Help me cap my Stone Armor Tanker vs Smashing/Lethal

Well, one can use Stealth for ghosting missions. With TP, it's easy to get around and stay unnoticed. CJ, while I love the power itself, just won't be usable. How many situations can you be in that you'd be able to run it without being worried about mez?

A Stealth IO in Teleport would be more efficient. Combat Jumping is certainly usable. Like Granite, not everyone runs around with Rooted on all the time.

You can arrange powers in a good order by dragging them in Mids and you can also drag slots.

I dragged powers around and played with your build to get to this in about 2 mins:




If I couldn't tank low end content with what is a 50 build I'd need mental help so there is no serious need for a second build if that's what you're considering.

Also in saying that pre granite I would be tougher due to fight pool and with granite again tougher due to fight pool.

I already have a stealth IO in Sprint, as it happens. (Which, since I'm only running Sprint when I'm not running Rooted, works out rather well.) Given that a Tanker isn't exactly going to shrivel up and die from getting the odd smack or two even running through a mission with no stealth at all (I call that "Tanker stealth"), I don't see the need to use Stealth as my IO mule.

Likewise, though, I can't see myself wanting to keep turning Combat Jumping on every time I detoggle Rooted. So I'm going to go with Maneuvers as my chosen mule. As End-tensive as my build is going to be, I won't keep it on all the time, but I can consider it a sort of Granite substitute to use only when taking alpha or at other times when I'm not going to be doing much attacking. And those times when I do have it, it will at least grant the rest of my team a slight benefit as well.

I've made a few other tweaks to the build Rylas provided. I'm going to go with level 30s still, because in most cases the difference between 30 and 35 is pretty slim and the difference mostly doesn't affect my Defense rankings. (And also, I have 30s of a couple of the harder-to-find sets already, left over from rebuilds of other characters, which will make the actual slotting easier.) The exception is the set slots on my Defense toggles, and on Teleport, where I'm going with 50s because the benefits are more important than the bonuses. (I'm also listing L50 LotG global recharges in the build, to stand in for the Attuned versions I bought during the Black Friday sale that will give me full value at 50 but keep their bonuses all the way down to 25. That will help too.)

I swapped out a couple of the LotG enhances in the toggles, trading the Defense/Recharges (and the Def/Rech/End in Minerals) for straight Defenses. I realize the idea behind using the Def/Rech was probably that ED will eat up a lot of what I'd get from a straight Defense IO, but on the other hand even a 5% difference is important at that level and it brings me almost all the way back to the cap overall. (I don't see recharge for the toggles as being that important anyway, given that they no longer drop on mez, and I'm already getting a 57% boost from set slotting.) I can always change them back later if I decide I want to.

Rylas made sense on those Mako's quads, especially since I'm going to need that extra end reduction wherever I can find it, so I went ahead and put them back in.

And since I hate getting smacked around outside of Rooted, and there wasn't anywhere to put a Steadfast or Karma anti-knockdown, I stuck a Gift of the Zephyr -KB in Recall Friend. Was a little disappointed I couldn't put it in one of my prestige Sprints. I mean, it says "any" travel power, geez! :P

(Honestly, I'd rather have put it in Teleport to scoop the 3-slot bonus, but I can't see anywhere else to steal a slot from (well, on consideration I suppose I could take it from Stamina and use Enhancement Boosters there, too, like on Hasten) and in the end it's probably just because I'm a bit anal retentive about these things. I find it hard even to consider partial set-slotting because sets are "supposed" to be slotted completely, but in this case I have to admit I don't really need that smidge of AoE, fire, or cold defense because I wouldn't really see much of an improvement.)

I'm considering doing the steal-a-slot-from-Stamina-and-boost-it-instead thing and putting the slot into Swift just to add to the run speed boost I'm already getting from those Gift of the Ancients.

