r0y

That's been removed in the tanker patch. That sucks. Back to mostly-useless T1's...

I was conflating two things at once, and it was confusing. I mean for when I do +4 content; without level-shifts taken into account. So if I am doing a Numina TF, for instance, or similar, but set it at +4. Not a good day for me being clear, that's for sure! The 39% accuracy mids setting I stole from (I believe, but could be wrong) @Bopper (totally sounds like something he'd do). He had all kinds of math and reasoning behind it (well, it made sense whatever it was, because I went in and changed mine).

Probably need to put your name in quotes (because of space): /macro $ "emailsendattachment "@Captain Amazing" Cash-Dump 1000000 0 0 "Cash from $name." See if that's it.

Incarnate levels. Those "broken" defenses are because 45% is not the softcap when mobs are 54. I generally try to aim for 59% for +4's. I'm not a "mostly proc" kind of player. Damage will be handled by my team (I usually team with 7 others, or in league play). If I need to do damage, I'll bring a damage AT. Even at 37, my Dragon's Tail is up every 5-6 seconds, so AoE is "not bad" because of the recent changes to Tank AoE's. It's a great mitigating power with KB-KD proc and for how often it's cast (which I thought was not good for procs?). So far, in leveling (started in Praetoria, 1-14 or so, then PL'd to 37 and started blue-side content, TFs, etc) I use Rad Therapy as an AoE damage/heal/end and it's up between 22-33s depending on +recharge (and Beta Decay), which is nice. Hitting 4-5 dudes gives me full heal, full end (though I don't need end, I discovered, with how Gamma Boost is slotted). It's a great power for that. Dark Regen heals for a LOT before enhancements (30% base?), so it WANTS to be proc'd out. It also has a 30s recharge vs. 60s for Rad Therapy. Proc'd out AoE powers that have quickish™ recharges (whatever they do) are good (30s is ideal, as the 2.5ppm if only using global rech). No, but Thunder Kick is necessary for the -Resistance debuff it places on the mob, so it's getting spammed, too. I get your point. If I keep it 1-slotted (an accuracy or something), I can use the slots and maybe pick up Ground Zero and proc it out (it would do almost twice the damage that Rad Therapy does, since I have heal/end in 2 slots, but it would recharge in 30-45s vs. 20-30s). Kind of long, and I actually use Rad Therapy when I need health, or if I see I'm not needing it, then I spam it every time it's up. So I am limiting my use ("hey, will I need a heal in about 10s? or should I hit this now?") Correct and not correct. I am not needing it for acc (much at all)* and is there for Fear and Confuse resist (takes them both over 100%), as well as +perception. Nice to have for a 1-slot throw-away, late-game power. *also note: incarnate stuff requires slightly better accuracy for +4's and such. In Mids, I set my global accuracy from 75% (default) to 39% (I believe @Bopper suggested this somewhere) - that way, when I see acc above 95% (soft-cap) I know I'm good. Anything over is a buffer for debuffs (acc and/or tohit). It's padding. The reality will be: I don't run the toggle unless there's confuse or fear potential happening (or I get blinded). Yeah, I'm finding out I don't have any endurance problems whatsoever. So I'll likely do the +damage. I'm also choosing Degen more and more (used to be 100% reactive radial). I do like how you, in the same critique, call out my having too much resists and defense THEN say Barrier to finish reaching defense and resists! (I do love that). 😉 Good criticisms, to be sure, but I think my playstyle is old school tanking: herd the map, constantly spam DoTs (where available) and Taunt to juggle the over-capped mass of herds. I may revisit trying to add back in Ground Zero... or another AoE (epic/ball lightning)... prob. an epic, as it's TAoE, and that's more options and juggle-taunting... I did this with some +3(?) crey earlier today. Massive herd of them, I dropped. Rad Therapy just wasn't up fast enough (well, I was doomed from the start); but I like to push my limits on tanking, and to me, that's grabbing massive herds that all the CC and Damage dealers drool over to debuff (rains), immobs, nukes, etc. Sure they ALL aren't hitting ALL the mobs, but each hits their cap, and there's overlap. It's a wonderful thing to see over 40 mobs evaporate in a single herd-pull. ...then there's the kheld... (or anyone who still knocks BACK). ugh.

