Gammos

Hello everyone! I figured it would be easier to revive this old thread instead of creating a new one. with all the changes that have happened to Tanks in the last 3 years, I wanted to refresh and update my SD/DM Tank. Right now, he's super sturdy but I'm sure he's not optimized. I'm looking for great defense, good AoE and overall survivability. On this current build, I'm checking all three boxes. If you wise experts would take a look at this and see where I could improve, especially with all the new changes in the last few issues (such as being able to skip Shadow Punch altogether), I would be eternally grateful! Here's the current build I have: Data Link

Yes I noticed. I slotted the Lady Grey IOs to help increase the debuff potential. It sits at -17.42% (In Mids) and when I tried to increase it further, I only saw it go up to -17.97% which wasn't worth any extra slots. At one point I had -to-hit slotting in there also, but I took those out to add to Radiation Therapy It's definitely up there with Icy Bastion (Stalker Ice Armor) IMO. The only reason I have SJ there is for the slow resistance IO. I don't really use travel powers anymore, mostly rely on NJ+Sprint+Swift. Maybe I can swap out SJ and switch Maneuvers to lvl 30 so I can pick up Meltdown at 38. If I use Ageless Radial, it will help my debuff resistance across the board, including slows right?

Definitely going to go after the Accolades, thanks for the reminder! So, I wrestled between Keeping Meltdown vs going for Tactics. The main reason I went for Tactics is because I didn't have enhanced perception built in the build. Therefore, things like Arachnos were blinding me and I would have to pop a yellow (if I had one) to see them. Meltdown is a great power though...Especially for harder content. I have to factor in Incarnates also because there might be some benefits I haven't considered also

Lol very true! I mistook my HP being blue for being at the regen cap instead of just being at full health haha. Here's where I stand on that: Is there anything you would change in the build to add more HP? In a way that doesn't sacrifice anything too much I suppose

Update: So, After taking all that everyone said into consideration, I altered my build on the test server and I must say, i'm so much happier with this new build! I realized I was really giving wayyyy too many slots towards endurance recovery when it wasn't necessary for Rad with the all the baked in endurance recovery tools. Instead, I diverted those slots so I was able to add more regen into the mix without sacrificing too much damage. EM is a beast and the toon feels very life and death sometimes, which keeps things exciting. I'm playing +3/8 and I was able to handle Carnies and Arachnos with this build. That being said, anything that attacks my regen is a serious threat, so I have to be careful. However, I haven't even started testing Incarnates yet so i'd say I'm in pretty good shape! Here's the updated build. Let me know if you see any further little tweaks I can make: Data Chunk: Full Build:

Good to know! Might make one soon 🙂

I'm not sure if you've already made your preliminary decisions yet or not. I'd like to throw Claws/Nin into the ring. An amazing blend of ST and AoE plus (full chain potential for both). Nin provides a great balance of steady protection with utility clicks and enough speed potential to make standard travel powers irrelevant. It's enough clicks to keep me engaged without feeling like a chore. Plus he's super zippy and I can play bounce in and out of mobs, destroying them from multiple angles...I can't say enough good things about the paring. My Claws/Nin is a Tiger turned ninja assassin named Klawe 🙂 Cheers! @Gammos

Thanks! I'm glad I know that for future planning 😄

Is it because it's an IO bonus versus a set bonus so they count as two separate lanes?

By this, am I to assume that the rule of 5 applies to bonuses that offer the same percentages as well? In other words, if I have 5 LotG 7.5% recharge increases, and I have some random other set that provides 7.5% recharge, that extra set would not be counted? Or were you just saying 6 10% recharge bonuses were overkill at that point?

Honestly, I've so far avoided Bio because it seems a little too complicated for me at first glance haha. Combo systems have always been a little challenging for...part of why DB and I never really got along when it was first introduced haha. I know it's not the same and I do want to try it sometime soon though!

Update: By just tweaking my playstyle a bit and keeping Particle Shielding up at all times, I was able to clear an Arachnos mission without dying (+2/8). I enjoy near death playstyles (My main on live was a F/F Blaster), so I look forward to tweaking this build and getting better at Rad Armor. I play so many Def based powersets so it's nice to switch it up now and then..

I will check it out, thank you!

Definitely using this strategy. By the time you realize you need it, the long animations of the powers leave you dead in the water

I think that's really the issue for me. Even though i'm leveling up this toon through missions and the like, i'm still not getting a grasp of how to best approach survivability. You saying it's a hybrid set is super helpful bc I hadn't really considered that! I'm going to rebuild with that frame of mind