the poorest tanks (on average, there are exceptions) I encounter in the game.

Dark Armor.

All of it's holes can be completely plugged with IOs. You get the best heal in the game. You get resistance to endurance drain. You don't have to be afraid of psychic clockwork.

It's also a resist based set with enough defense that you can softcap to S/L with no problem, E/N with a little trouble.

A good player should not say "<primary> needed" because it doesn't have to be that way, preferred is another matter. The team could be random and the last spot doesn't even need to be a tanker let alone of a certain primary. For easy mode, I think of Stone as the easiest but it has it's drawbacks.

I still don't recall playing my stonetank with a kin. I couldn't be oblivious to that? Could I? XD

My big 'ol tank, and namesake, Echo So'Kar is a WP/SS.
There are two things I cannot tank effectively.
Lord Recluse, and likely Hamidon. Don't know, never tried.
Yes, WP has a fairly crappy aggro aura.
But that's why I got Taunt, and Footstomp. I hold aggro like a machine.
Surviving burst damage: What burst damage?
I've gone wall-hopping in Cim with only half my toggles, and been fine. Little leaky, but fine.
My s/l is not capped. I have crap in the way of def debuff resistance.
But I constantly amaze people with what I can handle.
I attempted a Reichsman TF when it first came out, and the rest of my team had done if before.
So when we found the Invulnerable Reichsman in the first mission, everyone was saying "Just let him kill you!"
I don't 'let' anyone kill me. I wanted to see what I could do.
I lasted a full three and a half minutes against him.
Then he pulled a little ***** move, and ganked me.
But still.

The aggro-holding, I would say, is WP's only downfall.
That, and no burst healing.
But when you have a near 10% regeneration, you don't need burst healing.

In terms of stone tanks who never turn off granite:
Go play something else.
I tank better than you do.

Just my two influence.
Echo

On top of everything mentioned here, a well thought out, fully IO'd tank of any sort will do very well in the game.

Each has their plus' and minus', but IO's can help overcome most of those issues. Some certainly have an advantage in their own areas, but they can all be made quite strong.

It depends what you class as best at tanking...

If you mean agro holding then its fire or dark, if you mean pure ability to take hits, its invul, elec or stone. WP being the easiest to play since it has the best alround ability but cant take the massive hits as well as some of the others.

Ice and shield both dont really come into the equation... despite the amount of angry replies il get telling me 'but my shield or ice charecter can tank as well as any other!!'

In reality, no you cant :P defence isnt reliable to tank with unless you softcap it and that makes it a pain in the butt to level and usually ice/shield tanks are the first to die when taking any serious hits. Later game with set bonuses though there actually very good but by that stage so is everything else :P

Ive raised every tanker to 50 now except for elec, and my favorite in the PvE game has always been a well slotted Invul, since you can cap both resists and defence with sets. Yes you have a massive Psy hole but if that bothers you just slot a few psy protection IO's in. At 5% a time is makes it manageable.

I don't think it's been mentioned yet, but a Stone tank doesn't need granite all the time. A stone tank slotted for recharge and movement running all the other armors is a speed demon tank with none of the penalties of granite. And if something comes up that is going to push it, pop granite and be essentially invincible.

If you are looking for the tankiest tank, then stone is your choice.

Other sets are great fun and can be very sturdy, but stone is the toughest.

If you are going to pay no holds barred for the IOs, then Resist sets, which ordinarily have a bit of a squishy reputation, can be the absolute bomb, since high resists + soft capped defenses are just ridiculous. Dechs has already pointed out how Dark can be a beast this way; Electric can also get extremely tough.

Also, different powers will always be a bit weaker/stronger against different stuff - there's no one choice that's going to be the best tank vs. everything.

Best is a really slippery term when you're talking about tanking primaries. It also helps to decide what kind of IO slotting you'll do... straight SO enhancements? No question that Granite is by far the toughest on straight SO's... IMO there's no need to build any survivability IO bonuses in a Granite tank, you go for recharge and runspeed primarily there. A mature Stone tanker is unquestionably the toughest tank in the game with or without IO's.

Best at holding aggro? Ice wins this handily with Chilling Embrace and Icicles; you get the fastest autohit tic rate with CE and a damage aura with Icicles.

Best all-around tank? I'd probably give the nod to Invuln, it's very survivable and with moderate IO bonuses can actually rival a Granite tanker in durability without the drawbacks a Stone tank suffers.

Best damaging tank? Shields unquestionably... it couples great durability with a great damage enhancing aura with Against All Odds and a great AOE attack with Shield Charge. Add in IO bonuses to reach the soft cap and it's just behind a soft capped Invuln in durability.

Both Invuln and Shield will be great at holding aggro as well, they're one step down from Ice in that regard tied for second place. The reason for this is that all three of these auras are long duration (Inv and Shield are the longest duration of any tanker set) and AUTOHIT... Fire and Dark have auras that must roll tohit or have no effect.

If you want to hold aggro then Willpower is the worst primary in the game for this, it's aggro aura is incredibly underpowered and only marginally effective... you'll have to rely on other tools to manage aggro. It can be done, but WP is at a big disadvantage in the aggro department. WP is durable, but the terrible aura makes it a poor choice for an aggro holding tank.

Please remember that the tanker that's really tough in the endgame may well be weak early... defense based sets tend to be pretty squishy before they get their defenses above 30% and that usually doesn't happen until the late 20's to mid-30's. Ironically Stone is one of the weakest primaries before level 32 where it suddenly becomes the strongest. That's based on my personal experience leveling one Invuln and two Stone tanks to 50 and a Shield to 38 (current project). Resistance based tanks have an easier time in the early game but frequently are eclipsed in the endgame by a mature soft capped defensive set. What makes Invuln so strong is that it combines good resistance with good defense and a good heal/HP boost for damage that gets through the first two layers.

I hope that gives you something to think about.