OK, so Particle Shielding was toggled on... missed that, but since it's perma, I'll likely bind it to my side movement keys: /bind a "+left$$powexecauto Particle Shielding" and /bind d "+right$$powexecauto Particle Shielding" Since Hasten will have the forward key already: /bind w "+forward$$powexecauto Hasten" And I usually reserve the backward key for my Destiny slot: /bind s "+backward$$powexecauto <whatever I pick>" Speaking of which, what do Rad Armor tanks usually pick for incarnate slots? Alpha: Spiritual Core = perma Hasten, buff to regen/healing OR Cardiac Core = help with End and small resist buff (meh) OR Vigor Core = some end help, some regen help (leaning towards Spiritual, but if endurance is an issue, Cardiac) Interface: either Reactive Radial or Degen Radial Judgement: probably SMASH THE GROUND BOOM UP YOU GO AWESOMSAUCE! just because! (yeah yeah, Ion and Pyro... did I mention SMASH THE GROUND AND UP YOU GO! ?) Destiny: always the hangup... Ageless to solve end OR def debuff res/fill-end-bar, Barrier for +Def, or Rebirth for Regen/2-min heal, PLUS incan for many uses in iTrials (always craft a T1 incan) Lore: everyone takes BP core (except farmers, BP radial) Hybrid: Support Core to top off defenses, Melee Core to top boost/cap resists & regen, or assault for damage? Not sure yet, I'll figure out what I need by 50, I'm sure. I do want more recharge (duh), better end management, and more regen always helps...

I was posting and replying to @Sovera in another thread when Rad Armor came up. Long story short, I didn't like my Rad/Psi Melee tank, but that might have been because Psi Melee turned me off (especially after the "fix" to Greater Psi Blade), but also that I didn't slot/build as best I could. So it got me to thinking: maybe I'll do a Rad/MA, since MA (Storm Kick) really makes resistance-based sets viable (in my opinion, obviously). So I made a toon (sitting in Nova P. now, waiting to level up) and this is the build I have planned thus far: Not sure how it will play out, but I like the idea of proc'ing Radiation Therapy and making it not only a decent heal/end source, but a solid PBAoE. Hopefully this will work. Because Rad Armor is a slot-heavy set, I had to skip or 1-slot/power-pick some things. I skipped Ground Zero (see Rad Therapy) and Meltdown (I always skip the T9 armor, in general). I also left Tactics 1-slotted (end+5). I didn't get as much +rech as I'd like, but Hasten is only 12s off perma (132s) w/o any buffs. From the Mids' totals, it looks decent enough; neither screen-grab has incarnates or any other buff than bare toggles (no mob-scaling, etc): _____ ___(w/o Storm Kick/ATO, just sitting with toggles on)_____________(with Storm Kick/ATO on, and toggles)_________ Slotting looks like this (so you don't have to d/l the build if you don't want): Comments welcomed and encouraged! Thanks to @Sovera for the spark to start this!

Yes, it is ironic, as I am boggled why they made it the way they did. Such a missed opportunity. Not sure if HC/SCORE can re-do it to a nice, heavy single-target attack with a confuse component. It would be unique and fun ("man, I hit him so hard, he got all confused!"), not to mention unique proc opportunities. It's just so bad in every way, it really drags a mediocre set down to "probably best to avoid" status. Also, at least for tanks, they should re-break Greater Psi Blade. The insight spread was awesome and made the whole set's mechanic useful.

