Warshades

Much better compared to the original one you had, but a few things to consider: No need for the 6th set bonus from SMoT in Haymaker, you're way past the s/l resist cap. You'd be better off with another damage proc or better yet, the FF +rech proc in a 6th slot. Energy Torrent is a bit of an annoying power because of the KB. It scatters mobs which makes it longer to kill groups and worse for tanking. Put a Sudden Acceleration KB to KD proc in it if you're going to use it. I'm not sure about how often the Gaussian BU proc would have a chacne to activate in a toggle like Invincibility. I normally place it in Rage, but it may be better where you have it so maybe others can comment on that. Add a PZ psi damage proc to taunt. Edit: also made adjustments to the build I posted to add Evasive Maneuvers and remove the slots from Tough which were a bit wasted. Still at nearly the same amount of resist but took a small dip in defense by replacing CJ with Evasive Maneuvers. Will still be almost soft capped with 1 foe in range of invincibility and barrier destiny. Tanker (Invulnerability - Super Strength).mbd

This is a quick but more expensive build. With barrier core destiny which adds a permanent 5% def/res and double stacked SMoT proc (+13.4% resist to all), this gets you to soft cap def against everything but psionic damage and hard cap resist (or near to it in the case of fire/cold) to everything but toxic damage. Having said that, it is a very expensive build with several winter and purple sets and pieces. In addition to what @Nemu said about hover, I think you'll also have to stay close to the ground in order to activate Foot Stomp, so not ideal for SS chars. Tanker (Invulnerability - Super Strength).mbd

I have been debating on if I should include it or not. It's obviously not a recharge heavy build and won't achieve perma hasten, but it does help with uptime of Dark Regen when it's up. I'm tempted to swap it for taunt and it would give me an extra slot for Stamina. I don't think I did that much of it in this build besides the superior blistering cold in kick and brawl. I feel that recharge debuff resist is important to max out here so that recharge isn't massively debuffed to the point I can't use Dark Regen heal. Most everything else is going for set bonuses while slotting the powers with the occasional useful proc/unique.

I did mean dark armor. I do know that it's a resist based set, but basically want to make it as tough as possible. Even though it will suffer from defense debuffs, it will still help with the initial alpha attacks and ice patch will reduce the number of incoming attacks and debuffs afterwards. The build I had come up for those goals is below, but I definitely wanted to see another take in reaching those goals. Thank you for posting the build, I'll do some comparing to see if I can adjust the slotting in any way. Tanker (Dark Armor - Ice Melee)6.mbd

Could you do a dark/ice tank with no build cost limit aiming for soft cap positional defense (can include 5% from barrier) and hard cap (or near to it) resists (excluding energy/toxic)? Prefer either /psi or /soul mastery along with high recharge debuff resist and sufficient kb protection (also fine with running acrobatics). I do have a build that I've been tinkering with for a while now and gets close to those values, but want to see if there's a better way of slotting it. I can post my version if you want to see it.

I wouldn't worry about the -def from rage crash on an invuln tank all that much. You can build invuln to be near resist capped to everything while having soft capped def. A short def crash won't do much of anything for your survival. However, if you really want to create a different tank that can take advantage of rage more, I would highly recommend rad/ss. Rage can fill in for a lot of acc/dam slotting which allows you to damage proc out most of your attacks and rad armor brings 2 more AoE nukes in Rad Therapy and Ground Zero. Slotting a lot of your attacks with damage procs also helps reduce the impact of the -dmg from rage crashes.

I think I'll take some of your ideas as well. Can replace a 4 set Shield Wall for a 5 set LotG to get more s/l resist and then just do a full 6 set Bombardment to get more recharge and replace the e/n resist lost from Shield Wall. This is quick rework of the ice/ba into ice/ice. Sacrificed taunt and build up, but you get DN from /soul. Taunt is probably least needed on ice armor anyway with it having some of the best aura taunt with Chilling Embrace and Icicles. There's definitely room for improvement as it was a very quick rework, but gets you to about 71.5% s/l and 59.2% e/n. Tanker (Ice Armor - Ice Melee).mbd

I had a concept build for an ice/ba tank. Never got around to building him, but I tried to prioritize resistance as much as I could to make it tanky. Perhaps it can provide some slotting ideas. It gets 65.7% s/l, 62.4% e/n, and 47.1% psi resist without factoring in SMoT proc(s) or Barrier. With 2 stacks of SMoT and Barrier, that's an additional 18.4% resist which will get you near the cap for the most common damage types and a solid 65.5% for psi. Tanker (Ice Armor - Battle Axe).mbd

Perhaps you're using an older version, or else there is a newer version that's still in test mode that has it fixed or else my update checker isn't working properly? I do know how the yellow proc dot works and on my version of mid's (i28 page 1, 2024.8.865) the SMoT is not included in stat totals, not even 1 stack of it.

