Before the rumors start

What about an ATO proc for tankers that would allow one ST attack to deal "splash" damage turning it into a very narrow cone...something along the lines of shadow maul size cone.

Picture something like that in...say...KOB from SS.

Just spitballing here...

I was thinking about Bruising as a concept, and perhaps it's just not developed enough yet to have the effect they were hoping.

There are a ton of sets out there that have -Defense, but not a whole lot with serious -Resistance (outside of sonic and some debuff sets).

If Brutes get stackable Fury to help them generate damage, why not give Tanks a stackable 5 to 10% -Resistance on their attacks to compensate? Throw each on a 10 or 15 second timer, and you could maybe stack up to -50% resistance on a single target, or -20% to -30% on average with AoE damage.

Thematically this makes sense, as Tanks are the "big guys who hit really hard yet slowly". It would make sense that they could beat the crap out of a robot and eventually rip their way through it by simple sheer force.

Also, this would make them suddenly VERY desirable on teams, as not only can they tank like a Brute or some Scrappers, but a single Tanker will be adding serious -Resistance debuffs to the team's capabilities. A single Tanker to soften up some +4s would let the Blasters, Scrappers, et cetera with him wreak havoc.

I honestly think a stackable SOMETHING along these lines could work. It works so well for Brutes, why not extrapolate a different flavor of that concept for Tankers?

The problem I see with a -res debuff is that, while it would be exceptionally valuable, it would increase the damage of other melee more than the damage of the tanker, leading to the possible loss of aggro control, which is what tankers are supposed to be.

I would suggest a twenty to thirty percent damage 45 degree arc splash through effect would be useful, although some people may hate tanks on dfb for it...

That being said, perhaps tankers just need tinkering. Higher innate aggro draw, a minor damage boost, and possibly a minor innate scalable buff when attacked of 0.2% def, 0.4% res, and 2% reg up to twenty targets in a 20ft radius. Give or take. It would round out defensive stacking a tad, help def sets, and if the aggro was scalable as well it would keep the focus on the tank.

If something like this does go into effect, it really oughta be on ALL the powers, of course.

One of the things I dislike about our current Bruising is that to get any benefit from it, you have to work the 1st attack into your attack chain. I know we all have to take it as Tanks anyways, but we're still forced to USE it to see any Bruising benefit.

And sorry for my topical repost! Here I thought I was being all original. Just like everyone else, as they say.

Do you guys think 30% to 40% -Res would be enough? I'm more of a biologist, so the hard math'll have to be left to someone else, but I'm wondering how effective those numbers would stack up next to a Brute versus a long AV fight, say.

Obviously a Brute should come out on top, as they're a Damage Primary. But Tanks oughta be within enough of a distance to at least make an impact.

Well, Defensive Sweep was arguably one of the best Tier 1s anywho!

On my Dual Blades, however, Nimble Slash is pretty "meh" apart from it now doing Bruising. Sure it's quick, but I'd rather be able to get Bruising from the attacks in my Attack Vitals or Sweep chains. As is, I've gotta work Nimble Slash in there as well.

So in certain sets it works great, but in others it does pigeonhole you into using (and probably slotting) the Tier 1 attack.