Do you have this build? I'm curious how positional soft-cap was achieved via sets. I'm guessing you went with Martial Arts (yay, Storm Kick!) This is what I had (still have it, slots were emptied, thus it's on my "retired" page in the character selection screen):

Likely it was psi melee that turned me off of the set; that and it seemed the "layers" of regen/absorb were on very long recharges (Rad Therapy & Particle Shielding), Ground Zero heals allies (not a fan of this mechanic) and also a lengthy cooldown. Resistance-based sets are best when one layers in near-soft-capped defense, as the debuffs are not a guarantee hit, as it is with resistance only. ZERO defense in the set, so it makes power pools and slotting mandatory to achieve a modicum of defense, and even then, it's not nearly enough, so you are heavily-dependent on the other layers. Regen and Absorb are not the best, unless you really get regen (e.g. Regen or WP) and absorb (120s) needs a shorter cooldown (e.g. Bio's @90s). For me, it seemed I was waiting for "help" while getting pummeled. Sure, capping S/L/Toxic is fun (toxic!), not much is doing cold (the set's "hole"), I was only able to achieve about 26-30% typed, 35% ranged defenses. Regen was not awesome, and there was no reliable +HP (rad therapy didn't add much, it felt... like 350? can't remember...) I mean, compared to the other resistance-based sets (apart from Stone) Rad is excellent! Unfortunately, there are better options for tanks, and lots more for brutes/stalkers (e.g. Energy Aura). I wish tanks got Energy Aura... But I'll wager Psi Melee had a lot to do with it. It is an OK set, was made tolerable when Greater Psi Blade was "broken" and spread insight strike. They "fixed" it, and now it's a very lack-luster set, which is too bad, I love the mitigation of Mass Levitate (oh, please give that to Mind Control! Maybe replace TK). Then you PUNCH (tk blow, mental strike), or do you have a psi blade (sweep, psi blade) - set feels confused, thematically. I get they wanted to avoid a pure-psi damage, so let's throw in the two most resisted things (smashing and lethal) and split the few attacks up. Then there's Boggle. That's only there for a set mule or (usually) avoided altogether. What a waste of an attack! Especially when it could have been a massive single-target PUNCH that confused the mob (instead of disorient)! That would have been epic and funny. I do like Rad Armor on Sentinels, however, it's one of the most survivable sets I've played. Just wasn't thrilled with it on a tank.

"Terrible" might have been an over-statement. How about "not as good as" (Bio, Dark, Invuln, SR, Energy Aura). Rad Armor is better than Fiery Aura, Shield, Electric Armor, Ninjitsu... Stone (though Stone is way more survivable, it's annoying to play for me). So Rad Armor is more likely in the middle of the sets. In my view, obviously. YMMV.

I was bored tonight and was thinking: sure wish we had account-wide bank and salvage/inf storage (beyond a personal SG with bins, etc). So I thought, well, why not have a macro that will move cash to one's @<global> and I came up with this: /macro $ "emailsendattachment @r0y Cash-Dump 20000000 0 0 "Cash from $name." Now, emailsendattachment takes SIX (6) arguments: <string> <string> <integer> <integer> <integer> <string> I've heard the other two integers are the placement of the attachment (not sure what or why). I leave them both 0 (zero). The above macro will then place (assuming I have it) 20,000,000 (twenty-million) inf in my in-game e-mail box to my global name. Handy. So just before logging out, or whenever, spam the macro a few times. I copy macros across my characters (via popmenu) so once each alt has it, I can then start storing my influence/infamy/information in my global mail, at least until I hit the limit - but with the frequency and amount of alts I start, that likely won't happen. Just thought I'd share it, and this sub-forum seemed the likely spot.

