Shields in Incarnate Content?

With our new character transfer token, I was able to move my Shield/SS Tanker back to my home server, and I'm wanting to run him at the new Incarnate stuff (I always did like him, and I'm remembering that now after playing him a bit). How does Shields do in the new Incarnate stuff and its higher hit cap? I have the three positions over the normal hit cap (melee is highest, at about 50%), so I know I will be hit more.

That doesn't mean Nerve sounds like a good pickup for me, though, as it only nets me another 2% in defense to each position, which isn't a big help in my position. I did pick up Aid Self with the changes to Inherent Stamina, as my biggest problem before were the occasional hits that came through and not being able to recover from them enough. So I'm thinking maybe Spiritual to get Rage perma, and boost Aid Self (which I wasn't able to slot beyond the default).

I'm on the edge with end consumption, but I'm still getting all the accolades on him. However, I could grab Cardiac and drop a power to pick up Weave, if getting that much closer to the hit cap would be worth it or needed. If not (from other people's experience) I'll go for Spiritual.

Still debating the rest, but I may go for the healing Destiny ability as well, which could get boosted by Spiritual (and would make it better to have this guy on a Keyes run). Anyway, if anyone has further ideas about performance and what to shoot for with Shields, let me know.

The Incarnate soft cap is 59% as I recall... a Shield tanker is in better shape there than most defense sets since it's not too hard to get there. I haven't run the numbers but at a guess I'd say that being at 45% defense in an Incarnate trial would be similar to being in the high 30's in normal content, say 37-39%. Yeah, you'll take more damage than you're used to but you'll still be decent. Carry a few small purples and you're golden.

One big problem will be the turrets on the BAF... those suckers seem to be autohit; I've never known them to miss even with over 60% defense and they DO hurt.

Overall think of your tank as it was in the 30's when your defenses weren't above 40% yet and that's probably fairly close. I've yet to run any trials with my Shield tank although I've had little problem with Apex and Tin Mage.

I can't recall, but do the Tin Mage and Apex mobs have the new accuracy level? I don't recall anyone saying there was new accuracy until the DE on tip missions and the Trials, but maybe I just have never seen anyone talk about it.

I do have Tough on this guy already, as he did have issues if his defenses were penetrated (like when fighting DE or Nemesis), so it wouldn't be that hard to drop his ancillary hold and get Weave, but I could only leave it at the default slot. Assuming we get three new slots like the devs are planning, I could then slot it better.

Even with Weave, though, that's mid-50s for melee attacks, and low 50s for ranged and AOE. Better, for sure, but I would need to get Cardiac to run it, meaning less gravy for recharge and the healing powers, which seem like the best thing to get still over Barrier and the others.

I dunno, I'm guessing the biggest turnaround will be in gaining levels via the incarnate powers. Those make a lot of difference in all my characters.

Frankly I'd just stay with a bit above 45% and start the trial with a handful of small purples... medium or large would be a waste so save 'em for characters who need 'em.

Oh, and yes I believe that all the incarnate mobs share the 64% base tohit so that includes Apex/Tin Mage. As I said I didn't have too much trouble with them on my Shield/Fire sitting at 45-50% def to all. I DID pop One with the Shield for the Veng'd Bobcat... that @!#! hits hard and I used a few inspirations, orange and purple mainly with the occasional "EAT THE GREEN FAST!" for the AV's.

I may just go for Spiritual and keep my current build going (though I see a few tweaks possible to up my AOE and Melee defense slightly). If I can't take on a canister on Lambda solo after that (so with a +1 level from the Alpha), I may opt for Cardiac and Weave.

Part of me feels reluctant to lose the cap with this guy, but I suppose going for more than I have is overkill in most content still. Still, if anyone has more direct experience and wants to share it, I'd love to hear it.

My shield/mace tank performs fairly well on trials. I've got her with tough/weave, all the shield powers, rebirth radial t3, reactive radial t3, phantoms radial t3 (untouchable variety), ion t1, and spiritual radial t3 (33% rech/heal).

She sits just above 50% to all positions and survives reasonably well. The turrets in BAF can rip me up if I take too long pulling the AV, of course, but that's to be expected. I can solo crates/tubes in lambda as long as I can keep any one of a small purple, the support pet, OWtS, or rebirth running, and I can hold off reinforcement spawns in BAF solo for quite a long time (don't necessarily *kill* them too fast, but whatever). Note that both of these were significantly harder before I became +3, though (although not completely impossible). Only been on one keyes with her, but between the support pet, rebirth, and greens I was able to keep upright well enough. I wasn't tanking AM, though, so I don't know how well a non-trial-softcapped defense based character would fare against his defense debuffing shenanigans (my guess: not well without support).

It seems to me that there are two key things to focus on. One is to manage inspirations to keep small purples available for 'regular' trial foes. You don't always need them, and of course they're not especially useful for AV fights, but they're very handy for taking on larger spawns of regular trial enemies by yourself. You won't need them if you're with the team, usually, but they're useful if you want to try to solo.

The other thing is to make sure you've got stuff to back up your defense. Rebirth radial is *definitely* the way to go - even if you have aid self, in my opinion. Tough and decently slotted one with the shield are also very good to have. Your defense will get pierced, having the extra resists and HP to back it up is a very good idea. I don't think cardiac is mandatory if you're willing to take body mastery, but if not it's definitely useful. Spiritual is nice to have, but definitely not the only way to go.