I would also add that you're well over the resist cap in the first build, so worth taking a second look and seeing if you can improve anywhere as you don't need so much resistance. Mid's doesn't factor in SMoT +resist proc so you really only need to reach ~77% resist before a double stacked SMoT gets you to 90%, or 83% if you want to get there with 1 stack. If you plan on running Barrier destiny, you'd be getting another permanent 5% as well.

I am not a big fan of Proton Sweep. If you don't plan to exemplar down very often, I would suggest Cross Punch more as you can also slot a FF +recharge proc. With res vs def, I would say that if you have any DDR (defense down resistance), you should be better off with the soft cap s/l and slightly less resists. Based on the resist numbers you have, this looks more like a pure resist set (electric armor maybe?) in which case I would probably focus on resists alone. You could make an argument that having the soft cap s/l def will help with the initial alpha strike as you'd get hit less often at the very start, but in fights against anything that does heavy -def spams (like in ITF) that def will get destroyed within seconds. Anything that doesn't do -def, the ~18% you have in the first build should help carry you and you can always pop a purple insp as needed.

My approach to Hand Clap was something that I took back from when CoH was still live where practically no one (from what I recall) ever picked it up (this was well before some of the KB to KD procs that, iirc, were released later on after IOs and sets were implemented). I'm happy to admit I was wrong and I may very well be wrong about taking soul mastery as well. Cones absolutely can hit multiple targets, but at the same time it requires proper positioning of yourself relative to mobs whereas Dark Obliteration you can click and not have to worry about anything else. Another reason why Dark Obliteration is more appealing to me is that I plan to be in melee range often when using FU, Spin, Psychic Wail, Lunge, etc. This in theory isn't a problem if you always open with AB, but I am more likely to open with Psychic Wail and Spin/Psionic Tornado. Also eliminates the need to reposition by going from from range to melee if I can go straight to melee and unload my attacks. For me personally, I'm not even looking to go into epic pools at all for my fort, was just stating that soul is more appealing if I were to go with an epic and just clarifying more as to why I said that. Also didn't mean for it to come off as though I'm trying to convince you or anyone else to take /soul over /leviathan or anything else.

Updated build with the changes. Realized I forgot the spider bite proc so added that as the 6th slot in Total Domination. Thanks for the reminder about that as well, also was missing it from my initial build so added that to Spin. I also swapped in a dominion of arachnos proc into Psionic Tornado, haven't ever tried to use it before but maybe it will be a nice layer of mitigation with the fear/damage debuff. Arachnos Widow (Fortunata Training - Fortunata Teamwork)4.mbd

Thanks, good to know. I'll play around to see if I can scrap up some slots that way and maybe use them for a 5 set unbreakable in Total Domination. I find myself never having the power or slots to really afford fitting it in when building forts, but if I did then I wold go for soul mastery. The low activation time and better power typing (target AoE vs the dreaded cone) just makes it a lot more attractive.

Might be a build style difference then. I kind of view this situation similar to building defense on an armor set that has no DDR where there's basically no point in doing so. If you face mobs that deal defense down debuffs, that defense will still get tanked to below 0. Similarly, if you face enemies that spam a lot of -tohit, your accuracy will still get destroyed. I would say that going for a double stacked rage would also mostly compensate for the loss of accuracy slotting in powers as well and in situations where it doesn't, you'd likely face similar issues even with acc slotted in attacks. Still, everyone has their preferences in how to build and what to build for and I certainly can't fault wanting more accuracy. That's fair if you often face a lot of mobs and situations where you're getting blinded often. I'll give this a go when I have a little bit of time to test it out on some of my tanks and brutes, thanks for the suggestion! Regen is definitely slept on by a lot of folks and it can absolutely be built to be tough for any content (though I won't say no to a refresh for it).

