New player lf advice.

Ok im a newbie , started playing a few days ago , but im dead set on being a tank im looking for some help on what to choose.

I like the sound of the willpower but was told that is aoe taunt is inferior to other sets?

And im sure i dont wanna be stone that slowing debuff is just way too much , pretty damn annoying actually.

So any help / advice from some tanking vets would be nice.

Thx .

Are you completely new to the game? If so, I would say for a beginner either Willpower or Invulnerability is the way to go. Willpower doesn't have a good agro aura, but, really if you are playing your archetype correctly that won't matter. The more you hit stuff, the more attention you get, plus if you cycle your taunts then an agro aura becomes superfluous. You are doing your job correctly, plus, Willpower actually rewards you with faster healing and decreased mob accuracy the more mobs you got round you, on top of that you got some impressive regen and stamina recovery, not to mention a self rez should you faceplant.

Resistance to knockback, being held, slept, you also got some defence in there too to help you dodge attacks.

Yes sir, Willpower is an exceptional powerset IMO. I use it on my dual blades brute, and its flipping supurb. On a tanker its even better again as its your primary powers. Not only that, due to it gives you another stamina recovery power, you can use your toggles and you can hit and hit and hit. Any of the secondaries goes well with it. But my personal picks would either be Super Strength or War Mace.

Why Super Strength? Rage. 2 minutes of 80% increase in damage. Cant argue with that.

Why War Mace, a bit endurance heavy, but, you are willpower, so you'll cope. Once you get your quick recovery at level 12 and slotted at 13, with a few blue insps on hand, you'll do well. War Mace does some high smashing damage, and clobber is just almost an instant death sentence to even most lieutenants after you do your tier 1 attack. So yeah, Willpower is awesome.

Or there is invulnerability. Huge resistances to smashing and lethal damage, and some resistance to other types as well. Impressive defences too, turn your body into a moving deflector shield allowing it to naturally repel attacks and you don't get hit, the downside... you have to wait till 18 and 26 to get them. Plus, invul has got absolutely no counteration to psychic attacks, and fire and negative attacks will give you pause for thought too. It has got an impressive self heal though which for a time will actually increase your max hit points making you tougher again.

But really, you can't go wrong with either, Willpower though would be the one I'd choose. My Brute Dual blades / Willpower, I made before my tanker, but put him on hiatus while I finished my tanker, but he was a beast... and now, Im getting the urge to go brutal again.

Another vote here for willpower. It is a great "set it and forget it" powerset, very low maintenence so you can focus your energy on bashing stuff. It gives good layered mitigation. By that I mean that you get good defense to keep you from getting hit, good resistance so that when you get hit, it doesnt hurt much, and good regen so that the HP you do lose is recovered quickly. My lvl 50 WP/Axe tank is nigh undestructable. The weak taunt aura is a consideration, but as stated above, if you are bashing bad guys in the face, they stay pretty well taunted.

Thanks for the info , im thinking of taking willpower with dark mellee for the extra heal in the mellee set?

And to answer your question yes ima complete newbie , bought the game 3 days ago not leveled past 15 yet on any characters.

What server are you playing on? I'd be happy to meet up in game and show off my WP tank so you can see what you have to look forward to .

Torn between union and freedom atm , freedom seems to have a nice population all the time where as union dies out at set times - but i have friends on union that actually got me into the game trying to get them to move

Freedom is my home server, and you are right about the population. Finding a team is never difficult. I'm not sure where you are in the world, but Union is a EU based server, so if you are playing at North American peak times, you may have a hard time finding a team on Union. Fair warning though, Freedom's Atlas Park is full of people spamming for power leveling. I recommend what I wish someone had recommended to me when I started...stay away from AE farms. Experience the game world and get out of Atlas Park.

Note: I am a member of a large and active super group on Freedom if you are interested in such things.

Im assuming a super group is like a guild from gwars etc? Add my global if you like its just my posting name here.

If you're concerned about mob control with Willpower's weaker taunt aura, make sure you grab the Taunt power itself. It may only AoE 5 targets, but at least you'll get their attention.

Dark Melee isn't a bad pick, there isn't much in the game that can protect against negative too well. And of course it has a stamina syphoning power too. The only drawback with Dark Melee is it doens't have AoE's if I recall right.

So given Willpower doesn't have that great a taunt aura, you'll have to be extra vigilant to make sure that you hit everybody with your main taunt, and punches.

Ok, I'm going to go against the advice you've gotten earlier and suggest NOT getting willpower for a first tanker because it's far more difficult to hold aggro with and demands a higher level of skill on the tanker's part in order to actually tank. I see WP as a "scranker" set (something that plays like a lower damage scrapper) rather than an aggro controlling tanker.

