Controller tanking

So on my gravity/force field controller I usually use a stun or paralyxe move first then I just start attacking pretty close.And in big teams I feel that my controller is invincible and just start going ahead start tanking and kinking *** with my controller when i though that i when i first made him I was going to be doing a more far away job. Does anybody have a take on this?

Er.. it's easy to 'tank' stuff that can't hit back?

I'm not sure what you mean by "have a take on this." There are quite a few controllers who can be designed to work in melee. The most common is Fire/Kin, but Fire, Ice and Electric all have auras that make them work well in melee. And all sets have some kind of AoE mez power that lets you attack foes who can't fight back - at least for a little while.

If you can effectively use your powers to stay at range, it is usually safer to stay at range. But any controller can be designed as a melee character.

Look for threads and/or guides by magicj if you are interested in tanking with your /FF troller.

Gravity's great for taking an alpha if you have a corner to Wormhole around.
But if you don't have a corner, its a long animation with surefire retaliation coming your way before everyone's stunned.

Force Field can help, due to the Defence from Dispersion Bubble, and you can build up on this pretty heavily with set bonuses, mainly for Ranged Defence though. I used to play my Fire/FF pretty aggressivley, but would generally let others take the alpha because they're all wearing force fields and I'm not.

I wouldn't have pegged Grav/FF as a good pairing for entering melee range and tanking, but I havent tried them together.

What you're describing sounds more like "alpha eating" than "tanking." "Tanking" usually means holding aggro so enemies don't turn their attention toward teammates. It is virtually impossible to "tank" as a Controller if you're teamed with a heavy damage dealer because they will peel aggro off of you. It is possible to charge in and do the alpha eating part though. And in some circumstances to mezz the entire group before they can respond (although this gets dicier as the size and level of enemy groups increases).

One technique I do sometimes use on my FF characters is to hop in with Personal Force Field, let the enemies blow their first strike, and then pop out when it's safe. It's not really tanking though, just making enemies blow their first strikes. I usually only do this on very low level teams where the actual Tankers aren't high enough to take the full brunt of the alpha.

I'm sorry, I've become completely distracted by this phrase:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Th Guardian of Earth kinking ***

...and am unable to concentrate on your question.