Willpower and Invul will be your best bets, with Willpower taking a stronger lead thanks to no Psionic hole. Fiery NEEDS Healing Flames, which is a click, and a click you'll be using often. Regen is even clickier (not a word) and will leave your Momentum wasting away.
I'd go with Willpower, personally; TW is very endurance heavy and Quick Recov is a great way to relieve this. Not to mention WP's ability to resurrect with a hefty damage/ToHit boost.
My guides:Dark Melee/Dark Armor/Soul Mastery, Illusion Control/Kinetics/Primal Forces Mastery, Electric Armor
"Dark Armor is a complete waste as a tanking set."
TW/Invuln - You'll stand there, laughing, as all the puny beings swing and are deflected away from your hide.
Gargoyles do not heal (Regeneration from RttC), they ignore the blows in the first place (Defensive, since not even secondary effects hit). I'd also suggest you look to /SR or /EA, two other sets that have you ignore the blows rather than regrow back from them.
I will second ditching /FA and /Self-Empathy for their clickyness. Your reliance on the healing abilities within would remain until you achieved some measure of soft-capped defenses.
I am the 99%. Occupy the World.
Minister of Infinity's Secret Police, Official Mooch of dUmb and League, Official Purveyor of Free Straws, the Most Interesting Man in the World.
http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
SR is a good one too, but Invul has one problem: Psi. Sure, Gargoyles don't regenerate but it's not like they have a brain to get wracked by psionics.
My guides:Dark Melee/Dark Armor/Soul Mastery, Illusion Control/Kinetics/Primal Forces Mastery, Electric Armor
"Dark Armor is a complete waste as a tanking set."
I don't mind having a Psi hole thematically; in some mythos, they're more prone to suggestion having been created for servitude. It's something that I'll have to think about between WP and Invul.
Super Reflexes: I'm on the fence. Functionally, it works, but thematically, how good of reflexes will a giant animated statue actually have? OTOH, I'm here to hear you out, so I'll put it on the list with an asterisk.
Thanks for all the thoughts; any other thoughts will also be appreciated 
Regarding SR: Other than being positional versus typed, there is absolutely no gameplay difference between a SR dodging an attack and a Stone Armor outside of granite deflecting an attack. Just pick minimal FX, and RP it as attacks just bouncing off your skin instead of dodging.
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This would work. I'd suggest taking a less defense based set though. Defensive Sweep provides a good bit of defense and is easy to stack. Through IO bonuses on it and it's awesome. I am testing a TW/Regen and finding it much less problematic than predicted because of that additional defense. More defense means less need to use your clicks and less interruption of momentum.
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Originally Posted by Death_Adder
Regarding SR: Other than being positional versus typed, there is absolutely no gameplay difference between a SR dodging an attack and a Stone Armor outside of granite deflecting an attack. Just pick minimal FX, and RP it as attacks just bouncing off your skin instead of dodging.
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@Rorn ---- Blue Baron ---- Guardian
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That defense would work wonders in Incarnate Trials on top of SR.
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Originally Posted by Vauluur
This would work. I'd suggest taking a less defense based set though. Defensive Sweep provides a good bit of defense and is easy to stack. Through IO bonuses on it and it's awesome. I am testing a TW/Regen and finding it much less problematic than predicted because of that additional defense. More defense means less need to use your clicks and less interruption of momentum.
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My guides:Dark Melee/Dark Armor/Soul Mastery, Illusion Control/Kinetics/Primal Forces Mastery, Electric Armor
"Dark Armor is a complete waste as a tanking set."
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It's a fair point, and I'd be RPing any set I took for a Secondary that isn't actual Stone Armor. But keep in mind that I don't want to play something too much like Stone Armor; even without GA, I'd like a different experience to keep things entertaining.|
Originally Posted by Death_Adder
Regarding SR: Other than being positional versus typed, there is absolutely no gameplay difference between a SR dodging an attack and a Stone Armor outside of granite deflecting an attack. Just pick minimal FX, and RP it as attacks just bouncing off your skin instead of dodging.
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I think my only real hangups with SR are the toggle animations, but I might be able to get beyond that if it syncs well with TW. I'll have to go through the animations on a few of these sets when I have a chance (hopefully late night tonight).
Can you use Titan Weapon with shield? If so I think that would go good as a theme if you use the stone graphics for the shield. You could be a gargoyle without a castle to guard and you use a piece of stone from your castle that was destroyed as a shield.
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Nope, Titan Weapons is a Two-Handed Weapon set, so it'll join the ranks of Katana, Claws, Spines, and Dull Blades as incompatible with Shield.
