I am Alive!

Maximum Survivability, minus Stone defense.

That's what I would like to talk about with all you tank lovers out there. I have a stone tanker that can walk through just about solo anything except the -big- end game stuff and live to tell about it. So here I am asking what people think would be a second good build to go after as I explore creating a new tank.

Now, I am not asking for a complete Mids posting with IOs slotted in and all that, I am simply asking for opinions on the Tanker Powersets. (I'll beg a build somewhere after I've tried out a couple recommended combos)

I am of a mind to go with Inv/DM. Now before you all laugh at me and my pick on DM and how little damage it does compared to the other sets, I want to defend myself with the fact that DM offers a spam heal in it with Siphon Life, the only heal offered by any of the Attack powers, correct? I understand many of you will point out that damage output = survivability, but that's not what I am after. I want to be able to let her stand there and take it when that inevitable RL Agro sprouts up and I gotta run to seperate kids that have decided to suddenly rearrainge the living room... by accident of course.

Anyway, just curious what the thought is out there. I've seen some awesome tanks lead the fray in a BAF or Lambda. I'd like a chance to start working my way that direction, and not look lumpy doing it.

The -tohit of DM should go well with any set that utilizes defense. Im a big fan of Willpower myself, but I bet most people here would agree with using Invuln.

Elec/dark would work as well since the trials feature heavy energy damage.

Dark Melee or Ice Melee are your best bets.

Yes, Siphon life is a decent heal, but don't underestimate the value of Touch of Fear either. It stacks fast enough to take a non-resistant boss entirely out of the fight. Well, assuming the taunt from Invulnerability doesn't break the terrorized effect. I don't know for sure because I've only used Touch of Fear on a Super Reflexes scrapper.

Ice Melee has Ice Patch and Frozen Aura. With a set of Obliteration, Frozen Aura recharges fast enough to keep even level minions asleep without interruption. If you cycle it, they will just nod off until they collapse from lack of hitpoints. You only need five slots for that. If you don't need the extra 1.88% defense smashing/lethal, I recommend using the 6th slot for an End/Sleep enhancement. Though... you could also slot a Call of the Sandman: Chance to heal self. That's nice in an AoE power. With 10 targets, it would have roughly a 40% chance of activating at least once.

Inv/KM/Soul with Paralytic and Rebirth should be pretty survivable.

I still vote Dark Armor, it has the least number of non-patchable holes. You'd do well to pair it with Kinetic Melee or Stone Melee for max survivability.