Looking for some suggestions for a Primary

Well the title pretty much says it all...

First off, a little back ground. 36+ month vet of the game, and long time reader of the Forums, but as you can see first post. I've embarked on my quest in getting one of each AT up to 50 and next up on my list is the Tanker. I just can't seem to find a primary that appeals to me.

I want to pair this with /Dark Melee and I have only 1 rule. I don't want to duplicate powersets. Therefor, Dark Armor and Shield are out as I already have a spines/dark scrapper and WM/SD brute (sorry Dechs you can't plug DA)

And lastly, for a little background on me. I usually solo for about the first 25 levels or so and then start running TF and such. I don't PL these toons and I'm not looking for a ticket/inf farmer or anything like that. Just playing for the sake of playing.

That said, I'd love for you Tanker gurus to give me some feedback. What might be a fun pairing for /DM (excluding DA/ and SD/)?

Thanks again!

safe tank would be wp or invul....try one of those

Also, Ice/ pairs well with Dark Melee.

Anything that doesn't have a heal pairs well with Dark Melee. Anything that does have a heal pairs well, too. Willpower and Invulnerability are easy to make them into tough tankers at early levels. Is that what you are looking for, or do you want something tough for 50?

Invuln/DM is insanely tough against anything but Psi users.

WP/DM will be very survivable, but you may have problems holding agro for larger teams, due to the weak taunt in Rise to the Challenge. (can still be done, you just have to lean on Taunt a little heavier)

Looking forward to the journey for the destination. Just looking for something that would be entertaining and a little bit unique. (Granted there are only so many combinations so I'm not expecting to be one of a kind here)

I'll admit. Ice/ was one of the ones that I was considering. I was also looking at Fire/

I'm stuck at work right now so of course I can't fiddle with Mids but I'll also look at WP and Invul. For some reason I can't convince my work that Mids is essential for maintaining my sanity at work. Oh well...

Thank you, everyone for quick replies.

Any thoughts of pro's and con's of these sets. (I mainly play def/corr so switching into SMASH! mode always takes me time to wrap my brain around)

I've loved my Ice/DM and my WP/DM. I've never paired it with Invul, but I know Invul pretty well and feel confident that it would also pair well. Fire would also be a blast, I'm fairly sure, though I paired them on a Brute, not a tank. Firsthand, I know nothing about stone, so I can't really comment there... And that leaves elec. I think that would be a fun combo, too. Heck, other than stone, on which topic I'm ignorant, I think any combo you choose will be a fun and enjoyable journey for your tanking experience.

But, if you want the pure tank feel, I'd go Invul. Very tough, good taunt aura, and none of the damage or move speed penalties to worry about.

If you want a more interesting choice, I'd go with Ice or Elec, both are rarer, and both have some interesting tricks, like a -end attack as a form of mitigation that set them apart from a lot of other sets. The choice between them is if you'd rather have a def based set, or a res based set. I can tell ya, I had some problems through the first 20-25 levels with Ice/Dark, but that was pre- Inherent Fitness. [As an aside, I'm gonna try to lobby that we institute an BC/AD or a BED/AED (before/after Enhancement Diversification) sorta rule on this. PIF (pre Inherent Fitness) and WIF (with Inherent Fitness) need to become standard time markers in this game.]

If you want a combo that's more geared to attack first, I'd go Fire/Dark.

Well I've never played dark melee but it's a mostly single target oriented set... therefore you won't have the AOE attacks to bolster your aggro management making Willpower a sub par choice if you want to tank. It does offer some good mitigation with Siphon Life and Touch of Fear so it would pair well with Ice... the king of aggro control but somewhat less durable than the best performers.

In terms of combinations I would play I'd consider Invuln, Electric or Ice in roughly that order of durability. I've been getting enthused about rolling an Electric tanker lately after seeing what I can do with a good IO build on one but right now the last thing I need is another tanker... I still need to finish that 34 Ice/Electric and I've a 24 Dark/Electric next in line.

I liked Fire/Dark myself. You can pair the dual heals, and if you really want, the dual end-stealing powers, although skipping one saves a power pick. The lack of AoE in Dark is somewhat offset by Blazing Aura and Burn. Lastly, you can eventually stack Soul Drain (and occasionally Fiery Embrace) with Burn. There's a lot of debate as to whether Burn+FE or Shield Charge+AAO is a better weapon of mass destruction over time; by adding the fantastic Soul Drain to the mix, you'll at least be wielding the nastiest possible Burn (for Tankers anyway).

Don't forget to occasionally punch them with your Tier 1 attack for the Bruising debuff while they burn.

If you're going to use Dark Melee, you will have one of the best variations of build up the game has to offer. That said, one of the best ways to leverage that buff is to pair it with a damage aura.

Further, Dark Melee has very little to show for AoE capability, which can make holding aggro difficult. I don't care how well you survive as a tank, if you can't hold aggro you're not helping anyone. To that end, I again suggest using a primary that has a damage aura.

This narrows your choices to Ice, Elec, Fire, Stone, and of course Dark. Out of the choices you haven't heartlessly eliminated, I would recommend Fire or Elec. Fire will allow you to do much more damage, and there is synergy between Midnight Grasp and Burn. Elec has the benefit of Lightning Reflexes, to help you use Soul Drain more often.

Thanks again for everyone's feedback!

Leaning more towards a Fire/Dark now... The good AoE potential from fire was a big draw to me. Probably end up rolling him up this weekend sometime if I find time with doing the WTF multiple times (is there a better acronym for the Weekly Task Force?)

I would also recommend trying a Fire Armor/Dark Melee. The synergy between the two is outstanding, as was previously mentioned. Although Fire Armor/ isn't the most defensive primary available, the heal and -tohit debuffs in /Dark Melee will pair very well, along with the ever-so-wonderful Soul Drain+ Blazing Aura+ Burn combo. /Dark Melee lacks AoE, Fire Armor/ helps fix that. Fire Armor/ sacrifices some defence for offence, /Dark Melee gives more support. It's a win-win!

fire/dark does sound very interesting, but fire/fire is so much fun. I have a dm/inv scrap that is really strong on just the SOs and few sets he has.

I think stone/dark might be good, but maybe overkill.

on that note tho, my first tank to 50 was stone/ice. No damage but he tanked and mitigated everything, best teaming tank ever if you ask me.

If I were you I'd roll wp or ice, although fire sounds alright i guess, but I've never really liked fire for tanks, aside from ticket farmin which mine does. With enough buffs it doesn't matter tho for STFs and such.

For a pure tank i think stone/dark would be just about the most sturdy tank i can really think of, probably more so than my stone/ice. but probably won't be pumpin out the damage though.

And if your against repeating sets, you might wanna look at ice melee, as tanks is the only place you can get it.

Fire/Dark might be rather interesting. Two heals (one combined with a good melee attack), Dark's heavy ST damage would also be complimented by Fire's good AOE capability. And ohhhhh, goodness. Soul Drain + Fiery Embrace could be extremely powerful. Soul Drain is already ridiculous, but pairing that with a power that adds Fire damage to your attacks based on your base damage at the time... yikes.

Fiery Aura also rolls well at the early levels. A Self Heal and end recovery mechanism is nice while you are leveling up.

i vote ELA for a primary or DA