I have one at 50, it was quite effective once I got my defenses above 25% and got really good once I got above 40%. There are still times when the RNG will suddenly say "screw you" and you'll eat enough of an alpha strike to drop you in a couple seconds but those are very rare. I've played Stone, Inv and Shield to 50 and while Shield is certainly third in the list it isn't weak by any stretch.
Shield's really easy to soft cap (45% def to all positions); you can get really close just by taking and slotting your armors, Weave and the Steadfast 3% defense IO. I added a few other sets (Mako, ToD and Scirocco) to finish the job on mine. I could have done it by slotting Gaussian's into Build Up but that's a power I never get on a tank... I always find something else that helps me, well, tank better.
Since it takes so little investment to soft cap Shield you're free to focus your IO bonuses in other areas. Gift of the Ancients is great for your def powers to eliminate any endurance issues you may have, Crushing Impact is good in your ST attacks to give a bit more recharge, things like that. I always take Taunt on every tank and usually slot it up with either Zinger or Beratement for some nice and cheap bonuses.
Bottom line I don't think you'll be dissapointed in your SD/Fire tank; it's quite competent once it matures a bit. Yeah, the early levels will be tough since like all defense sets it's weak early. Once you hit 22 and can slot SO's things should get better and by the time you're in the early 30's you can soft cap with judicious use of IO sets. The damage output of the SD/Fire combo is high; it actually approaches scrapper levels.
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
Thanks for the advice, safe to say I'm happy with the feedback you've given me. While I'm not all that competent when it comes to IO sets I think I'll be able to come up with something
And yeah I'm lvl 19 ATM and I've already seen how much damage it can pull off, which is why I'm considering getting build up next lvl to nuke down Bosses/annoying luitenants.
Finally, after all this time deviating backwards and forwards from a variety of classes I have reverted back what I favour most when it comes to MMOs: Tanking. I've had a browse over powersets and I came up with Shield/Fire which seems like what I want out of a tank. High defences, constant threat, hefty AoE capability and hella balls to the wall awesome power effects.
So with this in mind I have two questions.
- Has this build got some potential as a geniune tanking set or is it doomed from the start?
- would anyone have any suggestions as to what to invest in with IOs? I'm not very good with them.
Thank you!