Apart from that, I think this is pretty much my final high-level build if nobody else has any design comments.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.952
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Stone Panthress: Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Stone Armor
Secondary Power Set: Stone Melee
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Rock Armor -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(A), LkGmblr-Def:50(5), LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(5), GftotA-Run+:15(15)
Level 1: Stone Fist -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:30(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:30(7), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:30(9), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:30(11), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:30(40)
Level 2: Earth's Embrace -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx:30(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg:30(3), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg:30(3), Dct'dW-Heal:30(9), Dct'dW-Rchg:30(23)
Level 4: Stone Mallet -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:30(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:30(7), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:30(25), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:30(25), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:30(31)
Level 6: Mud Pots -- Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:30(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:30(11), Erad-Dmg:30(13), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx:30(13), C'ngBlow-Acc/Dmg:30(17), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg:30(23)
Level 8: Rooted -- Heal-I:50(A), Heal-I:50(36), EndRdx-I:50(43)
Level 10: Recall Friend -- Zephyr-ResKB:10(A)
Level 12: Teleport -- Zephyr-Travel:50(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx:50(50)
Level 14: Brimstone Armor -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:30(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg:30(15), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:30(17), RctvArm-ResDam:30(37)
Level 16: Long Range Teleport -- RechRdx-I:35(A)
Level 18: Crystal Armor -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(A), LkGmblr-Def:50(19), LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(19), GftotA-Run+:15(46)
Level 20: Stone Skin -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+:10(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:30(21), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg:30(21), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:30(40), RctvArm-ResDam:30(45)
Level 22: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(27)
Level 24: Heavy Mallet -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg:30(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:30(34), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg:30(37), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:30(45), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(46)
Level 26: Fault -- Mocking-Rchg:30(A), Mocking-Taunt/Rchg:30(27), Mocking-Taunt/Rchg/Rng:30(37), Mocking-Acc/Rchg:30(42), HO:Endo(43)
Level 28: Taunt -- Zinger-Taunt:30(A), Zinger-Taunt/Rchg:30(29), Zinger-Taunt/Rchg/Rng:30(29), Zinger-Acc/Rchg:30(31), Zinger-Taunt/Rng:30(48), Zinger-Dam%:30(50)
Level 30: Minerals -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(A), LkGmblr-Def:50(31), GftotA-Run+:15(42), LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(42)
Level 32: Granite Armor -- LkGmblr-Def:35(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(33), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:30(33), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg:30(33), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:30(34), RctvArm-ResDam:30(34)
Level 35: Tremor -- Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:30(A), Erad-Dmg:30(36), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:30(36), C'ngBlow-Acc/Dmg:30(40), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx:30(45), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg:30(46)
Level 38: Seismic Smash -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg:30(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:30(39), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg:30(39), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:30(39), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(50)
Level 41: Build Up -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(43)
Level 44: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A)
Level 47: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 49: Physical Perfection -- EndMod-I:50(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I:50(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth:36(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 2: Health -- Heal-I:50(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I:50(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I:50(A), EndMod-I:50(48), EndMod-I:50(48)
------------
Set Bonus Totals:

• 2.5% DamageBuff(Smashing)
• 2.5% DamageBuff(Lethal)
• 2.5% DamageBuff(Fire)
• 2.5% DamageBuff(Cold)
• 2.5% DamageBuff(Energy)
• 2.5% DamageBuff(Negative)
• 2.5% DamageBuff(Toxic)
• 2.5% DamageBuff(Psionic)
• 19.88% Defense(Smashing)
• 19.88% Defense(Lethal)
• 3% Defense(Fire)
• 3% Defense(Cold)
• 16.13% Defense(Energy)
• 16.13% Defense(Negative)
• 3% Defense(Psionic)
• 11.44% Defense(Melee)
• 10.5% Defense(Ranged)
• 3% Defense(AoE)
• 5.4% Max End
• 4% Enhancement(Heal)
• 14% Enhancement(Accuracy)
• 57.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
• 161.6 HP (8.63%) HitPoints
• Knockback (Mag -4)
• Knockup (Mag -4)
• MezResist(Held) 2.75%
• MezResist(Immobilize) 13.2%
• MezResist(Terrorized) 4.95%
• 2% (0.03 End/sec) Recovery
• 50% (3.9 HP/sec) Regeneration
• 1.26% Resistance(Fire)
• 1.26% Resistance(Cold)
• 22.5% RunSpeed

Just to note, thanks to the new exemping system I actually get access to Taunt at 23, not 28.

I find that Mud Pots generally does well enough as a taunt to serve me at the lower levels, especially if I take the alpha by teleporting in while the rest of the team stays back; 23 is soon enough to have Taunt at my disposal. Perhaps if I do make a low-level exemplaring build, dropping slots from Granite and other later powers in order to slot up my lower ones better, I'll move Taunt earlier in that.

