Here's what I think:
Shield adds Damage to your secondary (with a click AoE damage power) and gives you high Defenses and mild resists, also offers some Defense Debuff Resists which can be handy, but needs a heal, so Dark Melee is a good pairing. It's end heavy early until you get it well slotted.
Dark Armor has a lot of tools, like a Damage Aura which will bump your DPS, and has very high resists to most everything especially psionic. It's end heavy though, and requires very good slotting.
Invulnerability is an excellent set and is probably the original idea of a tank in the truest sense. It has great resists and is easy to build defense up for typed defense. It has high HP and only has one hole psionics. Which is true of many sets.
Fire Aura is a beast for damage, and has above average resists to many things, Fire resists will be easily capped. If you build it softcapped to typed defenses it will be a good damage dealer and a good tank.
Super Reflexes is the original defense set, it has the highest Defense Debuff resists, it easily softcaps all positions and it handles most things very well. It has almost no resists and is end intensive until you get it slotted out properly (i.e. early until about the mid 30's). It does not have a heal, so something like Dark Melee pairs well with it since you don't have to chase aid self out of the pool powers which costs 2 power slots to get.
Pick something you think you'd like to play...
Currently Playing:
Rage King - SS/Regen Brute (50+3)
Soulfire Darkness - Dark/Fire Tank (50+2)
Deaths Final Embrace - Kat/Dark Brute (50+3)
ULTIMATE REGEN GUIDE I22
My first tank was an INV/SS made back in '07. I'm still very happy with my choice and frequently use him to this day. Great damage output and almost nothing can put him down other than psychic enemies and Hamidon.
WP/TW is a very nice combo. Lots of synergy with TW's KB and AoE complementing WP's powerful regen and low aggro.
Mains (Freedom) @Auroxis
Auroxis - Emp/Rad/Power Defender Pylon Video Soloing an AV
Pelvic Thunder - SS/Elec/Mu Brute
Sorajin - Elec/Nin Stalker
Neuropain - Sonic/Mental/Elec Blaster
Quote:
Agreed. WP/TW is one of the tanks I'm currently working on, and my personal distaste for WP aside, it's a very solid combination. Just hit level 28, so unfortunately I'm in the 'got enough powers, not enough slots' chunk of the game.|
Originally Posted by Auroxis
WP/TW is a very nice combo. Lots of synergy with TW's KB and AoE complementing WP's powerful regen and low aggro.
|
I think the combo has some excellent synergy, as Auroxis already covered. Certainly deserves consideration.
They ALL float down here. When you're down here with us, you'll float too!
@Starflier
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by danomal
I'm interested in your recommendations for my 1st tank in about 7 years. My original toon was ss/inv back in 2004 but I've been mostly playing brutes, scrappers and well, everything else ever since. I really like the new ATios and want to try the new tanker one. I'm also tired of getting beaten down by arachnos at x8.
Survivability and being able to tank for teams at +2 or better are important to me. Having enough damage to run 0/8 solo and kill Ebs on my own (in under 10 min) is important too. I am done with Ss for now so that is off the table. I was thinking about sr/tw, shield/dm or maybe something with ice but I am open to suggestions and would appreciate your recommendations. Inf is plentiful so no restrictions there.... Thanks! |
A fully tooled-up fire/fire/energy is the cure for what ails ya.
I'd suggest an Inv but you have one, so... how about Elec/Tw?
Solid resistance, even overwhelming resistances with the ATIO and some other IOs...
and with your sweep, some acceptable defence (yes with a c, I'm from Canada)
End management, some extra recharge, etc. etc.
My current favourite tank is my Elec/TW, though that could change in a month... who knows...
The cake is a lie! The cake is a lie!
I suggest Shield/War Mace.
Shields aggro aura boosts your damage based on the number of enemies around you.
Shields def is easy to softcap to ranged,melee and aoe, it also has perma HP boost, decent resistance values and great def debuff resist.
You can customise the shield.
Shield charge is awesome.
War mace has lots of AoE attacks (better than Axe imo and smashing damage too).
Clobber is amazing.
War mace is customisable.