Likely a very valid assumption. SR isn't enough resists, IMO, as it would truly make the set godlike. The scaling is fine when the incoming damage is consistent and not alphas (it would be allowed to "work"); however, either my bad luck or who-knows, but the ones you'll remember are the big hits that get through and you have little-to-no scaled resists going on. You have OK regen (about as good as SR will get w/o gimping) and your resist numbers seem ok for most stuff. Though Energy damage is very prevalent in the end game, so any that gets through will hit you darn hard. E/N is actually hard to slot for, since toxic/psi is often achieved in 6-slot bonuses via LotGs, purples and ATO's and a bunch of other stuff. So you are going to use a 4- and a 3- slotted attack as your mainstay? I think Smite might be unnecessary; I know it hits harder than Shadow Punch, but you'd free up two slots and have a throw-away power (like Rescuscitate w/ an absorb proc or spirit ward, etc) - move the two slots into siphon and either gloom or dark oblit. Shadow Maul should always be in your attack chain, single or aoe. It is so fast and cheap, it is easily spammed. In fact, I have Sands of Mu and I can Shadow Maul, Sands, Shadow Maul... then siphon/others while sands recharges. But the point is, in the time it takes to activate/animate Sands of Mu, Shadow Maul is up again. Dark hits for not much, but similar to Claws, it is FAST. Siphon is your big single-target damage, after Shadow Maul, and since Midnight Grasp is skipped (wisely). I guess what I am trying to say is: Make sure you fully-slot out your main attacks, Shadow Punch (you did), Shadow Maul (you did), Siphon Life (almost did), and Gloom (mostly because set bonuses and utility). Depends how much you like Gloom and Dark Oblit I suppose. I'd drop Smite and Dark Oblit, repurpose their slots to Siphon (winter d/e) and Gloom (apoc d/e), take Soul Tentacles and proc it out (posi, bombardment, trap/hunter, grav/anchor) then take either Spirit Ward or Resuscitate (absorb proc, either). Maybe drop the purple hold proc (Grav/Anchor) from Tentacles and add another damage proc to gloom? Lots of options. I'm thinking a "proc monster" version of tentacles will be more of a return... Mids is showing 224.5 damage with the 3 damage procs (the purple hold proc is optional, but man is that some nice mitigation for Minions and LTs) and it's up every 9.47s Also, the cone is how you're playing this guy, thanks to Shadow Maul, so you should always be in the ideal position (in a perfect world).

They should just be toggle/drops like Nature's Lifegiving Spores, or at the very least have similar cooldown, etc.

I use siphon life as 4/2 damage/heal: 4xSuperior Blistering Cold + 2xPreventive Medicine. It's a meh heal that is ok for topping off, but it's also my 2nd best attack (shadow punch, siphon, shadow maul). I dropped Midnight Grasp, as it slowed my DPS/DPA chain due to decent recharge. As I'm sure you know by now, Mids is wrong in the heal% for Siphon Life. It is about 10% (base?). @Bopper or some other numbers guru would know best. For me, Siphon (in-game) is this (I have 2410.52 hp): I added in Aid Self for an "oh crap" situation, that heals me for ~745hp and it's up every 6-7 seconds, should I really need to heal. Medicine pool also gives one Injection, which I 4-slot with Cloud Senses for the 6.25% recharge, as well as +max end and E/N resist. It's a great set, and I use it on bosses/AVs for that little debuff.,, not sure how good it is, but hey, a debuff is a debuff. Without accolades/incarnate stuff here are my totals:

After playing some more, I realized I rarely used Wild Bastion. An awesome heal in the form of a HoT (heal over time), as well as decent absorb, etc. Problem is, I haven't yet needed an "oh shit, the entire team is dying" power, and it was really only there to mule the Panaceas for the 7.5% global recharge. So I thought: why not drop that and pick up the mag 2 stun, throw in some purples for a 10% recharge, and at least have something you can use more often than Wild Bastion's very long recharge... Also, if one was doing this (or similar) build and did not already have the IO's, Absolute Amazement is easier to acquire than Panacea, I bet. I could be wrong... Then I thought: I'm moving around a lot, as one needs to with cone-based sets (both nature and dark blast), dump hover/fly/afterburner for cj/sj, gaining 1 power pickup. So I got torrent, proc'd it out some and got another cone attack. Mids says it's almost as damaging as tentacles, so it's ok. Sacrificed two of the slots for the KB-KD proc and the +rech proc. Don't really need the +rech, as Hasten is perma w/o incarnate stuff, and Overgrowth is 7+ seconds off perma. Defenses suffered a bit, but I bumped resists a hair, but with all the -ToHit flying around, backed by a solid heal/hot (Regrowth), I think survivability will be decent. I am worried about not hovering while blasting, it's such a life-extender for squishies... I'll see. And the stats (no accolade/incarnate/etc):

