The Last Rule of Tanking (or everything a tank needs to know)

Like all of my guides, I plan to keep it posted on my blog where I can format as I please and not worry about updating several locations. I will leave the introduction here and a link to the guide. Please feel free to leave comments and questions here or on the blog.

Introduction

Let me start this guide by saying that a tank is not a necessity in City of Heroes, and that is one of the things that makes this game what it is. The support teammates have the potential to turn any content in this game into trivial encounters. Even the least survivable archetype in this game can be built (with very much effort, mind you) to have enough survivability to withstand countless enemies. The need for a tank shows up when you have fragile teammates and less than the optimal kinds of support. Where a good tank will shine the most is on a terribly fragile team. He is what holds the team together and turns the game into a war of attrition that the tank will not lose.

When it comes to tanks in City of Heroes, I have only ever seen two kinds. There are the ones that excel and the ones that are a wasted slot on the team. It really is that simple, because if the tank is not doing what he should be doing, then anyone else could do everything that he is doing, better.

You want to be the kind that excels. I know that because you are sitting here reading this. Well, either that or you are a blaster that wants to understand what the good tanks really are doing for you. Regardless of your motivation, I encourage you to read on. Knowledge can only make you a better player. Of course, before I teach you the Last Rule of Tanking, I have to get through a few others.

Read the rest.

A really good read and something I've been preaching for a few years now to people I run across that need preaching to.

Excellent post and a damn good read. Yes, I had to say it twice.

A nice read, as someone said earlier. Only things I'd mention would be "tactical tips", such as how to pick out one group out of a few clumped together, how to get critters to come to you by breaking line of sight, using Taunt to force enemies with ranged attacks to come closer to you, etc.

Something I do with teams is try and get a handle on who might need extra attention right off the bat. Who has the capability to pull agro off of me (shield scrappers, for example) or who has powersets that lend themselves to being in melee range but may not have the tools to keep themselves upright in melee range without some help (kin defenders come to mind). Usually there's not much you can do, but at least being aware that they might need help first helps me prioritize things. I'm certainly not saying that you need to babysit a scrapper, but knowing he has the capability to pull agro off of you fairly easily can dictate how often you taunt, or when you use your big hitters, etc. Having an idea in your head before you engage the enemy lets you mentally prepare for things before they happen and watch for them as they happen and you've already thought of a way to deal with it(rather than having to notice what's going on, interpret what's happening, and then take action all on the fly).

Just a few thoughts and it's late at night, so I'm probably rambling.

Every game with a tanking role needs a guide like this.

I liked it.

Tanking for me is about redirecting attacks, so its not just good having cones directed at you, its better to have enemies backs to the team so that these cones are directed away from them. I displace myself from team because of AoEs. If someone is in melee with me and are at their last hitpoints I will move away until they've been restored to full hitpoints. Someone dead near me and an AV I will move away so that they can be ressed in safety, unless ofc there is someone like a thermal in team. Anyway to be short, table top template gaming is something a Tanker should be playing. Rather than be about taking hits with braun you can be about redirecting attacks with your brains. Herdpoints would allow for blasters to fire at range for example, as an option (if they're up your butt trying to enjoy the AoE then that's their fault. You gave them everything and they gave the enemy everything they could want.)

I would leave in there a suggestion about everyone needing to know about other peoples powersets. Tankers are inefficient when they make other people inefficient. In an ideal world all tanks should be able to look at the entire team, know whats there and create the right dynamic that works best with the team make up. Sometimes your survivability weighs in the balance of making sure other people can give what you like them to offer. In my opinion, to be a good tanker it does help to experience other ATs etc. So many people demand the impossible and so many people are unaware of how little other people are doing their job also.

There is power in active mitigation, some people say on a shield tank rely someone to do something about the quartz's quick or an Invuln would rely on someone to do something quickly about those 3 sappers close together in a medium sized room. If you want something doing do it yourself. The tools are there, in the secondaries. It's not flexible to need certain people however with the people there they do have more fun being useful and getting to play how they should be.

A very well written guide. I think many new tankers (and some old ones, I'm sure) could benefit from the read.

