How Do You Set Your Soloing?

I realize that tanks aren't the "best" soloing archetype but sometimes circumstances call for it (limited time, no luck getting a team, chasing your own goals, etc).

I've gotten my Shield/WM tank up to level 28 which is about 20 levels higher than I've taken a tank before. But I'm not quite sure yet how to set my soloing team size. With my blaster, it was -1/x4 or x6 with heavy AoE mowing everyone down. With my controller, it was -1/x0 because of her horrible kill rate until 32 then I started bumping up the crowd sizes. Scrappers and brutes famously run at max or near max settings. But what about my tank?

Right now I'm at +1/x0, with +1 mobs taking about the same time to kill at +0 mobs for slightly better rewards. Jacking up the mob density, I'm worried that (A) it'll take forever to clear a spawn, (B) I'm more likely to get chipped down while doing so and (C) running out of endurance before I can take them all. I know things change as I gain more levels but I'm looking for experiences, insights and potential advice about what to expect the tank soloing experience to be like in the weeks ahead.

My Dark Armor tank? +4/x8 for the video, but -1/x8 for usual stress relieving "beat stuff up" time. If I want to run quick tip missions, I drop it to -1/x2.

Go with what you can handle while you're leveling up. Include bosses if you can, and leverage the new bruising, which means keeping spawn sizes small but tough.

shield armor is awesome. if you were to start tweaking your difficulty, start with mob size. keep them even cons. no bosses. then start putting bosses in. if it is still easy put it to +1. Try and get your defenses to 30% or higher if you haven't already. I soloed my shield/elec tank alot and was super fun. shield charge has lower dmg now but that is no big deal. by the time you get to 40+, you should think about a build that gives ya 40% defense. then you can set it to alot higher difficulty.

SJ

Depends on your secondary. For something like Ice Melee, which has sucktastic hard target killing speed, I'd go -1~+0/x8 to kill a lot of low level minions fast. On the flip side, EM/SM/DM have horrid AoEs, but good ST damage, so I'd go +2~4/x1~3 w/bosses. For SD/WM, I'd go +0/x8 after you get SC slotted, maybe +1/x8 when you can handle it (i.e. capped positionals). WM is definitely AoE friendly, esp w/SD as your primary.

If you're farming for drops and not so much for XP, you're not going to beat -1/x8 for any build. Even XP-wise, +0/x8 might be optimal, +1/x8 if you can clear a spawn at the same rate as +0. For just plain fun, I definitely like -1/x6~8. You're surrounded by mobs, who're just fueling your damage, and you can mow them down like crazy. At -1, you should be able to handle it w/insps, even before capping your defenses.

For me, it totally depends on what I am doing.

I turn it up to +4/x8:
• when I want a challenge
• when I am stress-testing a toon

I turn it up to +0/x6 (or 8)
• when I am farming

I lower it to -1/x1
• when I am badging mishes, like in Ouroboros.
• when I am running tippies.
(When I go for Portal Jockey, for example, I just want it to be quick and easy. When I solo tippies, I can do five in 10-15 minutes set that low.)

Shield/Axe Tanker, 36% positional defense across the board.

+0/x8.

Ice Armor / War Mace - Lvl 50
I usually set mine for regular missions at +1/+6
for anything else (solo bosses or AVs) I set at 0/+1

The best hope I can offer you is that once you get your AoE attacks using War Mace, things will be a lot easier and you can up your difficulty to match your powers. Shield is a great defense and War Mace is a nice offense, but especially once you get Crowd Control going.

my fire/fire is always at +2's /6 man spawns

thought recently its been 53's at 8 man spawns...i have no idea why.

On my shield/WM I usually go at +0/x4/no bosses. Given that I am softcapped I could certainly go higher, but stuff starts taking long enough to kill at that point that it gets tedious. WM is a relatively AoE heavy secondary which, combined with SC, means that I prefer to have more targets rather than harder targets.