I sort of agree, but as a Poison/Dark defender, the only thing that Poison needs you to be in PBAoE range for is the trap and the toggle. Well, I can jumpin, set a trap, jump out (not fly, as you can't be hovering to place it. Grrr.). Anyway, I usually only use my toggle in teams and large mobs that I debuff, jump in... trap & blackstar (pbaoe nuke), then hop out. I'll leave the toggle on for the following traps/nukes. It's an active playstyle to be sure. Also, because I hover, once the trap is placed, I re-hover and fly up, shoot down. Cone. Cone. Siphon/Snipe *repeat* /macro pt "powexectoggleoff Hover$$powexeclocation me Poison Trap" makes it a bit easier...

Yeah, I even do the hop n' pop with Shadow Maul (expanded cone = larger "radius" for my SR/DM tank). It's awesome. PUNCH from ABOVE! I remember my son watching me farm (we were wondering who was faster) and he said, "You farm way different than I do... why do you always jump up?" Oh, poor kid. Because Throw Spines and the Mu Epic cone (that he doesn't like to use). He was still faster because he's a twitchy twenty-something, and I'm old. Still, the hop n' pop works very well with melee, I'd just jump a bit higher for "real" cones. Then again, I would NEVER take the Neurotoxin Breath like @Tacheyon did in the original build posted herein. Bad power, skip it. Also, why on Earth would you not 4-slot Cloud Senses in Weaken? A) You want some Accuracy and Endurance in there, since you might spam it; and B) 6.25% recharge! Not to mention 2.25% max end. Amazing set bonuses for just 4! Also, Envenom would benefit from some Acc/Enh reduction as well, similarly, as it may be spammed. YMMV. I would probably skip the hold (Paralytic Poison), in fact I did on my Poison/Dark. Dark Blast is such an active set, I never used the hold (or rarely); I would think that Sonic is just as active to maintain the stacking debuffs, so you probably don't want to deviate from those much (and when you do, it's to apply Envenom and Weaken). Similar with the sleep/cone. Unless you're going to solo a lot and want to sleep/hold stuff. In team play, you'll likely never use the mez on this. Poison defender means 2-trick pony: Envenom and Weaken. Sure, you can take a rez or antidote, but that's rarely used, if ever. So you wisely have chosen a very active secondary and this should pair wonderfully. But you're going to be sonic-blasting (debuffing, really) most of the time. Dropping the Breath and Sleep cones will free up a lot of slots, too. I six-slotted my Venomous Gas (3 to hit / 3 defense debuffs, mostly to lower end cost of the toggle). Not sure about Sonic, but dark blast is so frequent, I was starting to notice endurance issues (not much, but it was there). So I would build for better end management, keeping in mind how much I'm firing off my secondary powers (esp. Nightfall and Tenebrous Tentacles).

Sure, it's easy to love nature. It's like Time Manipulation (Temporal Manipulation?) - it's a but OP and feels like it never got nerfed down or "normalized." I think I might also be a Dark Blast addict. At least on defenders. Their -tohit is crazy, and it's "ok" damage. While not a fireball, one can still spam Tentacles and Night fall back-to-back ad nasuem. Throw in a snipe or siphon life (I didn't take that on this new alt, though) and it's a solid, active attack chain. Perfect for pairing with powersets that are not as active (e.g. Poison, Nature). Well, assuming you're not needing to constantly heal... Anyway, I was wondering if I should proc up my Dark Blast (last 3 slots) instead of Thunderstrike, but my energy defense is close to soft-cap (42.46%) I'd really hate to lose that 2.5% E/N def. bonus. This is my first stab, I made the toon and am currently level 35 and it is a joy to play. Ideally, one wants a perma Overgrowth, and this build gets fairly close (incarnates brings it a bit closer). Spiritual Radial Paragon (according to Mids) narrows the downtime/gap. Not bad. I'm not a fan of +Rech in knockback (I didn't take Torrent anyway). I'm torn on 6-slotted Gaussian's (more def) or 6-slotted Adjusted Targeting (more rech). At level 35, I have 4 gaussians, but might end up going with the adjusted targeting to ensure Hasten is perma prior to alpha slot unlock. I typically fly (hover) on support and ranged toons, so that tightens the build with respect to options, as I'll take Hover/Fly/AB (three power picks vs. standard 2 CJ/SJ for melee/tank types). I think Dark Pit would have been interesting, but Mag 2 is only Mag 2, so probably a good choice to pass that one. Without incarnates or accolades and both Hasten and Wild Growth on auto (using movement binds: /bind w "+forward$$powexecauto Hasten" etc) here are the stats: It is a pricey build, two sets of Panacea ain't cheap, but I had enough in my bins to not worry (converters are my friends!). Any questions, comments or snide remarks will be answered, appreciated and ignored. 😉