However, I'm not in complete agreement with the "First to Fight, First to Fall" motto. If I fall first and I've been doing my job right, that's 17 units of aggro unleashed on my team. Ideally, you want no other team mates to fall, but the situation determines who has to be (for lack of a better word) sacrificed.

Still, a solid read. Get it stickied in the tanker forum.

Some things I learned in that guide:

- Brutes don't have AoE gauntlet. I would swear that I read something that said they did.
- Gauntlet only works on Tanker single target attacks.
- The taunt in Icicles and CE doesn't stack. I'm Ice/Axe and didn't know that!

Despite my ignorance, I swear I do pretty well tanking, really!



Nice guide! It would be fun to hit up the Tanker community for set specific comments down the road.

Overall a very good read. I make liberal use of Taunt, so I've never noticed that it loses priority as it goes to full duration.

While I completely agree with the use of KB (and other mass control abilities) for handling over-aggro, I'm somewhat apprehensive about its mention. I've seen many Tanks who use their KB poorly, which (as a Stormie) makes me die a little bit inside. It deserves mention, though, for the Tanks who will use such abilities properly and for the overall benefit of the group.

Quote:

Originally Posted by New Dawn There is power in active mitigation, some people say on a shield tank rely someone to do something about the quartz's quick or an Invuln would rely on someone to do something quickly about those 3 sappers close together in a medium sized room. If you want something doing do it yourself.

This is the main reason I agree with keeping KB in as an over-aggro tactic. It's so rare to see someone doing all they can, it's best sometimes to simply assume (until proven otherwise) that a teammate will not act in their best interest.

The guide has just been updated with a section on specific aggro control tactics, to include eight detailed methods.

" The first being that aggro is hard to gain without first hitting something and secondly, when that something starts to beat on you, the natural reaction is typically kill it with FIRE!

With any luck, he is taking damage slow enough that you can react to the crisis. One of the quickest ways to react is to target that teammate and activate any attacks you can. "


I think you should of mentioned that those with taunt can rely less on "LUCK" and perhaps beat travel with the powers range and be much more likely to hit the target. I might taunt and press f to follow but usually its nice to stay where I am and keep a clustered bunch of mobs together within aoe effect goodness as you call it than spread them by running upto what you would hope is someones target.

Often I would be facing the team so can see the target anyway. The taunt front lot, move to back and have all the mobs turn around has been my tactic for years. It beats panning like I did before it. If on maps where vision can be particularly obscured as you pan by trees or something it particularly useful to ask people to target what hits them.

If the world and his mum has a tank with stealth and slows the game down I'll know who to blame. It's alright on a Dark to limit how much alpha time they have to bare moving toward a group but that's about as much I'd give it props.

Another update today, which features a new section on "The Unconventional Tank" for all you tanking Blasters/Dominators/Controllers/Whatevers.

Very nice guide. I haven't really played a Tank AT mainly because I worry that I am going to do it poorly and let my teammates down, but this guide certainly will help me give it a try!

Also, I have a DP/Mental blaster who is a Squishy melee to a degree. The nuke is PBOE and non-crashing but that means being in close. I chose melee centric powers from the secondary and built him for positional defense to cap with a small purple.

With a good tank I can be right there in melee (as long as I don't get hit with the ever popular defense debuff) blasting away. He does die occasionally but that is almost always my fault for not paying attention to health or status effects that drop my defense. But it is a thing of beauty to stand beside the tank and unleash a brutal beatdown. It usually decimates minions and Lt's (if I also hit a red) and puts a hurtin' on bosses. Great fun.

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I thought I had commented before, but apparently not. Very nice guide, and I thank you for it. I am looking forward to the "Role of the Off-Tank" section.

Finally updated this guide with Off-Tanking section.

I hope to eventually add an incarnate tank section.

The off-tank to me would usually be the Tanker with either the least experience or weakest to the enemy group faced as some Tanker types will face damage types better than others. When it comes to leap frogging, there is no off-tank, both are doing things jointly, one might be in need of a rescue more than the other but essentially they're doing the same thing acting like a tag team, same with playing tennis with an AV.

Edit: Esssentially for the most part offtanking is "play like a scrapper could".