hobopete

Allow me just to suggest Rad/SS tanker. With the right build you can really hand out the damage.

I’m probably the least experienced CoH tanker answering your question, but I have only 1 real toon and she’s a rad/dark tanker and a gas. Septic Tank is decidedly off meta however, I went psi epic rather than soul which most builds recommend. I think the synergy between rad armor and dark melee works fairly well. Grass is always greener but I think the synergies on SS are probably better. Problem as I see it is that Rad/Dark wants recharge to maintain durability. Rapid fire of radiation therapy and siphon life for healing and particle barrier for the damage shield is essential for Septic to get out of most of the dumb stuff I get her into. Without defense slot skills for LoTG or knockback powers for the FF procs global recharge relies on 5 slot purple I/o. 5 slots are tough because you need slow resistance very much and run out of space. I work around this with CJ and weave to let me slot 2 LoTG and psi epic for dominate, which lets me slot 3 slot entomb with the absorb proc and psi tornado with a FF proc. With the gauntlet fist proc on siphon life septic relies on pumping the damage shield rather than avoiding getting hit. I’m plying with the idea of cross punch for another Ff proc. Im going to disagree slightly with earlier posters and say I’d skip ToF. It’s fun, but you have a bunch of other PB AoE powers in soul drain, shadow maul, radiation therapy and ground zero. Dark consumption is also skippable if you slot radiation therapy with the endurance proc( name escapes me)

Far from the most experienced tanker, I’m newish and have 1 toon. But it’s rad/dark tanker, so I have a bit of experience. Please ignore anything I might say that conflicts with Warshades who is a super experienced tanker. I like smite over shadow punch by a fair bit. Touch of fear is super while you level, loved it, love the animation, loved it thematically. I would suggest when you hit 50 you might rather have dark obiliteration, which is ranged and can be dropped on mobs up close. Gives you access to a bunch of I/O sets you won’t otherwise get including the ragnarok purple set. Touch of fears cone is much smaller than shadow maul. I agree kick and boxing are just fillers on the attack chain while you level and are both junk attacks used so you can get tough and weave. Of the two I leveled with boxing but on my last respec went kick so I could slot the force feedback proc

It would be fantastic to have the biohazard symbol available more of less everywhere the radioactive symbol is on clothes and capes. ability to put planet symbols on capes would be great too.

Sorry, uses search but couldn’t find what I was looking for. What’s the optimal attack sequence for shield/dark melee? shadow punch or smite? Is dark maul recommended?