Willpower is a solid and durable set true enough... however it's taunt aura isn't just weaker, it's actually only about 10% as effective as any other aura. (1.25 second duration MAG 3 vs a minimum of 13.6 second duration MAG 4) You will have to rely on a strong AOE secondary in order to hold aggro at all and you'll still loose it to other teammates on a regular basis. Frankly I've only ever seen one WP tanker who could reliably hold the aggro of a spawn in the face of a high damage team and even he couldn't keep aggro away from my Shield scrapper. Admittedly my Shield scrapper doesn't need anyone to keep aggro from him; he's more than tough enough to handle it AND he has a very strong taunt aura. Still, WP is the only tanker primary I can reliably steal aggro from on that scrapper.

I would suggest Invuln as your first tank actually; it's more durable and generally just as "set and forget" as WP while having one of the best taunt auras in the game. You'll have a lot easier time with aggro and with a decent build (and it doesn't have to be extravagant) you'll easily handle anything you come across.

Secondary wise I'd advise against Energy Melee (I have that at 50 and it's definitely a bottom feeder nowadays) but really anything else will serve you well. A secondary with AOE capability will assist you in aggro management and decent damage is always a plus... good choices there are Fire or Electric. If you want a bit more mitigation then something with soft controls comes in handy like Stone Melee, Dark Melee or Ice Melee. Super Strength is the classic pairing with Inv and it's good; it just takes until level 38 before you get any AOE... but when you get there it's a good one.

Dark Melee's lack of AoE isn't a huge problem. When Tankers attack something, up to four other enemies near your target are also taunted. This means you don't have to hit everything to hold aggro. Just punch a few things in the group or use your Taunt power on the hardest targets and the rest of your team should be fine.

When you get to 41, you can choose from unique pools of powers called Ancillary or Epic pools. Every pool has at least one AoE and some of them have more than one. I prefer the Villain Epic Pools for many of my characters. Unlocking them requires you to perform a mission arc while a Villain or Rogue alignment, but once unlocked you can switch to any alignment or respec and always have them available to you.

Invulnerable is a good choice for a first tank for all the reasons CMA stated. I must admit my first one was a Fire/Fire tank, and remains my favorite. I rarely have issues holding aggro.

I have never played an invuln tank, but have always heard it performs very well, so I'm sure it would serve you well. The best part about this game is that it is designed to encourage players to create multiple characters resulting in what we call "altaholism". The correct answer in the Invuln vs WP question is...make both.

I'd suggest invuln or shields for a primary. For a secondary, anything but energy melee; ice melee is pretty underwhelming to me as well. Willpower's not a bad choice, but not my first choice.

Willpower may not have an agro aura, if its paired with something like electric melee, war mace, super strength... that won't matter. As long as he gets a taunt off, and wallops a few things and keeps taunting, it will hold agro.

My Dual Blades / Willpower Brute has actually stolen agro away from a tanker I teamed with in Praet. Said Tanker was electric with lightning field too. A taunt and a few attacks later they were ignoring the other guy. It literally just depends how much interaction you want.

Invul / SS is easy, in a team from my experiences with it now, I can just stand there taunt, stomp, taunt, stomp. I don't lose aggro. Call Me Awesome woudl know as its his build guide Im copying for said Tanker.

Willpower will need a bit more player action granted, it doesn't lend itself to "Lazy Tanking" you do have to make an effort with it. But it depends on the original posters wants, if he wants to be a traditional tank, invul is a great pick, if he wants to be a fighting tank, either is still a great pick. But I think Willpower has got powers that will help a new player a bit more than Invul IMHO.

The stamina recovery, the self res, the super regenerative... These all count.

OP, go with Shield Defense/Super Strength, you'll have a blast.

-> TT MA Arc ID 1755 -> Join TankHQ -> Media -> @AceMACE

My first tank was Invulnerability/Super Strength. It's a great build, especially if you get the Cardiac Alpha boost, which not only helps with endurance usage, but further boosts your damage resistance.

My second is Willpower/Super Strength and it's a really good toon. I just really like Super Strength, mostly for Foot Stomp and Rage.

Make sure you take Tough and Weave from the Fighting Power Pools.

I'm also on Freedom, global is @Uber Rod if you need any help.

I think that the best first tank for anyone to start with is probably Ice, it's level of aggro control makes it blatantly obvious for anyone to get Tanks and can be one seriously survivable character. Also when it comes to being slowed down, really not a problem as Ice resists slows. Willpowers wetness is in that once something has left the aura its pretty much going to be looking for anyone. Other sets can pass through and have chasers that are being attacked on the chase or simply do better at recoveries. I've had mine for years and still no first debt badge XD but then I don't play with dumb and dumber.

Wow thanks for all the reply's , nice to see a helpful community on a mmo.

Lots of information for me to sift through and try out , again thanks everyone.

I suggest Invulnerability/Dark Melee.

You get all the plusses of Invuln, and the added survivability of DM.

I would suggest Dark Armor, but that's really more of a set for when you know the game better.