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Originally Posted by Mod_Noc
Can you use Titan Weapon with shield? If so I think that would go good as a theme if you use the stone graphics for the shield. You could be a gargoyle without a castle to guard and you use a piece of stone from your castle that was destroyed as a shield.
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I am the 99%. Occupy the World.
Minister of Infinity's Secret Police, Official Mooch of dUmb and League, Official Purveyor of Free Straws, the Most Interesting Man in the World.
http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Obsidius
That being said, I want to stick with something in the theme of a gargoyle: makes him resilient without sacrificing too much speed or maneuverability. So I'm thinking of the following candidates for Secondary:
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Of those choices, I would probably go Willpower.
TW will be an extremely demanding set when it comes to endurance usage.
Willpower seems like it most thoroughly meets your thematic requirements. In addition to that, it's low on visual effects and doesn't have any clicks outside of the tier 9. These could be hard to explain in terms of a guy who's supposed to just be innately resilient, but also TW seems to me to be a very active set so it also happens to mean less redraw for you.
Thanks for the additional advice. After going through the animations tonight in the costume creator, I think I've narrowed it down to Willpower or Invulnerability.
I don't care for the animations of Super Reflexes for this theme, would rather stay away form Fiery Aura due to thematic reasons & excessive clicking, and am not too excited about Regen for the same reasons as Fiery Aura.
Thoughts between Willpower and Invul? I like the potential of Invul, but the self rez in WP is tempting...
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Willpower and Invulnerability are considered pretty much equals at the top of the pile for survivability. They exceed everything except Granite. I'd say Willpower is probably a touch easier to level up due to regeneration & recovery rates, but Invulnerability has a better taunt aura.
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Originally Posted by Obsidius
Thanks for the additional advice. After going through the animations tonight in the costume creator, I think I've narrowed it down to Willpower or Invulnerability.
I don't care for the animations of Super Reflexes for this theme, would rather stay away form Fiery Aura due to thematic reasons & excessive clicking, and am not too excited about Regen for the same reasons as Fiery Aura. Thoughts between Willpower and Invul? I like the potential of Invul, but the self rez in WP is tempting... |
I would say that in general a high end invuln is stronger than a high end willpower due to its combination of great defense, great resists and huge max HP. However, WP has a couple of advantages that used to be fairly eccentric but lately are damn handy: protection from psi damage, confuse and fear. Invuln's advantages don't seem quite as pronounced when you're sitting there unable to act in front of an Augur that's ripping into you unimpeded. But then, if you aren't into trials...
I've got a 50 ElecM/Invuln brute and I've played WP up (on a tank, but not yet 50). To my mind, Invuln is the way to go on a non-SA Gargoyle. And outside of trials, my Brute just laughs at most stuff (of course, my tank can just stand there FOREVER, attacking as long as he has End) while he AoEs the crap out of whatever spawn and if in a pinch he takes a little damage DP will pretty much always be there to keep him upright. I really miss that with WP. My only recourse with WP is to self rez and toggle up again. And WP T9 is no comparison to Unstoppable. I <3 Unstoppable and it truly makes you feel unstoppable...until you crash.
I would go with Willpower 100%
For one reason, one of the sheild powers, (I think it is heightened senses) makes you look around and hear lots of whispers.
I imagine having you /e crouch and then hitting that power like what ever spell animated you just went off and hearing all the whispers of the people on the street below.
It also can have pretty minimal effects customized. Grey stone skin and a rocky tumble aura would be nice.
Non RP wise, it has few redraw issues, it benefits from being surrounded by foes, which from what I hear of TW PbAoE should be effective. Well I guess that is the same for invuln. But over invuln, I prefer WP for the endurance issues (granted been years ago pre IOs since i played invuln). But I'm making an educated guess that TW will be closer to Broadsword in having heavy hitting slower recharging attacks. In slotting, I think you'll be able to max your DPS by slotting a lot for recharge, at the expense of end reduction, so WP will be the better choice. That's very speculative I know but...well...that's my thoughts.
Mains - Freedom: Croatoa - 50 Fire/Psi Dom, Grandville - 50 SS/Elec Brute, Dark-Astoria - 50 Dark/Fire Scrapper, Pearline - 50 Spines/Regen Scrapper, Caffeine Girl - 50 Earth/Kin Troller
One other option that hasn't been mentioned is Elec armor. It has pretty strong graphics, but it fits thematically. Several pictures of gargoyles show them on roofs lit by lightning, it isnt a stretch to assume some gargoyles have electric powers. Include a rocky crumble aura on a stone or omega skin, and it could work really well.
On the game play issue, it has minimal clicks, works well with Titan weapons, and great resists and endurance tools.