Thanks for the heads up, I do see that mid's isn't letting me slot any regular recharge IOs so I'll take a look at in game and see if the recharge from the HO is being counted or not (mid's does, but wouldn't be the first time it's wrong on something). I'll also take a look at Total Domination, an extra AoE hold certainly won't hurt when Aura of Confusion is on recharge. Should also be more useful than a situational vengeance.

For more damage against AVs, I'd suggest going for mace mastery epic. It actually helps in 2 ways; Poisonous Ray for more -res and Focused Accuracy to help with some of the low accuracy powers that Symphony seems to have. You could go for Coercive Confusion set in Impassioned Serenade to be able to eventually perma confuse AVs, but it does deal damage so you can't stack spam it and engage after AV is confused. This build is a little bit off from perma hasten, but should be close within range if you use ageless core destiny. Not sure how it will play out for an AV fight, but I think you should manage to eventually bring them down. I did drop Aria of Stasis, not as useful as Melodic Binding for AV fights. Again, I've never played Symphony Control so take this build with a grain of salt and test it out first on the test server to see if it works well. Best of luck! Controller (Symphony Control - Darkness Affinity).mbd

DA in general has a pretty easy time soloing AVs. It may not be as quick as something like /cold for example, but it makes up for it with all the other amazing tools that it has and provides higher survivability with access to a heal, Fade, and Shadow Fall. Howling Twilight is an amazing -500% regen power which should only have a 15 second downtime if you slot the build for high global recharge, which is a big help for AV fights while pairing with the -res from Tar Patch. You also get a great heal (though it does have an accuracy check) and good damage debuff from Darkest Night. The only thing you'll need to worry about is the aggro that you'll have at the start of a fight which you should be able to work around using lore pets and pulling around corner with DN and into Tar Patch. I've not played symphony control before so not familiar in what powers it has or what it excels at. My main controller is ill/dark which does have the help of perma PA for extra dmg and aggro in AV fights. Edit: I can take a look at the build after I get off work.

So here's a very slight modification of some slots and powers that you had. I did move Hand Clap back into the build by replacing Revive (feel free to ignore that change) and I also moved the 2 set superior blistering cold to Brawl so that KO Blow could be fully proc'd out. Foot Stomp is now also fully proc'd as well. I haven't really tested the decimation BU proc in the epic hold as I like to fully damage proc. If you like it and feel that it procs often then you can definitely add it back to build and maybe move the unbreakable constraint back to KO Blow. I didn't see the point of keeping a 5 set hecatomb in Punch, the difference between that and a 2 piece winter set is minimal, as is the impact on recharge. The build still relies on FF procs to keep up perma Hasten and I used the slots for Hand Clap. This should provide you a bit more damage mitigation against mobs with Hand Clap in the build. Please ignore the levels that some power choices are at in the build. I had a different /regen brute build saved that I swapped to SS and played around with slots while comparing to your original build. Mostly just showing the final end result with sets/procs. Brute (Super Strength - Regeneration).mbd

Cross Punch is definitely worth taking, basically a better Haymaker that can take more procs. I just didn't need it for my Rad/SS pairing tank since I had 2 additional AoEs in Rad Therapy and GZ, only bosses normally survived a cycle of all my AoEs. Understandable, they're definitely super quick casts. SS attack chains are also a bit harder to predict because the FF +rech procs can really change cooldowns. I can take a look at it more in a bit, but one thing you could do is replace the +perception proc in Rage for the (iirc) Membrane HO (or whichever one boosts tohit and recharge). That can help with keeping Rage stacked for longer periods and the tohit buff you'll get from it for accuracy. The gaussian BU proc still fired off regularly for my tank.

