My SS/Inv Build

I based this mostly off of another build I found online, but I made a few minor changes not for any other reason in particular other than what I wanted and didn't.

Jab- 1Dam
Temp Invul- 3DamRes, 1EndRedux
Punch- 1EndRedux, 3Dam, 1Recharge
Dull Pain- 3Recharge, 3Heal
Haymaker- 1EndRedux, 3Dam, 2Recharge
Unyielding- 3DamRes, 1EndRedux
Air Superiority- 1EndRedux, 3Dam
Swift- 1Run
Fly- 3Fly
Health- 3Heal
Invincibility- 3DefBuff, 1EndRedux, 2ToHitBuff
Stamina- 3EndMod
Knockout- 1EndRedux, 3Dam, 2Recharge
Resist Physical- 3Dam
Tough Hide- 3DefBuff
Resist Elements- 3DamRes
Resist Energies- 3DamRes
Foot Stomp- 1EndRedux, 3Dam, 2Recharge
Super Speed- 3Run
Laser Eye Beams- 1Range, 1Recharge, 3Dam, 1EndRedux
Conserve Energy or Focused Accuracy (need one for Laser Eye Beams and Physical Perfection)
Physical Perfection
Flurry
1 Extra Power
8 Power Slots left over

I plan on mostly playing teams with this tank, but soloing when I can't find one. Thoughts?

Mind just linking the mids' build? Also, you HAVE to use those 8 slots. :/

1) Slot an Acc in each attack. I don't care how much +ToHit you have, having one Acc in each attack will definitely help out.

2) Take Rage. Your damage output is going to be much lower without this power.

3) Is there a reason you are taking both Super Speed and Fly? The two don't mesh well together, and those two power picks could be freed up for something like Tough and Weave.

4) Fly and Super Speed do not need three slots. Super Speed I believe is capped at one slot in terms of speed (maybe 1.5). Flight recently got a boost, and is easy to cap as well.

5) Try to fit Taunt in there. Unless you're really good at Tanking, having Taunt as a backup can definitely help out. If nothing else, the -range on it will help you clump some enemies together better.

I would definitely take a look at some of the more recent guides on Inv/SS.

Try using one of these City of Heroes build planners. Most people prefer using Mids and frequently import their builds from that program to here, which lets people really take a close look at it.

The standard SO or generic IO slotting for range, melee, and area of effect damage powers is 1 accuracy, 3 damage and the other two either endurance reduction or recharge or one of each.

The standard for defense and resistance powers is 1 endurance reduction (if the power uses endurance, some don't) and 3 resistance or defense.

Control powers vary greatly. It depends on the power and the play style.

Because of a developer policy called "Enhancement Diversification", generally speaking you will not want to slot more than 3 of any particular type of enhancement because you will get increasingly diminishing returns. So instead of getting an extra 32% increase from an SO, you'll get 3 or 4% increase.

Good luck! Inv/SS is a great tank to play.

Also, the newest issue introduces a tanker-only inherent power called Bruising, which gives a decent debuff to enemy resistance -- meaning you and your team will do more damage to a target with every attack once you've hit that target with your Tier 1 attack (Jab).

For that reason, I recommend reconsidering one-slotting Jab. I would probably six-slot it now, since I'll be using it a lot (for the debuff) and it's largely a waste of animation time to use unslotted attacks.

I've had the game for about a month and due to commitment issues I've never gotten a toon past level 31. It was based on Superman, obviously, and I already knew about copyrights and such
But I was messing around with the costume creator and ended up thinking of a newish INV/SS tank. He's called The Hero's Spirit and I play on Freedom if anybody ever needs a teammate.
It's mostly the same, but here's the new build I'm planning, in order of the powers I get

Temp Invul-3DamRes, 1EndRedux
Jab-Dam, Acc, EndRedux (I read up on bruising and found it doesn't stack and lasts ten seconds, but jab only takes 2 seconds to recharge without enhancements so I'm just gonna 3 slot it)
Punch-1EndRedux, 3Dam, 1Recharge, 1Acc
Haymaker-1EndRedux, 2Dam, 1Acc, 2Recharge
Unyielding-3DamRes, 1EndRedux
Air Superiority-1EndRedux, 3Dam, 1Acc
Dull Pain-2Recharge, 2Heal
Swift- Run
Fly- 3Fly
Health-3Heal
Invincibility-3DefBuff, 1EndRedux, 2To-Hit Buff
Stamina- 3EndMod
Knockout-1EndRedux,2Dam, 1Acc, 2Recharge
Resist Physcial- 3DamRes
Tough Hide-3DefBuf
Resist Elements-3DamRes
Resist Energies- 3DamRes

then at 38 I'm getting Foot Stomp (EndRedux, 2Dam, 1Acc, 2Recharge) but I have 2 powers to fill in before that, and I'm strongly considering the Assault and Tactics Leadership powers since they fit with the character I have in mind. The rage and unstoppable powers don't appeal to me because of the debuffs that happen after they wear off (especially unstoppable) and invincibility works as a taunt to i read. Hand clap maybe in case i get surrounded and over my head?
I have 13 unplanned enhancement slots (I plan on using IO's) and haven't decided on an ancillary power tool left, but I'm leaning toward ice mastery. but i'm only like level 11 right now so I'll have plenty of time to decide. New thoughts?

