Infinitum

Two completely different animals. I have both - both are outstanding, however I go to each for different reasons. When I want to take out things fast with lots of AOE and decent ST I go with the Elec/Shield. In Stalker terms I don't think more AOE exists anywhere else than the combo of Shield Charge, Lightning Rod, Chain induction, and Jacobs Ladder. When I want to put individual focus on taking out many hard targets - anything from Boss to GM - I go with the Energy/Energy. There isn't a single target combo stronger than Total Focus, AS, ET, and Bone Smasher. It also has the best version of Power Crash because it has longer recharge which following the damage formula has more damage than the other versions of PC. As far as the Secondarys go - totally different animals also - both are outstanding. Shield gives you top tier positional defense and decent resists also - has no heal or endurance management is the tradeoff. It is really strong especially if you pair it with Ageless Core to sustain your Endurance. Energy Aura gives you solid Typed Defenses to everything but psi or toxic and middling resists. It definitely has more of a psi and toxic hole that should be patched as best as possible in light of the upcoming enemy typed defense tag changes. What EA gains is an endurance/defense click that is up often enough to never worry about endurance or the defenses it affects as long as you use is as often as it is up. Also energize which more than doubles your Regen and provides a 50%+heal every 30 seconds - again if I am in a pitched battle I use it as often as it is up. That's basically the gist of the two - as I said very different, but very good both of them... Hell... Just build both. Haha

I am guessing Invincibility maxed, Rune of Protection? and Melee Hybrid on right? That really isn't exclusive to Invul - you can do that with EA also but you really don't need to. See below - Rune, Melee and Energy Drain Maxed - better Defense and regen and equivalent resists - EA actually comes out on top with that method - but again with EA you really dont have to dive into gimmicks like Rune and it is far better to lean on the damage Assault Core provides. Let it eat. chomp chomp chomp.

Have to disagree on this one because EA has both endurance maintenance combined with a defense boost and a regen boost/50 percent heal that last for 30 seconds and is avail ~30 Seconds. Before you take those two into account the numbers are practically identical across the board BEFORE you factor those in. With EA on Scrapper or Stalker you almost have to let your guard down, or it is something ultra universally nasty that will be able to take them out. See the comparison below. I would call them equivalent - and this is coming from an Invul Fanboy. EA is just that good. Please note this comparison is with invincibility fully saturated and Energy Drain tagging 1 enemy. Give this build a shot - as I mentioned below - this build and its counterpart on Stalker (which is the slightly better one of the two) is what I basically made before the EM updates came out on Homecoming - I was testing these on beta and have stuck with them ever since - I even have a Brute version of EM/EA. It IMO is an unbeatable combo that is incredibly fun. My fastest pylon time on the EM/EA stalker was 57 Seconds but average around 1 min 30 for both the Scrapper and the Stalker. Here is that build - it basically has Energy Drain at the ready every ~18 Seconds with one enemy it can overcap most of your defenses - with max targets you are unhittable. It also has Energize at the ready every ~30 seconds giving you the perma regen boost and 50% heal every ~30 seconds also. I highly suggest using Ageless radial for the +DDR boost - this will make those defenses nearly unbreakable, run Assault Core for maximum damage (using @Boppers Hybrid calculator Core has a slight advantage over Radial) I also chose Agility for the defense boost and the recharge - however a strong argument can be made for musculature - but either way you should be fine with it. Lastly this build also covers the Psi hole fairly good I would say. Hope this helps, and if you have any questions please let me know. Novaforge - Scrapper (Energy Melee - Energy Aura).mxd

Yeah Bio relays a lot on debuffs just as much as defense/resistances. It seriously can render goes helpless. Between the two both are good - if you want a set that requires little interaction go with willpower. Otherwise - do both. Haha

Regen... Nerf it some more!

