When Your Team Needs a Tank....

What is your favourite Primary, and Secondary to go with.

For a long time it seemed years ago that there wasn't too many tanks out there. I may be wrong, but it used to seem a strong Scrapper filled the void while providing better damage.

Now I haven't played my tanks for.... 5-6 years really. I want to build THE team tank of the day.

I did not find a lot of current posts on this subject specifically. So I thought the same forum experticus maximus types who have tanked to hell and back could give me a good understanding of which way to go.

Here is the bottom line:

I want your opinion of your favourite tank to team with. Forget about playstyle for this question; instead look at it from a power (primary and secondary) choice.

Also, assume the following:
- The tank would not be greatly concerned with soloing, but it would have to be an option
- The tank opinion of favour should be determined WITHOUT consideration of fancy IO slotting.
- This is a non-PVP tank
- Please, no stone tank. It's the one primary I really just don't get along with. Although I know it is VERY strong. (Sorry).
- This tank would be what you want to bring to battle with you in most conceivable situations from levels 30-endgame and beyond.

I will say the only tanks I have not deleted are Invincibility/Super Strength (can't stand super strength anymore.) And I still have a Willpower, Dark Melee tank.

I'm just not sure if the WP/DM tank is strong enough to help (he's only 30ish).

I'd appreciate the thoughts of not only vet tankers, but those magical people (you know who you are) that are always making great PUG teams.

Thanks.

Dark Armor/Kinetic Melee.

Nothing like surviving anything anybody can throw at you, being able to hold aggro through defeat, fits the role of controller in a pinch, and applying -damage to the enemies just in case you do lose aggro.

THE team tank would be any tank.

any tank built right can tank for any team with the upmost confidence and also with no issues at all.

most of the answers youll get is from people who play their mains like cma whos a invul,me im a fire tank,aett is an ice tank and dechs is a dark tank.

all of us can tank without question and win at whatever we see infront of us. not cause we picked the best tank but becuase its who we do best on.

see for example..dechs picks a dark tank ( i know right who would have seen that! :P) but for me. dark armor is horrible and although im a fire tank i wont say fire cause it isnt easy to play a fire tank nor is it " the safest" tank to make.

id pick an invul as the best team tank cause its got resistance and def and is totally solid.but in no way shape of form is it the best imo but just the safetest!its easy to use,doesnt take alot of effort and really well maintained and even if you mess up the build its still better then if you say messed up an ice tank or fire tanks build.

Severe- That's fine. I understand most people will point to their own Tank builds and suggest it. That's ok.

I like your answer. I like that you added that there might be -personal- preference involved but that there also might be 'easier' choices as well.

Back in the day there were quite a few people who really just played tanks. I think those opinions will be good too, and perhaps less biased.

I am basically counting on some personal bias, and some good suggestions! For instance, the idea that "Ice" could be great but would give me less room for error is a definite consideration for myself.

Also just a reminder of the criteria I had.... I can't count on uber IO's to make the build work.

Thanks for the responses so far.

Pretty much what Severe said.

I'll also add that as someone with numerous tanks it generally comes down to what tank I'm in the mood for, or what tank I think can handle the particular task at hand. Some situations I'll bring one of my Fire tanks, others might be better suited to my Dark, Stone, SD, ELA, or Inv. tanks. Some times it's just a coin toss as to which one I play.

The only one that I find wanting at times is my Ice tank. I think that has more to do with me not having figured out the Ice set well enough in my mind, as I've seen some Ice tanks do things that have left me scratching my head going "why can't I do that with mine".....

In all honesty you should be able to tank anything with any well built tank. I dont believe there is a be all, end all tank build.

I have to admit, I don't have much experience with any other tank sets. Ice seemed well enough for the levels I played it (then again, everyone's a tank at level 14). I've seen all versions of tanks do all kinds of things, from incredible success to spectacular failure.

The real answer, which doesn't actually help you at all, is this: The best tank set is the one that's best for you.

I concur with Severe, though. If you're going to rule out stone, the easiest tank to excel with is Invulnerability, or perhaps Shield since it's so easy to softcap. I would say Willpower, but the taunt aura is lacking. If you know how to handle aggro, that's not a problem, but we are talking about easiest.

Okay so for end game type of content, you feel better with defense vs. resistance?

To be honest since the tank AT is the one I haven't played past...35, I would not have guessed that.

Like I said, I'm not looking for 'uberist' as someone suggests... I'm looking for TEAM well rounded playing on a budget. I probably won't be a solo machine either.


***Actually***
Let me put it this way then to less aggravate the masses....

Right now the only tank I have real current experience with (I've been out of the game for about 10 months) is my Willpower/Dark Melee.