Take Rage. It will really help with damage output, and the debuff at the end is minor.

My first character was Inv/SS. I also skipped powers that had negative consequences initially. Why would I want to hurt or debuff myself?

I later found out that I was thinking of them the wrong way. These powers are so good, so powerful, that the developers had to attach a penalty to them to make them balanced.

Rage gives you an 80% increase to damage for two minutes. For some perspective, 80% is a little more than 2 damage SO enhancers and a little less than 3. It also boosts tohit by 20%. Tohit is a factor the game uses to calculate your chance "to hit" an enemy, hence the name. It counts for a lot more than the accuracy you slot in powers.

Yes, it also has a crash at the end of 2 minutes that takes a large chuck of endurance, debuffs your defense by 20% for 10 seconds, and debuffs all your damage to anemic kitten levels for 10 seconds. The defense debuff can be eliminated by another activation of rage and you can activate it right after the crash if you put 3 recharge IOs into it (a couple of seconds shy with SOs).

Here's a sample build with SOs:

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.803
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Hero's Spirit: Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Invulnerability
Secondary Power Set: Super Strength
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Temp Invulnerability -- EndRdx(A), ResDam(7), ResDam(11), ResDam(13)
Level 1: Jab -- Acc(A), Dmg(23), Dmg(33), Dmg(34)
Level 2: Dull Pain -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(3), RechRdx(3), Heal(5), Heal(5), Heal(7)
Level 4: Haymaker -- Acc(A), Dmg(13), Dmg(15), Dmg(15), RechRdx(17), EndRdx(17)
Level 6: Swift -- Flight(A)
Level 8: Unyielding -- ResDam(A), EndRdx(9), ResDam(9), ResDam(11)
Level 10: Hover -- Flight(A)
Level 12: Resist Physical Damage -- ResDam(A)
Level 14: Fly -- Flight(A), Flight(34)
Level 16: Health -- Heal(A), Heal(40), Heal(42)
Level 18: Invincibility -- EndRdx(A), DefBuff(19), DefBuff(19), DefBuff(23)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod(A), EndMod(21), EndMod(21)
Level 22: Kick -- Acc(A), Dmg(42), Dmg(43), Dmg(43), RechRdx(43), EndRdx(46)
Level 24: Knockout Blow -- Acc(A), Dmg(25), Dmg(25), Dmg(31), RechRdx(31), EndRdx(31)
Level 26: Tough Hide -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(27), DefBuff(27)
Level 28: Rage -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(29), RechRdx(29)
Level 30: Air Superiority -- Acc(A), Dmg(34), Dmg(37), Dmg(37), RechRdx(37), EndRdx(42)
Level 32: Resist Elements -- ResDam(A), ResDam(33), ResDam(33)
Level 35: Tough -- ResDam(A), ResDam(36), ResDam(36), EndRdx(36)
Level 38: Foot Stomp -- Acc(A), Dmg(39), Dmg(39), Dmg(39), RechRdx(40), EndRdx(40)
Level 41: Conserve Power -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(50)
Level 44: Laser Beam Eyes -- Acc(A), Dmg(45), Dmg(45), Dmg(45), RechRdx(46), EndRdx(46)
Level 47: Weave -- EndRdx(A), DefBuff(48), DefBuff(48), DefBuff(48)
Level 49: Resist Energies -- ResDam(A), ResDam(50), ResDam(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
Level 2: Ninja Run

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holy crap that's a lot of info. one minor problem with the two previous builds though... my character has a natural origin, not magic

also, i'm a mac so those character builders don't work on my computer. are there any mac compatible ones?

Because you are new I just don't see the benefit of providing a whole IO'd out build. It might help you a lot more to start with some of the real fundamentals and build from there. The suggestion above that had loads of 'everything' you should consider as a high end build. Don't even consider that until you are 50 and know how the game works.

Here's the basics.

The cornerstone powers to SS are Rage and Footstomp. Absolutely essentially. Rage should be 3 slotted with Recharge which makes it last as long as it takes to recharge. It gives you a lot of damage and good accuracy. Footstomp needs to be slotted with 1 accuracy, at least 1 or 2 endurance/recharge, and the rest damage. It needs 6 slots. You can get away with 3 slots on Rage if you are just beginning.

