1 Tanker only

Have you ever been in situation where you show up for a TF, and somebody else already has a tanker there, and the team leader is like, oh you'll have to change, we've already got a tank.

I remember long ago, I had my invul / SS and he was level 40, and was my highest level character, and there was an ITF forming. I showed up, chuffed to bits. Well, there happens to be a level 50 Tanker there, also Invulnerable. So naturally, I am requested to not use my Tanker. Yet, and I remember this because I scribbled it down because I was going to tell my mate another CoH player in work and I just found this bit of paper now. There were:

3 controllers
2 Scrappers
1 Blaster
2 Tankers

So, I remember I had a mini argument, and I basically said, well, you're happy to have 3 controllers, but won't allow a second tanker. I don't understand why I have to change, when going on the figures, asking a controller to change would be more prudent.

So it went back and forth, and I said, I can't do the ITF with anybody else, because this is my highest character and I dropped the team then feeling miserable and rejected. (lol awwwww.)

I see it a lot, people don't seem to want more than one Tanker, but will happily take multiple other AT's. Why is it, there is this "one Tanker only" unwritten rule? I get that DPS wise there are better to be had for sure in melee and ranged. But Tankers are not THAT bad, especially once their big nuke attacks are 6 slotted out and land after a tier 1. I've seen Tankers who readily one shot minions and two and three shotting lieutenants and they are done, are there other "support" AT's that can two shot some lieutenants?

On an 8 hero / villain team, I think having 2 tankers is not bad. I like all the AT's in the game, but for that sheer unstoppable melee feeling, there is NOTHING in CoH IMHO that compares to a tanker.

Having more than one Tanker isn't bad, especially if they can alternate spawns and gather the enemies up nice and tight.

However, Tankers don't stack as well as some other ATs. Defenders, Controllers, Corruptors, and Masterminds have sets that make them force multipliers. The buff/debuffs sets can often stack together, too. However, Tankers don't have a lot of buffs and debuffs. Even Bruising doesn't stack from multiple Tankers. This makes having more than one on a slower-moving team fairly redundant, since the spawns aren't large enough to justify the additional aggro control.


Do I agree with this? No. I think that multiple Tankers can help in certain circumstances, and it's still more damage that doesn't need much support. However, I can somewhat understand where they're coming from.

I think it's mostly a matter of the 'lead' tank not wanting to share aggro, having a 'secondary' tank step on their toes.

If you're fighting more than the aggro cap, that's a rather silly concern.

I actually remember once a friend asked me to bring someone for an ITF and I grabbed my tank. When I got there, I found out that another friend of his wanted to be 'lead tank' on his Brute. I obediently waited for him to establish aggro before going in to shore it up, and only taunted enemies that were harassing the squishies, but the Brute was sending tells to my friend, the team leader, complaining about how I was ruining his fury. When my friend noted that I was going out of my way to avoid that, he ragequit.

It only seems to be a problem when people have the whole mentality of One Lead Tank. More easygoing teams don't seem to have a problem with it. People do tend to be more srs bzns about TFs, though.

ETA: Of course, even in a tight team with one overbearing lead tank, I wouldn't believe it if my Fire/Super Strength Tanker got rejected from a TF... he is most definitively a damage dealer.

I view it as overkill to have two tankers cos it often is but usually it stems from having that other tanker undo the survivability one tries to create for the team. It's irritating. The experienced tanker tries to offer a shoot fish in a barrel situation only for the inexperienced one to direct fire to or on the team.

Also I believe in not seeing tankers get to 50 having not been the sole team tank that everyone has relied on, One tanker shouldn't be tanking for another.

Sometimes one tanker doesn't do the full job because they expect the other tanker to do it because they're nearer, but the other tanker doesn't do anything, they're oblivious. I personally know that sometimes a teams survivability can go down from a good tanker unwittingly relying on a bad tanker.

Then there is what is one mans rubbish is another mans' gold. A tanker with less aggro control but more survivability to the enemies, aggro caps and then passes the enemies on to a tank with greater aggro control but less survivability versus the enemies forcing them to try to tank against their terms. This is another reason why, tankers auras should never mix.

If I am on a Tanker and I am invited to a team that has a tank or gets another tanker I am most likely to play something else. It's a choice I make for myself and not one a leader makes for me.

A lot of experienced tankers will only double tank with tankers they know.

Probably someone stuck in the tank-healer-dps mode of thinking.

I like running 2 tanks, not only to speed the kill by grabbing more groups more quickly, but in more challenging scenarios, the off-tank can hold back a bit and run interference on those strays targeting the squishy range fighters. Particularly so if the fire blaster has drawn too much aggro. (I play a fire blaster at times. Off-tanks are my good friends).