In theme Invulnerability all the way...
- The Italian Job: The Godfather Returns #1151
Beginner - Encounter a renewed age for the Mook and the Family when Emile Marcone escapes from the Zig!
- Along Came a... Bug!? #528482
Average - A new race of aliens arrives on Earth. And Vanguard has you investigate them!
- The Court of the Blood Countess: The Rise of the Blood Countess #3805
Advanced - Go back in time and witness the birth of a vampire. Follow her to key moments in her life in order to stop her! A story of intrigue, drama and horror! Blood & Violence... not recommend to solo!
Oof, those are some strong arguments for either WP or Invul. This sin't going to be an easy decision, and I'm glad that's the case, because it means I won't be making a bad decision either way I go 
I would like to think that someday, when time allows, I start running iTrails. I'm so far out of that loop I had to actually look up what a Augur was 
It will be a bit before my new character gets to that point, but it might sway my decision. OTOH, it won't be my sole reason for choosing one secondary over another.
Death_Adder, your idea is interesting, but I don't see the theme working well for a stone gargoyle, but that's just my personal opinion. However, for a metal gargoyle like those found on the Chrysler Building... it might be another theme I revisit on a future character
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I'd go Willpower. The self-rez is a handy "Oh I'm not done YET" power that boosts your damage and ToHit for a while, and the layered defenses of the set are pretty phenomenal. If you just build for as much HP as possible you'll be able to regenerate whatever hits you.
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Originally Posted by Obsidius
Thanks for the additional advice. After going through the animations tonight in the costume creator, I think I've narrowed it down to Willpower or Invulnerability.
I don't care for the animations of Super Reflexes for this theme, would rather stay away form Fiery Aura due to thematic reasons & excessive clicking, and am not too excited about Regen for the same reasons as Fiery Aura. Thoughts between Willpower and Invul? I like the potential of Invul, but the self rez in WP is tempting... |
My guides:Dark Melee/Dark Armor/Soul Mastery, Illusion Control/Kinetics/Primal Forces Mastery, Electric Armor
"Dark Armor is a complete waste as a tanking set."
First, Liz has it right: Invuln is thematically perfect.
Second, do you worry about leveling? If not Invuln is better at the top end. I have many incarnated inv and wp's, so this is direct experience talking.
Willpower is an easier ride, Invul peaks waaaay higher against almost everything with a proper build. I say this as a fellow who herds the Phalanx on an Inv tank without hesitation.
Last, play what you like.
Stone or SS /Fire Brimstone Gargoyle
I decided to go with WP. In the end, the additional Recovery for the End-heavy TW attacks and the Psi protection were the tipping points. The self rez is a nice addition too.
However, I'll see how he plays out before making any final decisions. I don't mind deleting a low-level toon if things end up not being as fun as I hope.
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Been thinking about this concept too |
Originally Posted by Dz131
Stone or SS /Fire Brimstone Gargoyle
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Since the Titan Weapons set was announced, I've been brainstorming on my next character. Making a new character isn't something I do on a whim; I have to have inspiration, and theme is just as important to me as playability.
In his PnP days, Obsidius' weapon was a great sword. Lacking anything like that when the game launched, he took up a Battle Axe. With Titan Weapons, I'm going to roll a new gargoyle truer to Obsidius' roots.
Will this character be "New Obsidius"? I haven't made that decision yet. Suffice to say, the character will be a gargoyle with a big sword.
Another thing I haven't decided on is the Secondary Power. For Obsidius, I chose Stone Armor, which thematically fits like a glove. However:
That being said, I want to stick with something in the theme of a gargoyle: makes him resilient without sacrificing too much speed or maneuverability. So I'm thinking of the following candidates for Secondary:
I think these for secondaries best reflect a rock-hard gargoyle without defaulting to Stone Armor. My caveat with Fiery Aura is that it could cause players to think that my gargoyle is a demon (one of my pet peeves), so it's near the bottom of my list. However, I also know that it is a great offensive set, so it's still on the list.
Super Reflexes: I'm on the fence. Functionally, it works, but thematically, how good of reflexes will a giant animated statue actually have?
I have also played Willpower on a sub-30s Scrapper, but since it doesn't have any of the other drawbacks that I have with Stone Armor, it's still on the list.
So this is where I'm asking for help: I want to decide on a secondary set, and welcome any advice, observations, opinions, empirical data, and even numbers (but not too many, I don't do a lot of number crunching - I'm more of a play-by-feel guy). Keep in mind that Titan Weapons have weapons draw, so any click powers that un-draw the weapon should be kept to a minimum.
If you have any thoughts to share, I'll thank you in advance