Maybe the better question is: Is this a good team powerset for the criteria I posted in my original post? What are the strengths of this set in endgame? What are the Weaknesses?

I just don't want to grind to 40 and think... damn I should have tried X and Y instead.

I'm going to come at this again but with a more detailed explanation, hitting point by point.

I think a Dark Armor/Kinetic Melee tank is what you want, assuming you'll take the time to learn how to play it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Elektro_ - The tank would not be greatly concerned with soloing, but it would have to be an option

Everyone in the game can solo, for some it just takes longer. Dark has death shroud to increase offense, and Kin is no slouch for damage output, especially with Power Siphon boosting death shroud.

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Elektro_ - The tank opinion of favour should be determined WITHOUT consideration of fancy IO slotting.

Dark Armor is an excellent set without IOs. I spent the majority of my tank's life on SOs and did just fine. Knockback Protection IOs are quite complimentary since Dark Armor lacks built in protection, though, and they're cheap. Even without them, there is always acrobatics.

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Elektro_ - This is a non-PVP tank

Oddly enough, Dark Armor works pretty well in PvP. Despite the fact that you don't want to PvP, I'll just mention that the +perception and the fact that DA is resistance based puts you in pretty good standing for if you decide to step into a PvP zone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Elektro_ - Please, no stone tank. It's the one primary I really just don't get along with. Although I know it is VERY strong. (Sorry).

Dark Armor is not Stone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Elektro_ - This tank would be what you want to bring to battle with you in most conceivable situations from levels 30-endgame and beyond.

Dark Armor doesn't really have a notable weakness that can't be overcome. The biggest is KB protection, but we can get around that with acrobatics or cheap IOs. It's more endurance intensive than other sets, especially if you decide to rely on Cloak of Fear (I don't suggest that), but it's not something that cannot be overcome. It has a relatively low resistance to energy, but that's not crippling either.

Dark Armor has a lot of debuff resistance, though, notably endurance drain, recovery debuffs, perception and tohit debuffs. It also has fear protection and heaps of psionic resistance.

Dark Armor has very strong survival tools. It has less resists than Elec Armor, but it has defense in addition, a better heal, and control auras. With Dark Armor, if it can't kill you in 15 seconds, it can not kill you. Even if it can kill you, you have Soul Transfer, a 30 magnitude auto hit stun. You won't lose aggro after one defeat. Sometimes, your defeat is the worst thing that could happen for the enemy, and the best thing for your team.

EDIT: The kinetic melee allows you to stack -damage on top of your resists. This helps you and your team survive (AoEs mainly). There is plenty of knockdown as well, again multiplying your survivability. On top of that are semi-reliable stuns, which can be stacked with Oppressive Gloom to great effect.

The best thing about Dark Armor, in my opinion, is the potential. You start with heavy resists, the best heal in the game, and a smidgen of defense. Defense buffs are very common in this game, whether from IOs or teammates. It's not uncommon to see a shield tank in a team with 80% defense, which is about 35% of wasted buffs in most cases. Those same buffs on Dark Armor turn it into a granite tank that fills its health bar every 15 seconds.

Of the tanks that I have the one that's been the most survivable with the least amount of set IO investment, besides my stoner, has been my Inv/DM. He can solo fine, but with DM being more ST focused he doesn't mow through mobs quickly.

didn't read through the whole thread. that said, i have an ice/ice tank that loves to team. i've been able to tank pretty much all of the end game content (still have CoP and a couple shard TFs to do) successfully.

if kinetic melee were around when i made this tank i probably would have made an ice/km build. i'm tempted to do it anyway (maybe one day brutes or scrappers will get ice armor and i can make one of them). point it, like the slows in ice melee have synergy with chilling embrace's slow, kinetic melee would have synergy with chilling embrace's -damage. then make your tank a villain and pick up darkest night for even more -damage and you would have something great, imo.

Just saw this edit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Elektro_ I just don't want to grind to 40 and think... damn I should have tried X and Y instead.

Hold the phone!

If you ever feel like you are grinding, stop playing that character and roll a new one. You don't have to delete him, because maybe you'll pick it back up later. But more than likely, if that character feels like it's a grind, that's because you don't really like it.

Well I actually do have one.... and I thought they 'could' tank?

I haven't really played him though.

To be frank I did not know that all the tanks were pretty much equally useful. I mean let's be honest it's debatable there's much difference between the sets in the first 15 or so levels. I mean what level is a tank really a tank?

So yea, I really did not think they were ALL great team types (without uber IOing).