My Shield/Mace tank was one of my fastest of any AT to 50 and one of the most fun
PS: I have played every AT to 50 at least twice.
My vote is for Inv/SS.
A nice, self-sufficient set that can be made RIDICULOUSLY tough.
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
Quote:
Inv/SS is nice, but I'd hardly call it self-sufficient as Inv has no way to deal with SS's endurance woes(which is why people take either Cardiac or Energy Mastery with Inv).|
Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
My vote is for Inv/SS.
A nice, self-sufficient set that can be made RIDICULOUSLY tough. |
Elec/SS is more like it. Extra damage for your aura, endurance management to complement SS, and something to do while you rage crash with Power Sink.
Mains (Freedom) @Auroxis
Auroxis - Emp/Rad/Power Defender Pylon Video Soloing an AV
Pelvic Thunder - SS/Elec/Mu Brute
Sorajin - Elec/Nin Stalker
Neuropain - Sonic/Mental/Elec Blaster
Quote:
Let's just say it's a value judgement, based on play style.| Inv/SS is nice, but I'd hardly call it self-sufficient |
Quote:
| Elec/SS is more like it. |
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
Quote:
No, that makes it less survivable, which is different from self-sufficient in my eyes at least.
|
Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
I wouldn't call something that has no innate defense and has to rely entirely on set bonuses and pool powers to get any "self-sufficient" either.
|
Mains (Freedom) @Auroxis
Auroxis - Emp/Rad/Power Defender Pylon Video Soloing an AV
Pelvic Thunder - SS/Elec/Mu Brute
Sorajin - Elec/Nin Stalker
Neuropain - Sonic/Mental/Elec Blaster
Hey, thanks a lot for all the feedback! I have tomorrow off so I will probably decide what to go with then.
With shield tanks is it still possible to cap DDR by stacking active defense? if not do they struggle against significant defense debuffs?
Quote:
Possible, yes, with effort.|
Originally Posted by danomal
Hey, thanks a lot for all the feedback! I have tomorrow off so I will probably decide what to go with then.
With shield tanks is it still possible to cap DDR by stacking active defense? if not do they struggle against significant defense debuffs? |
No, they don't struggle assuming you play even a little bit actively.
Quote:
I find my Defense Debuff Resistance on my Shield/SS is usually around 77% (I think? Off the top of my head) with one stack of Active Defense. With two it's capped, but capping it is not really necessary and it works pretty well to keep your defense from being debuffed most of the time. The only enemies I have trouble with regarding defense being debuffed are Rularuu, those giant eyeballs love to stack Optic Blast which seems to have a pretty potent Defense debuff effect. I solve this minor issue by just beating the crap out of them first. Other than that, defense debuff has not been a significant problem with softcapped defense and all of the debuff resistance, even against huge numbers of Cimerorans it's not that bad. Occasionally a hit will get through and a debuff applied, but the resistance works pretty well. Just gotta run Grant Cover, which a lot of people skip, but I like buffing teammates and having debuff resistance.
|
Originally Posted by danomal
Hey, thanks a lot for all the feedback! I have tomorrow off so I will probably decide what to go with then.
With shield tanks is it still possible to cap DDR by stacking active defense? if not do they struggle against significant defense debuffs? |
If you want to do it up right. Trick out a DA/FM. Its seriously potent. DA really only weakness is no KB and its end consumption. Which both become moot with resist KB enhancements and Ageless/alfa slot/epic phys. You trick a DA out, you can be unkillable and with a high dps secondary like FM/SS and such your just one nasty toon. Not to metion an GODLY heal
I'm interested in your recommendations for my 1st tank in about 7 years. My original toon was ss/inv back in 2004 but I've been mostly playing brutes, scrappers and well, everything else ever since. I really like the new ATios and want to try the new tanker one. I'm also tired of getting beaten down by arachnos at x8.
Survivability and being able to tank for teams at +2 or better are important to me. Having enough damage to run 0/8 solo and kill Ebs on my own (in under 10 min) is important too. I am done with Ss for now so that is off the table. I was thinking about sr/tw, shield/dm or maybe something with ice but I am open to suggestions and would appreciate your recommendations. Inf is plentiful so no restrictions there....
Thanks!