Your basic attacks should be slotted once for Accuracy, once for Endurance and once for Recharge. The rest should be damage, but no more than 3. Never put more than three SOs (single origin enhancements) into any ability as the 4th is basically wasted.

You'll need enough attacks that you can continually fight and not stop to wait for them recharging. That's something you'll have to get a feel for yourself. You need to balance recharge and endurance, and don't be hesitant to throw out a bit of damage so that you can actually keep fighting without running out of blue (endurance).

For Invulnerability you eventually want just about everything.

What's absolutely crucial is that you get your toggle resist armours and 3 slot them with Resist Damage and 1 slot them with Endurance. Get your Status shield and 1 slot that with Endurance. Now get Invincibility and 3 slot Defence and 1 slot Endurance. The rest you need to consider for yourself but there's a lot of great advice out there. Once again, eventually in your build you basically want all your defences with the possible exception of your Tier 9 defence "Unstoppable".

Stamina pretty much MUST be in your build by 20. Sacrifice whatever else you think 'sort of has to be there' for later in order to get Stamina in there. Make sure it's three slotted with Endurance Modification ASAP.

That's about all I can think of just for right now.

Here is a simple Inv/SS build based on SOs. It's cheap, very effective, and easy to do. It'll perform well anywhere and has enough endurance reduction to keep it going for quite a while.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.803
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Technology Tanker
Primary Power Set: Invulnerability
Secondary Power Set: Super Strength
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Temp Invulnerability -- ResDam(A), ResDam(3), ResDam(3), EndRdx(36), EndRdx(43), EndRdx(46)
Level 1: Jab -- Acc(A), Acc(7), Dmg(7), Dmg(9), EndRdx(9), EndRdx(11)
Level 2: Dull Pain -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(5), RechRdx(5), Heal(17), Heal(17), Heal(43)
Level 4: Haymaker -- Acc(A), Acc(11), Dmg(13), Dmg(13), EndRdx(15), EndRdx(15)
Level 6: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff(A)
Level 8: Unyielding -- ResDam(A), ResDam(27), ResDam(31), EndRdx(36), EndRdx(40), EndRdx(46)
Level 10: Taunt -- Taunt(A), Taunt(34), Taunt(34)
Level 12: Swift -- Run(A)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Jump(A)
Level 16: Health -- Heal(A), Heal(37), Heal(37)
Level 18: Invincibility -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(19), DefBuff(19), EndRdx(36), EndRdx(37)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod(A), EndMod(21), EndMod(21)
Level 22: Knockout Blow -- Acc(A), Acc(23), Dmg(23), Dmg(25), RechRdx(25), EndRdx(27)
Level 24: Resist Energies -- ResDam(A), ResDam(31), ResDam(31)
Level 26: Tough Hide -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(33), DefBuff(33)
Level 28: Rage -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(29), RechRdx(29)
Level 30: Resist Elements -- ResDam(A), ResDam(33), ResDam(34)
Level 32: Resist Physical Damage -- ResDam(A)
Level 35: Boxing -- Acc(A)
Level 38: Foot Stomp -- Acc(A), Acc(39), Dmg(39), Dmg(39), RechRdx(40), EndRdx(40)
Level 41: Tough -- ResDam(A), ResDam(42), ResDam(42), EndRdx(42), EndRdx(43), EndRdx(48)
Level 44: Weave -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(45), DefBuff(45), EndRdx(45), EndRdx(46), EndRdx(50)
Level 47: Hasten -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(48), RechRdx(48)
Level 49: Unstoppable -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(50), RechRdx(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
Level 4: Ninja Run

In my opinion, you have 2 too many endurance reductions slotted in Temp Invulnerability, Unyielding, Tough, and Weave. You are also over slotting attacks with accuracy and under slotting the attacks for damage.

The master hit chance formula is:
HitChance = Clamp( AccMods × Clamp( BaseHitChance + ToHitMods – DefMods ) )

Hitchance = 1.33 [one SO] x (75 [even level critter] + 20 [rage] +2 [invincibility w/ 1 target in range])

75 + 20 puts you at the cap without accounting for invincibility or accuracy enhancements.

Hitchance = 1.33 x 95 [97 is clamped to 95 max]

Hitchance = 95 [126.35 clamped to 95 max]

You'll still be at the cap against +2 levels.

At +3 levels you will be at 93%. If you have more than one critter around you, then invincibilty will cap you again.

If you are going to be fighting +4 and greater, or enemies with extremely high defense, than more than one SO is worth it.

The extra accuracy will also be well worth it if any enemies have to-hit debuffs or any sort of defense. Two is generally my minimum, but I apparently play it a bit safer than Bionic might.