This is maybe not really relevant, but I thought I should mention one of my favorite duos right now... my Dark/Dark Tanker and a friend's Invuln/Energy Tanker. We run +1x8, getting massive herds and mowing them down as fast as they come. Then again, to be fair, I should mention that we had less success as soon as we added more teammates.

I have to say that I completely understand where the mentality comes from. As someone else mentioned- tankers just don't stack as well as many other ATs. I probably wouldn't turn down a second tanker on most content (particularly if it is from a person that I know to be a good player), but I would almost prefer that the person bring along a debuffer or a damage dealer to help speed things along.

To be fair, I am a speed TFr and a bit of a min/maxxer. Even more to the point, I have asked people to grab a different toon if possible to avoid stacking tanks.

I'm sorry you ran across this attitude. It's unfortunate that they weren't willing to take you even after you mentioned that your tank was the only toon you had high enough to run on the ITF. With that kind of attitude, I doubt I would have wanted to do the run with them anyway.

The argument can go back and for as to whether a second tank helps or hinders task forces, but the truth is bad players will make a greater impact. I've been both primary and secondary (with the occasional tertiary) on Task Forces, etc and it's rarely an issue. My search-fu is weak and I can't find the discussion Arcanaville had with someone concerning speed runs and having a second tank on the team. The gist of that argument showed that yes, having a second tank will slow it down, but NOT significantly.

I've seen this before but rarely now that some Tank builds do good DPS and don't have to be babysat by support toons. As others have said, other ATs stack better. Multiple Holds and other mezzes stack, and everyone likes more damage.

One thing I try to do is keep an eye on the squishies on the Team. If the Blaster starts taking damage I click on him and Taunt his target. That gives him some breathing room and is easier for me than trying to Taunt everyone. Especially when the battle starts ranging around the map.

Heh. I always call tankers the "Diva" archetype, tongue in cheek. No other archetype has so many tools that shout to the enemy "Look at me look at me!"

Many folks know what tankers bring: the ability to withstand tons of damage. The ability protect allies through diversion. The ability to punch things in the face. Unfortunately, you get "Diva" players. They like tanks for a different reason: being the center of a team's strategy. "I will go in, leading you guys, once I get all the attention, buffers, pay attention to me. Debuffers, mess up things that I am controlling attention on. Damage dealers, kill only once I have control. Mezzers, mez the things I am not on, of hold things still for me."

A secondary tank in such circumstances is not treated as a secondary tanker, but a secondary Leader. No, I'm not saying these tankers are always holding the star, but they do like 'steering the boat.' The odd thing is that though this can be workable in some situations, if the tanker is telling others to wait for them to become center of things, they can slow stuff down. Team mates focused on this one strategy aren't rolling with things well as when they're allowed to start/finish things in accordance with the all of the team's full abilities. For instance: if you have 3 controllers with good lockdown, you don't need to tank everything. You just need to get the things the mezzers missed, intercept things that come un-mezzed, and generally punch stuff.

I don't team with people that require certain AT's or combinations of AT's. Everything has to be done their way, which is usually wrong and overly safe. You're better off on a different team.

Interesting. I'd have to double check, but I think there have been a few all tank LGTFs during Tanker Tuesday events.

Unless you're going for a MoLambda, any team is going to be able to handle anything in CoX. Sure, you can go for slightly more optimal setups, but an ITF hardly is going to need the most optimal setup ever to get the job done.

Syntax, I've completed an all tank LGTF... you do NOT need any other AT for it, just the ability to hold those greens (which you can get with the epics) and fight through Honoree's resists and regen.

I've duoed a Sutter (just two melee ATs) without much trouble. The lizard guy was the hardest part due to his high S/L/E resists, on the other hand teleporting Duray is a mere blip on the radar.

I'd put Cuda as the closest to requiring specific ATs as you can find in this game. If you don't have a defender or mastermind for the specific temp power given only to these archetypes, Reichsman will start repeatedly going invulnerable (complete immunity, like he's phased, but still attacks you) at mid-life, as well as regenerating very fast. The only teams I was on that managed to beat him without the temp were extremely stacked with lots of -res and -regen debuffs, damage and incarnate powers.

These topics always make me chuckle a little.


If anyone ever tells me I need to switch off a tanker, I immediately quit team and go do something else. (But it's been years since I had to.)

Hands-down, the easiest and most fun TF's I've ever done were on Tanker Tuesdays.

If two tanks are too many, WTF is going on with EIGHT?

People who say that sort of thing are idiots.