Tank AV Killer Advice

How do people feel about Ice/Ax/Energy as an AV killer? I'm thinking if I can get a moderate amount of recharge (haste plus io bonuses) and a huge amount of end reduction (stamina, plus procs, plus io bonuses, plus energy absorption, plus conserve power, plus -- maybe -- recovery serum), the huge amount of damage the ax lays out can probably work down the AV's hp, even against his ungodly regeneration.

Defense-wise, I can soft-cap everything except fire, cold, and psionics, and I can also cap cold res (so, not such a fun time against the Envoy of Shadows or the Madame of Mystery, but should be able to go toe-to-toe with most others).

Is that thinking sound? Are there other things to pay attention to? What has worked for people?

If I find out I can't solo AV's, what might work for a duo? Blaster? Scrapper? Controller with pet?

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

I don't think you can do it without -regen, but that's just me. Tanks just don't do enough damage. Maybe if you were WP/SS?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deus_Otiosus This entire post should receive some kind of award for being both hysterical and fantastic. Well done.

While there are a few weaker AV's that you may be able to take with an optimized Ice/Axe tanker you're going to have a lot of difficulty with most of them.

First off, you need a bit over 90 dps sustained just to break even with the AV's regen... that's a pretty high bar for a tanker to put out. Realistically you'll need ~120dps or you'll spend all day on the job.

Secondly you need to be able to indefinitely survive the AV's attention... this is usually a non-issue for any well built tanker.

Thirdly, you need the endurance to maintain that 100+ dps attack chain for an extended period of time... probably 20 minutes or more depending on your damage output. Ice will help that with EA, but you'll only have one target for it so bear that in mind.

Fourth, your damage is all lethal (well, aside from Icicles) which is resisted fairly heavily by most AV's. Trying to take on an AV that resists your damage by 50% means your dps is cut in half. While Claws, Broadsword and Katana Scrappers have managed this remember that Scrappers have a bit over 30% more damage output than tanks before you even consider criticals.

I don't know, with an extremely specialized build it may be barely possible but it would take forever. Tankers just aren't designed for that purpose; we're aggro managers and survival specialists with decent damage, but soloing AV's is outside our area of expertise.

*Sigh* That's sad, but helpful. Thank you.

Yup, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but your best bet for soloing AVs is going to be a controller. After that I'd suggest defender and then blaster, mostly because of the -regen and -res that you'll likely be able to leverage. Scrappers can also solo AVs realistically well, but the true big game hunters are the guys with -regen. Blasters, controllers, and defenders have all solo'd Giant Monsters without temporary powers.

You might be able to solo AVs with access to a fresh stack of Envenomed Daggers. But as others have said, the best ATs are Controllers, Corruptors, MMs, and Defenders because of their access to -regeneration. Blasters have it in one skill that requires you to be in point-blank range-- not so hot.

From a purely theorycrafting perspective, I would think that Electric/Fire would be a good bet for a (slow) AV killer. Fire melee has the highest damage output, and electric armor has tools to manage endurance in Energize and Power Sink, and a damage aura to help keep up the DPS. Also, don't discount Lightning Reflexes.

That said, Elec/Fire would have no sources of soft mitigation, but those are notoriously unreliable against AVs when the PToD are up.

Elec/Stone might be worth a look, too.

/theorycraft off

Is not fire armor / super strength considered the most damaging tank?

That one would be the best choise for AV soloing?