Once your mitigation matures you can jack your level and spawn size fairly high without worrying much about surviving, so your choice of difficulty setting more depends on the interaction of your offensive capabilities and your patience. My method (for all ATs, really) usually is: for AoE heavy builds go for spawn size, for ST jack up the level, and in both cases do it until you start dying or stuff starts taking too long to kill for your taste.

fire/fire tank - (x2/+8 farming) (tips x0/+1)
Stone/energy - Havent played this toon in a long time so I dunno... Id guess x2/+6
willpower/fire - again havent played this toon in a long time.. Same as the stone/energy..

With only Shield Rush and having just gotten Whirling Mace, I guess I'll have to wait a bit to be an AoE machine but it's nice to know I won't be sitting at lvl 40 bopping single targets one after the other.

Semi-related question, how does splash aggro work with AoEs? Does each individual hit lend aggro to the neighboring mobs even if they're also getting hit or does it only splash onto nearby mobs who are out of the AoE range? More a question of curiosity than anything.

At lvl 20 its +2lvls and no lower. Unyielding really. I prefer to team but for soloing its good too. The "number of mobs per me" could change depending on tank type versus mob type.

Usually in the +1-2/x3-4 range. I can handle more, but I usually am more keen on clearing missions than defeating tons of mobs to do so. Probably don't get to that until I get more attacks on my guys... don't know if I'd want that on my Fire/Fire before 35, for instance.

+2/*8 on my 50 farmer Ice/Ice.
+0/*4 during leveling after farming,
Or the stand -1/*0 for rushing tip missions.

I typically leave it at +0/x1 until the 30s, and once I have at least SOs in my powers I add Bosses to the mix since I can stay in the fight long enough.

I generally do not set for large spawn sizes until a fairly high level, as the build is usually not yet ready for it and the time investment tends to not be worth it.

Fitness becoming inherent in i19 will likely change that, since I will be able to get more defenses early on and lean on the damage aura for my tanks that have one.

By the time I hit L50 I'm almost always on +0/x8, since I can kill them quickly and not have to worry about being overwhelmed by adds. Once I IO out a character I often run +2/x8, even those who can run higher, since bosses above +2 tend not to be worth it solo. That does depend on the faction, though, running Carnies or Malta at x8 is generally not a good idea for most armor sets.

I used to run at +1/x2 (Rugged) regardless of AT or powers, but now I keep things much more flexible. I don't run at a constant setting, but a 'relative' one, based on the level of the Mission (since that is now fixed on acquire).

My own level may be a bit higher than the mission's, so I set the 'level' slider so as to produce a mission that is around +1 to my character's level. So, a level 20 mission and my character is a few bubbles from 22? I'll set for +3.

I've also noticed that x4, x6, and x8 seem to add a variable that can cause higher-level spawns in your mission.

I recently had a mission that was extra old, the tail-end of an arc, and I was +5 to the maximum mission level, so I cranked the difficulties to +4/x8/+bosses and had a Blast, mowing down blues and whites and the occasional yellow. (WP/DB Tanker)

So, like I said, I set my difficulties relative to my character's level and also relative to the level of intensity (and enemy-group difficulty) that I want to enjoy. I also should mention that the addition of a single, skilled, teammate can transform a 'hard' mission into a 'walkover', irrespective of their AT. It's why I don't have any server-friends and my @global-friends list is overflowing - I collect Players, not toons.

Be Well!
Fireheart

PS: Mew, GM!

I tend to vary my settings depending on the toon. More AoE based toons will go +0/x8 or +1/x8 taking advantage of the AoE's. Single target based toons will go +2/x3 or higher, taking advantage of the Single Target attacks. None of my tanks are set to do uber damage so it's all about how quickly the individual toon can go through the missions. If it seems like a nice pace, I keep it where it's at. If it's slow, I'll make it easier. If it's too quick or boring, I make it harder.

If I'm getting killed every mob... well, that means I need to fix the tank.