I've gone ahead and committed to the build, and find it works very well at 50. With my Tier 3 Cardiac Alpha, I hardly notice any endurance dip at all, even with Maneuvers turned on. Haven't tried exemplaring lower yet.

Maneuvers?!

Positron TF. Plenty of CoT. We know that teams do not need a tank. Exemplaring won't happen often but I myself don't like to be caught short for anything, at anytime.

Maneuvers.

I've given my reasoning, and am happy with my choice. Thanks again for the help in coming up with the build, but you're not the boss of me.

In the end, all that matters is you're happy with the choices and the way your character plays.

Originally Posted by PapaSlade Rangle's right....this is fun.

This is it, like Rangles sig, suggestions are but darts thrown at the dartboard with the hope something sticks. It's all part of one of his plots.

Just in case it wasn't clear; I made that comment in jest.

This is typically how I 5 slot melee attacks for builds geared towards S/L Defense.

Again..not trying to be argumentative here..BUT..if you are making your stone tank so that you do NOT have to constantly run about in granite..why even bother playing stone? Granite is the be all and end all for tanking. Simple as that. Sure, you can make other tanks about as tough, but granite is the best out of teh box.

If costume design and the slow mo on stone is such a big turn off, again..WHY even bother having stone? You could make an Invul tank, with pretty similar performance, add in the same IOs you are building for, and be without the slow motion..and able to see your costume.

I understand wanting to make the tank better..but if you are doing that just so you can not run the best power in the set, for visual reasons, well...pants on head?

Because my play style has evolved. I used to run in granite all the time. Now, with capped hp because earths embrace is permanent, and being softcaped to s/l/e/n/p, the times I feel I need to deal with the -dmg, -rech and the slow are rare.

You don't always need to bring a bazooka to a knife fight.

But you don't need to be in Granite 24/7 if you can build the character to be survivable outside of it. Granite makes for a nice fall back should all else fail. The -dmg, -recharge and -run speed, while in Granite, can be over come to a certain extent, but again, if you don't need to be in Granite to survive, why would you stay in it all the time?

If the guy's happy with his build, and doesn't have a problem surviving outside of Granite, good for him. There is no ONE way to craft builds in this game and as long as it works for you, and you're not a detriment/leech on a team, it's all good.

Originally Posted by PapaSlade Rangle's right....this is fun.

This.

And note that in my post above, I refer to the costume thing basically as an afterthought. It's not my whole reason, or even a major one. It's just a supporting factor. (It's not even as if she really has much of a costume to be seen—her backstory is that she's an animated marble statue, so she's just white all over, but with cat ears and a tail. But at least the part that can be seen allows her to be easily distinguished from every other Stone Tanker out there.)

(And just to note, you actually can see at least part of your costume now even with the non-Granite armor toggles on, to some extent. It used to be that all the Stone armors were full-body suits like Granite, and Stone Armor Tankers were colloquially known as "poo tankers" because of what the stone armor looked like.)

Also, Granite isn't even available for over half the level range of the game. I've never understood those people who, upon hitting 32, promptly respec to pull slots out of all the other armor powers and stay in Granite all the time. I mean, sure, you can do it, but what's the point?

In just about every other armor set I can think of, the level 32 slot is your "Oh sh*t!" button. It lets you become a lot harder to hit or damage for a short period in most cases (MoG, Elude, Overload, One With the Shield, etc.), or gives some other alternative method of preventing (Hibernate) or recovering from (Rise of the Phoenix) death. Stone Armor is different in that its "Oh sh*t!" button is a toggle, but that doesn't make it any the less of an emergency power as far as I'm concerned—a last refuge if something's managed to hurt you badly, to give you time to recover. It lets you soak up the damage better, sure, but that's only part of tanking. A Tanker who doesn't do anything but soak up damage is not much of a Tanker.

Outside of Granite, you're going to be much faster and more agile (especially if you don't have a Kinetic available—and that's probably going to be most of the time, unless you're married to one), able to get to the enemies faster and to attack and taunt more frequently. Able to do a better job pulling them off your teammates. (Oh, and able to avoid psi attacks, too.) In other words, a better Tanker.

And anyway, if it is possible to cap or near-cap your Defense outside of Granite (and, as that build shows, it is), why wouldn't you want to?