Have to disagree here - it is a conditional statement - nothing more nothing less. And for the record - I am not advocating for it to be nerfed - just mentioning I have seen talk about it that leads me to believe it could happen at some point given the history of other thing that I have seen similar talk on - that eventually happened. I wouldn't want someone to take my advice - fall in love with the set as is - without knowing that potential caveat - that would be a grave disservice from me to everyone that follows me. In no way am I advocating for a nerf. I didn't even do that with TW and realistically it did in fact need one.

Just murmurings here and there about that and Bio having too much benefit without enough cost. I am not 100% sure but I would wager it is coming at some point.

That is awesome! This is my Rad/Rad - caps everything but cold with 50% melee defense. Radianite - Tanker (Radiation Armor - Radiation Melee).mxd

Aside here - IMO one of the very quaint few areas Champions Online got it better than this game was endurance management - it had a 1 attack dedicated to being an energy builder - all you had to do was mix it into your attack chain any way you wanted to generate endurance however you wanted. The other was blocking. Would still get damage but it was reduced. In the between snap in the void I played champions to get my fix - but I dropped it like a bad habit as soon as I discovered the new world.

Try this build. It runs pretty smooth for me. One of my toughest tankers. Omega Infinitum - Tanker (Dark Armor - Dark Melee) (1).mxd

All the time... Just go with it. It usually leads to bigger and better. Save the build before you do with an alternate name.

This. Right. Here. 😄 Really.

Every possible combo does not exist similarly across all the ATs and the ones that do are not 100% the same. That is why what you want is not possible and not at all logical.

Oh I get it just fine. I just see it as highly inaccurate, not based on any facts - only bias and not achievable to have each AT 100% equal - there will always be synergizes and variances otherwise you are playing city of vanilla.

I don't understand why this is so hard to grasp for some. This. This. I don't understand why this is so difficult to grasp either I mean it is as close to perfect IMO as the melee AT balance has ever been. I don't play ranged so I can't speak to that

It makes as much sense as this gem. That's not grounded in any kind of achievable reality and further illustrates your psychosis about this nonexistent issue about tankers

And I want a unicorn that farts cookies but not just any cookie. Snickerdoodle cookies. And I am not enjoying cookies anymore until that happens.

For valid reasons.

That is currently your opinion but your bias prevents you from seeing they already are competitive and balanced the way they need to be.

Then provide some.

So is yours, and there we are

Have to disagree here based on my experience which is diametrically opposed to this Hardly. This is after all a game. Each of those metrics matter. It isn't irrelevant - because why wouldn't you choose the tanker over the Brute here? I will answer it for you. More damage for the Brute. Survivability here in this situation is a non issue. You could pick a petless mastermind with most teams and still be ok Which isn't a metric that matters even if it were true - which my gut tells isn't true either way IMO. I have proven the opposite in the Brutal mission simulator several times and pylon tests also that tanker dmg doesn't surpass brute dmg while brutes conversely can survive the incoming dmg without any difficulty. So that's where I will leave it - I don't think there is an acid test that will ever satisfy your goals here. So sorry, but have to disagree with your premise based on my own berth of experience across at least 80 melee characters through my CoH life.

It is meaningless when it doesn't come in to play. Like ever outside of hard mode type content. But the extra damage from the other 3 does come in to play. That isn't to say they are more valuable. Each just has a different role now. They all are viable. They all are fun. They all contribute. That was not largely agreed on before the tanker buff. Many said tankers could not contribute on a team and they weren't completely wrong. You had a bag of hp and excess survivability that just stood there as the team steamrolled content that didn't need what the tankers main contribution while the tanker could get off a few shots if it was lucky. At least now they can contribute more damage and now with hard mode content make use of the survivability.

It's not that cut and dry - because you they can never slot for enough damage to surpass a stalker scrapper or brute. They can get close to a brute but the brute will still win out in damage and still survive the content. They all will even if the more dmg oriented slot for survivability because they can also crit and leverage ATOs that maximize that.