I suggest going positional, not typed defense. Def sweep gives Smashing and Melee Defense. I cannot think of too many smashing attacks :/ there are some (bone smasher.... blah blah other attacks tied with Energy). Imo, it seems better to go positional 
Titan Sweep and Crushing Blow are skippable. Build Momentum can be (IMHO) but many people say it is not skippable. Power Surge is skippable, unless you take Burnout. 6 Minutes of capped resistances is pretty helpful.
Your character does not have capped defense. Depending on your AT the cap is between 175% - 225%. Your defense is not teal in the combat window, it can go higher. STOP SAYING IT IS CAPPED! The correct term is Soft Cap.
I enjoy playing in Mids. I specialize in Melee Characters, other AT's usually bore me.
Thanks for the response_Pine_. Wouldn't skipping both Crushing and Titan leave you a bit exposed if you exempt to lower levels. I guess my concern may be the attack chain but I do appreciate your input. I'll have to see if I can come up with a positional type defense build. I had an SS/ELA brute and went S/L/N/E and he is pretty solid and thus I was leaning that way until you mentioned go positional. Thanks!
I ended up going typed on mine, S/L/E/N at 38%, he's pretty dang solid, and easy enough to build and tweak.
I skipped both those attacks as well, You can miss them a little in the beginning, but I ended up with lightning field really early, helps a touch, plus when you hit 50, you wont miss them, you can keep that gigantic sword swinging continuously without any down time with just a bit of +rech in there.
Also, you could pick up more attacks early then spec out of them later. I did that with a couple of tanks in the past. But i've been playing for so long though I have more respec's and costume change tokens than i'm ever going to need
Combat Kangaroos, Justice Server. First 50's
Jirra Roo Plant/Storm/Stone/Musculature Controller
Combat Kangaroo Rifle/Energy/Mace/Spiritual Blaster
Kung Fu Kangaroo Martial Arts/Reflexes/Body/Spiritual Scrapper
Tribal Arc Shield/Elec/Mu/Spiritual Tanker
Thanks for the reply kangaroo120y. I think I may go with typed also. I'm just not able to get positional as high as I'd like (granted I haven't invested a ton of time trying). I also have a ton of respecs. What I may do actually is to use the different builds they give you and do a build - one for lower levels and then my regular build. I too have a ton of respecs etc. as I was here since day 1 so that may be a viable option too. Thanks for the input.
Hi Folks,
I've got a lvl 18 ELA / TW tank and am enjoying him so far. I'm trying to figure out how to build this guy for the future however and I have a couple of questions. Is it smarter to go for Defense vs. S/L/E/N or positional due to Defensive Sweep? I'm thinking that S/L/E/N is probably a better (although more expensive) approach. Am I not correct in this? Also, it seems that many of the TW attacks are very good. It will be very difficult to fit in all the attacks I would think. I'm figuring on taking all the ELA powers (although I guess Power Surge may be the only optional one but I kind of like the 'oh crap' type power - especially on a tank). So, if this is the case I'll only have 15 other power picks. Factor in 3 for fighting pool; 2 in the travel pool (CJ & SJ); then at least 2 in the Epic (conserve power & physical perfection) and then perhaps maneuvers and hasten that leaves me with about 6 attacks. Which attacks are skippable in TW? I may not take hasten so that gives me maybe 7 attacks and thus 2 would need to go. Any ideas or inputs on these questions? I appreciate anyone's thoughts!! Thanks.