If nothing else, staying in Granite all the time means you can't take advantage of your psi defense—and given that Stone Armor is one of very few sets that specifically protects against psi attacks, you're throwing away one of the biggest reasons to go Stone. And if you're not well-protected outside of Granite, you can avoid the psychic damage but then get totally trashed by the other types that the psychic's friends are slinging along with it.

I'm happy to have Granite, and you'll note that the build does indeed slot it very well. I imagine it will see some use in particular situations. (Such as against enemies that use a lot of fire or cold attacks, since stone's protection against those types is a bit weaker than the rest.) But I'd rather run mostly outside of it and be a unique individual to the teams I group with—instead of just another faceless reject from the Devouring Earth.

Since I run a Stone/Stone with the KB proc slotted, I actually wish the KB happened a bit more often than it does. Getting pinned in place has been the biggest drawback I have had to deal with on my Stone tanker and the ability to open a hole with KB has been handy (but much less frequent than desired). Anymore I just be sure to keep a few breakfrees handy in case I want to turn off Rooted and jump over the enemies.

I use level 30 IOs to get Def capped to Sm/Le/En/Ne/Psi.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.952
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Halstien: Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Stone Armor
Secondary Power Set: Stone Melee
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Presence
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Rock Armor -- GftotA-Run+(A), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx(3), S'dpty-Def(3), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 1: Stone Fist -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(7), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(34), KntkC'bat-Knock%(43)
Level 2: Stone Skin -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(9), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(11), RctvArm-ResDam(33), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(37)
Level 4: Earth's Embrace -- Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(5), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Dct'dW-Rchg(15), Dct'dW-Heal(42)
Level 6: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 8: Rooted -- RgnTis-Heal/EndRdx(A), RgnTis-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(9), H'zdH-Heal(11), H'zdH-Heal/EndRdx(17), RgnTis-Regen+(50)
Level 10: Taunt -- Mocking-Taunt/Rchg(A), Mocking-Taunt/Rchg/Rng(45)
Level 12: Mud Pots -- Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), Erad-Dmg(15), TmpRdns-Acc/EndRdx(17), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(42), TmpRdns-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(42)
Level 14: Brimstone Armor -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam(46)
Level 16: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 18: Crystal Armor -- GftotA-Run+(A), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx(19), S'dpty-Def(19), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(34)
Level 20: Maneuvers -- GftotA-Run+(A)
Level 22: Fault -- Mocking-Acc/Rchg(A), Mocking-Taunt/Rchg(23), Mocking-Rchg(23), Mocking-Taunt/Rng(25)
Level 24: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(25), RctvArm-ResDam(33), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 26: Minerals -- GftotA-Run+(A), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx(27), S'dpty-Def(27), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 28: Heavy Mallet -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(29), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(29), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), KntkC'bat-Knock%(43)
Level 30: Weave -- GftotA-Run+(A), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx(31), S'dpty-Def(31), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(34)
Level 32: Provoke -- Mocking-Acc/Rchg(A), Mocking-Taunt/Rng(33)
Level 35: Tremor -- Erad-Acc/Rchg(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(36)
Level 38: Seismic Smash -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(39), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(40), Mako-Dam%(40)
Level 41: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 44: Physical Perfection -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(45), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(45)
Level 47: Energy Torrent -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48), Posi-Dmg/Rng(48)
Level 49: Tactics -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 50: Nerve Radial Paragon
Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve
Level 0: Portal Jockey
Level 0: Task Force Commander
Level 0: The Atlas Medallion
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A), Run-I(7)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Heal(21), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(21), Numna-Heal(43)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(46), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(46)

It is not difficult by any means to cap s,l,e,n,p. It is also not difficult to have EE perma. In slotting a kb prot, there is nothing that can mez me and kill me before I have a chance to toggle rooted on. That makes me very mobile, just the way I like it.

The costume thing is not an issue for me. I knew what to expect before I rolled a stoner.

At no point would I recommend skipping granite, with it I am soft capped to all but psi and toxic, and hard capped resist to all but psi and tox as well. not bad for a single power, but there is no need what so ever to run in it at all times.

I posted my build on my Stone/Fire tank earlier, which is softcapped to S/L only in Rock Armor. I love the build that lets me stay in Rock Armor most of the time, then throw on Granite only in severe situations when I need it. Granite has substantial penalties to both Recharge and Damage. I can avoid those penalties most of the time with a capped S/L build.

I would never SKIP Granite, but finding a way to avoid it most of the time is a big help.