The only defender I actually like to play (so far) is my Poison/Dark. Dark Blast is amazing on a defender, decent/exotic damage and very customizable (for themes, etc). It also gives a decent heal in siphon life, but with a Poison/Dark, you're not going to be getting hit much at all. So survivable. A very fun toon to play, either solo or in groups. Even in incarnate trials, I can run into a large mob and start immob/debuff/damaging them. Tentacles, nightfall, etc. I did not bother with resistances, instead I soft-capped S/L/E and have a decent heal that is a useful part of my attack chain (healing 17% and still doing better damage than Dark Blast, at least). Also, the Poison Trap *is* a crap power, UNTIL YOU PROC IT UP! The original reply earlier in this thread completely missed this. The downside (in my build) is you have to be on the ground to place it (like an ouroboros portal). Crappy oversight, but there it is. I just made a macro that detoggles hover/fly and places it. I then have to re-toggle my hover/fly. Other than that, it's a great power. Also proc-out Blackstar... Here is Ursyla's build: Without incarnate or accolade powers, here are the totals:

(not to derail) but yeah, Fire is likely the best, but even my Beam/Bio sentinel feels like it demolishes blues pretty quick. I've yet to do BR on a blaster (corrupter and sentinel only)...

Thus, how one should play a tanker. Thank you. I admit, there are many tankers (players) who cannot achieve this very well or at all; however, some like to show that not only can it be done, but consistently and with great effect. I know I can hold the attention of well beyond target and herd caps. I do it regularly, it's the only reason or challenge I see in playing a tank in this game. Also, if I have a brute/scrapper/stalker on the team, I can sure as hell herd up more than one PC can "legally" handle, anything that "loses interest" can become interested in another melee/damage dealer. I guess if I was with a team rockin' full SO's and super timid, it would be a lot of work juggling aggro tables, etc.; however, again, that is what playing a tank is in this game, should one ever wish to push themselves. YMMV.

All of your reply gave me a lot of food for thought. The above is the hardest for me to work around, without significantly lowering the defenses/resists. I understand the logic behind it, and I'm still taking stabs at theory crafting a Tank build that can work while maintaining adequate defense and resistance. A Brute is easier, as one can split Superior Brute's Fury for 10% (5%x2) melee defense; which allows me to steal slots off the auto-resist powers. Still, I'd like to keep a tank and I am just having a tough go of it. Do you happen to have an Invuln/KM build handy?

Theory crafting is what keeps me interested in this game! So many possibilities. I think you're right: it's a set I have not played, so I'll do it. Even though my red flags are going up on the activation times of the heavy hitters (Burst, Focus Burst, Concentrated Strike). I retired my rad melee toon because of the ungodly activation of the T9 punch. Thanks, Bopper!

Yeah, I was looking at that. I'd have to work in the T2 punch and I'll go with the purple IO's over the Winter Sets for more recharge to limit downtime on Power Siphon. Of course, this all changes the build a bit...

Also, I'm not sure of the Power Siphon mechanic. A lot of the "newer" mechanics added prior to shutdown seem wonky (e.g. rad melee, psi melee, etc). I'd rather just have a buildup. Maybe I'm needing to play this and just see for myself. So, Invuln/Spines vs. Invuln/KM ?