lack of any heal for me is the only real issue, and with the upcoming trials coming up in iss 20. soft capping tanks without heals might have real issues.
the usual stuff in the game wont be a problem but i fear the harder stuff may really hurt shield
Isn't that why a tank should run with a friend that does heal?
Thanks for the input, I appreciate it.
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That's certainly an option, and most teams will have at least a little healing available. But it's far from essential, and "healing" isn't really something you need to look for in teams. Support is far more useful for its range of long-duration or permanent buffs, and several powerful debuffs. And running a team with no real support is not just viable - it's the entire point of Tanker Tuesdays, an all-Tanker teaming event. Not many friends who can heal here,|
Originally Posted by Deathstroke33
Isn't that why a tank should run with a friend that does heal?
Thanks for the input, I appreciate it. |
Tanks make some of the best soloists around thanks to sheer durability. A high-end build can run spawns scaled for 8 people by themselves; the really hardcore can run +4/x8. And Shield Defense is a great solo set thanks to the huge damage buff and extra AoE attack, along with being easy to softcap.
As far as weaknesses go, Shields has the classic defense set problem at low levels. A small amount of defense is very unreliable mitigation, so spikes of damage will kill or nearly kill you fairly often on the road to the low 20s, and you don't have a heal to protect yourself like Ice or Stone (which both have Dull Pain clones). Once you get it softcapped it stops being squishy, but still lacks the heal - one of the reasons SD/DM (and the Scrapper cousin DM/SD) is so popular. And an Invulnerability tanker, built to the softcap, is flat-out going to be tougher - but Shields should be tough enough for almost any content currently in the game, and has more damage through AAO.
I'd have to add the following 2 possible weaknesses depending on you play style:
Clicky Status protection. I'd love to have a toggle, but alas. The good is that it stays up even if for some reason you run out of endo (more on that later). The bad is that if you are used to auto-fireing something like Hasten, you have to choose Hasten or Status Protection. Also before SOs you are going to have a hard time overlapping the status protection, not to mention the possiblity of slows preventing overlap.
Endo: In my opinion, SD is very end heavy. Maybe my perception but all my SD toons (Tanks and Scrappers) have endo issues.
One last thing, purely cosmetic, and I am not sure it even is a problem anymore, haven't heard if they fixed it yet. Flyposes, with most SD toggles you can't use fly poses.
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You can't use any emotes with the Shield Toggles active.
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Originally Posted by sturm375
One last thing, purely cosmetic, and I am not sure it even is a problem anymore, haven't heard if they fixed it yet. Flyposes, with most SD toggles you can't use fly poses.
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Although Shield hasn't got a heal, Fitness becoming inherent worked out very well, you can now fit in Aid Self without compromising the build.|
Originally Posted by Severe
lack of any heal for me is the only real issue, and with the upcoming trials coming up in iss 20. soft capping tanks without heals might have real issues.
the usual stuff in the game wont be a problem but i fear the harder stuff may really hurt shield |
The major weaknesses in my opinion are:
1. Being defense based any alts with +acc can tear through you - such as Nemesis with Vengeance.
2. Shield Tankers dont gain as much from IO's as some other sets so will cap out on survivability a little earlier. Once Def is capped, which is done very easily, the only real option is recharge which only really adds +damage; increased survivability can be gained to some degree dependant on any mitigation in the secondary being available more often - stuns etc.
An IO'd Invuln for example will outsurvive a Shield in most circumstance.
That being said, I prefer Shield for the simple reason that the damage is very good and it hasn't got any major holes due to most attacks including Psi having a positional element.
L50s: Tanks: Cryofission - Ice/EM - Dr Celsius - Fire/Ice - Saint George - SD/SS | Controllers: Psichosis - Ill/Kin - Major Chaos - Ill/Stm | Scrappers - Neutron Crusader - DM/SR
Currently Levelling: Angelic Blade - BS/WP Scrapper | Seeds of Destruction - Plant/Kin Controller
Was just wondering, what are the weaknesses? Going to build my first shied tank so it would be nice to know where the holes are