Have you considered taking /psi mastery (assuming psi mastery has the same powers as it does for tanks, can't check mids atm) and maybe Hand Clap? I've recently respec'd my rad/ss tank into Hand Clap from a suggestion on the forum as I wasn't using Cross Punch much and was really happy with the results for the knockdown mitigation. It's an easy 4 slot proc power with force feedback, 2 dmg procs, and kb to kd. Between Foot Stomp, Psionic Tornado, and Hand Clap, you've got 3 AoE kd powers that will help with mob mitigation. Dominate is also a fantastic hold to proc out and will add to your ST rotation. I don't know what the results will be for a ss/regen brute since my rad tank is designed more as a walking AoE proc bomb nuker, but maybe worth considering if you're worried about mitigating incoming damage. Edit: Also apologies, didn't read carefully that you had Hand Clap before. You could sacrifice revive to either get Hand Clap or Fast Healing back. I'm personally never a fan of self revive powers as I try to build for not dieing in the first place 🙂

Updated build following the changes. Swapped out Weave for Vengeance and proc'd out Follow Up. Didn't really see a better use of some extra slots besides going for a 2 piece superior blistering cold for the recharge debuff resist. Global recharge is slightly lower, but should still be well within range of perma Hasten/Mind Link when factoring in the force feedback procs and Ageless. Looking over the slotting of Mind Link, I could probably just 3 slot it with 2x membrane HOs and the LotG unique. That saves 2 slots and if I pull the slots from Boxing and Brawl, I have enough to nearly 6 slot another power in place of Vengeance which is more of a situational use. However, I don't really see anything else that I strictly need in terms of ST chain or AoE attacks. Alternatively I could add back the Confuse and replace TT Assault with Fate Sealed to be able to contribute more as a pseudo confuse controller, but that to would be a very situational use power. Lastly, also considering potentially going back to Sorcery for RoP by swapping Super Speed for Mystic Flight and doing Arcane Bolt and RoP in place of Vengeance and TT Assault. Had this on my previous build as well and while it was very effective during the uptime of RoP, it wasn't up often enough. My last build did not focus as much on resist bonuses so I'm hopeful that this version has a less overall need for RoP. Arachnos Widow (Fortunata Training - Fortunata Teamwork)3.mbd

Thanks for the input, I'll give it a go with assault core first and probably stick with TT Assault as well. Not a fan of Scramble Thoughts, tried it before. Long cast time at 2s and and I feel that the mag 4 stun is irrelevant in a team context. I'll see what I can get for the power and slots while replacing Weave. Pretty much went for it as I needed Tough, but you're right that I have more def than I need. I will also try procing out FU as well. I went with TK blast to have an extra place for force feedback recharge proc. It's mostly something I plan to use on runners/AVs or nearly dead enemies so KB isn't a big issue. Just because TK blast is a ranged attack doesn't mean I can't use while in melee either.

Looking for some input for my Fortunata hybrid, meant for general and mostly lvl 50 content. Currently debating the value of Fate Sealed vs TT:Assault as this isn't really a control focused build. It doesn't look like FS boosts Psychic Wail stun any unless mid's is wrong. I only picked up AoC as it's a great mob confuse power that can help when there is to much aggro. I've also considered the ST Confuse, but I don't really see myself using it on PUGs to try and perma confuse AVs, so AoC seems like it should be enough for general content. Build is meant to have both great AoE damage (Psychic Wail, Spin, Tornado) and ST damage (Lunge, Dominate, Follow Up, and TK Blast) while being survivable. I generally like to play in melee so I've tried to boost damage resist with set bonuses as much as possible. I'm also considering changing the assault radial hybrid for a melee core slot, would help with regen/resist since I have no heal and will be relying on ageless for endurance. Looking for any other suggestions and improvements that I can make and haven't considered yet. Arachnos Widow (Fortunata Training - Fortunata Teamwork)2.mbd

Tried out Hand Clap on test server and I definitely like the added mitigation with another knockdown power so I'll respec into it soon. Had no issues still keeping hasten perma while attacking. I also tested the gaussian BU proc and it activates at a pretty good rate. The only thing that is a little weird is the timing of rage recharging with a previous rage crashing. Once I get 2 stacks going, I may have to delay further rage uses until the crash ends, otherwise the BU proc gets wasted. I did not try the Fury of the Gladiator -res proc in Cross Punch, but I did replace one of the damage procs in Foot Stomp to test it out. Did not see a noticeable difference in clear time, but may require more testing. These changes leave me with one more slot left to use somewhere. May just do the gauntleted fist proc for absorb shield in Punch since I'm not really seeing anything massively impactful from additional set bonuses/procs. Updated Hand Clap version below. Tanker (Radiation Armor - Super Strength) 5.mbd