Build Question for More Experienced Stone Tankers

So here I am, a rather new player rounding the bend toward max level with my stone tank, who I've been enjoying greatly through the trip.

Now I have this respec on hand, and while I'm fully aware of some glaring mistakes I made in building him, there are a few power slots I'm still considering how to fill.

Having taken Soul Mastery, my current debate is whether I should stick with Soul Tentacles and Breath of Fire, for the bit of control and AoE splash damage (I use Teleport to hop out from the mountain of baddies when I want to use a cone). Or whether I should snag Gloom and Maneuvers, for that admittedly small, yet possibly useful bit of defense and -ToHit on the big bads.

Does anyone with Stone Tanker experience have any thoughts on the matter? It seems to me to boil down to whether it's nice to have a few extra powers to sling at the bigger packs, or a little extra buffer against AVs and the like. I don't have any experience with the upper level task forces, so I thought it prudent to ask around.

Thanks in advance for any input!

Well, a big part of it depends on your goals for the tank in question. I have one of each armor set so I have different ones built with different purposes in mind (damage for soloing, random teams, STF, etc).

With the -recharge debuff in Granite, a few extra attacks certainly couldn't hurt.

Personally, I'll be respec'ing to get the inherent Fitness and taking Maneuvers. But in my case, it's because I already have four LotG +recharge and four Gift of the Ancients +run speed. I want a fifth one of each and don't have a place to put them. I don't normally take Maneuvers on a tank. Only one of my tanks has it so far and it's because I had no clue what else to take. My dark/ tank took Maneuvers at level 49.

It all depends on if you are soft capped or not. If you are over 45% in all damage types without Maneuvers, then it won't do you much good to pick it up.

I would suggest focusing on PBAOE powers as a Tanker. Cones require you to leave the center of a fight, which is where you are supposed to be. They also take a lot of time to set up and to get back in the middle of packs of enemies. It is okay to use them when soloing, but let your teams do the cone AoEs when teaming. You are there to keep everything in a nice herd around you.

I assume you are Stone/Fire, since you mentioned you have Breath of Fire. Combustion has a great radius, and acts as a larg AoE taunt. Fire Sword Circle is great for damage and extra taunting. If you want another AoE from the epic pools, Fire Ball is a good one to add to your arsenal. Disruptor Blast is basically the same, except you only need to take one other power to get it.