What is a good secondary for DA

Was bored last night an thought about making a tank. After looking at the sets DA looked the funnest to me and kind of got a little concept. But after looking at the secondaries I kind of got lost. I was wondering what was a good secondary for DA. I have never tanked before in COH, if that makes any difference. Iv been looking over the forums and it seems like DA is kind of a end hog is I probably rather a end easy set, but up for any suggestions.

Fire worked ok for me (see link in sig), but I really would have been even tougher with stone, mace, SS or elec, which have stuns to stack with OG and knockdown to give you some more breathing room. Kinetic Melee would be a good pair as well. It has stuns, knockdown, extra mitigation in the form of -damage, and a long time damage buff for the damage aura.

Endurance isn't a problem. All you really need is the theft of essence proc in Dark Regen and you're golden.

Dark Armor is an amazing tank set, especially considering your godmode comes at level 8.

I love my Dark/Mace tank; at 48 she's tough and a lot of fun to play. The combo has a ton of mitigation between the stuns and KU/KD in Mace. Op Gloom plus Clobber gives you the ability to stun bosses at will, a very nice benefit.

The endurance problems of Dark are very exaggerated, IMO, especially if you're planning on slotting sets. Watcher's Twilight doesn't have Conserve Power or Physical Perfection, and almost never has endurance issues. She does, however, have a Theft of Essence +end, which as Dechs mentioned, is extremely helpful.

So i guess its comes down to DM,Elec, and Ice. They all sound really cool and i tend to like all three of them. I was wondering dose Ice have frost breath? If it dose do i need it? I hate frost and fire breath for any toon. I like DM I have a DM/reg scrapper, but the lack of aoe sucks. An, idk anything about Elec how is it end game? Do you need that cone in elec kind of don't like the animation.KM sounds good to, but it being new, I'v never played it long term.

Dark/Mace offers some nice synergy.

/Dark is a nice match in terms of options and endurance usage (even tho Je_Saist may have over stated it slightly).

My Dark/ tank was the rare /DB combo... fun, but awkward at times.

I could see /EM possibly...


I'd pick /Mace if I was going to try Dark/ on a tank again.

Would DA/ice be able to solo decently while leveling?

I just leveled my DA/DM tank from 13 to 21, and it was a lot of fun. I really like the feel of dark melee with dark armor. It gets a LOT better with Stamina, mind. I don't see Dark Consumption as very relevant while levelling -- that's a long ways out still.

Best choice I made so far, though, was getting a -knockback IO in one of my toggles. Oh, does that help!

I have a lvl 50 Dark/Dark and a lvl 28ish Dark/Elec. Both work well in their pairing. I would expect that Dark/Fire and Dark/KM would also work well. Considering what Dechs has done with his Dark/Fire, very well.

/Fire is an excellent secondary no matter what your primary is. 2 PBAoE's with great recharge, damage, and radius? Talk about easy mode. 2 PBAoE's=dead minions=more room for aggro

Sure you don't get any mitigation out of it, but you're a friggin Tanker, do you really need mitigation from the secondary? I know I don't.

Dark isnt that bad if you manage the fear aura or leave it out and slot for end redux in attacks

I'd just like to add my two cents here. As most others have said, DA's endurance issues are quite overstated and can largely be solved with a simple Theft of Essence proc in Dark Regen. There's certainly no reason you'd be hurting for endurance without Dark Melee as your secondary.

I've played Dark/Elec to 50 and the AOE is nice both for doing damage and for gaining aggro quickly. Lightning Rod in particular makes a fun opener. I found the pairing to be both effective and fun. I plan to try out Kinetic Melee with Dark Armor next and I believe it will also work well.

I'd also recommend the OP read Dechs' DA thread if he hasn't already as Dechs has a number of good insights into the set and explains things well.

If you want numbers or whatever from a DA/DM tanker, I can get you feedback on how it works up through about level 21. Maybe more later.

I have a Dark/Ice tank, and she is a mitigation machine. With an area-effect stun, fear, knockdown, sleep, and to-hit-debuffs, and a single-target hold, she can nullify almost anything. That's without *any* ancillary pool, since she chose to get tough+weave instead.

I would not, however, recommend soloing a DA/Ice. The endurance requirements are harsh at early levels. Even at max level her damage is not very good, and she relies on the damage aura to do most of the work.

Frost breath is one of the best damage-dealing powers in the ice set, and you'll regret not taking it. But it may not be strictly necessary.

It all depends on what you want to do with it. I took Dark Melee for mine despite having a Dark/Dark Brute. Ideally what is conceptually matching should work best in terms of something. The majority of the player base might have other ideals that are nothing like that something.