Golden Azrael

Just opened that up in Mids. That's a decent Tank Build. 😉 I do have a Rad/Rad Brute which doesn't have Ageless Radial. Tried Rad Armour with Broadsword but not Rad Melee. Be tempting to try this...with Ageless Radial. Good Job. Update. I couldn't resist. Rolled a Rad/Rad Tank. Currently L12 hanging around the Hollows. Update 2. L39. SO only build (bar two global defence uniques.) Rad/Rad is rather good. 🙂 Azrael.

Hmm. Perhaps I'd better get my Stone Tank Tier 4 Ageless Radial. To be fair to Incarnate stacking. You were meant to wield the power of Gods. Start stacking that God power and that's to be expected in a team game. (Especially given the debuff kicking the 'Tank-Buster' AE missions gave me.) Even on a Duo-Force Field Defender team of myself and another F.Field Defender, we walked 'The Game', Nemesis included, back on Live. And that was before Incarnates. Getting that Balance of Power. Always difficult between offering 'The Challenge' (relative to the Sun....) and empowering the Hero. Then you have up to 8 of those on a team to consider. With a diverse mix of ATs and Power profiles. It was difficult to balance that on live and I don't envy HC's job on that. With the caveat that Incarnate powers were half finished and probably didn't receive a few balance passes. Azrael.

Yep. Azrael.

Spot on. I find it funny when a mob gradually grinds me down to the last quarter of my HPs...and then I hit Dull Pain (or an Absorb button) then they have to grind through all of that again. That's what? 3000-3500 of HPs to get through. Twice. 7000 points of HPs. It's monumental and soul destroying to your Nemesis. 'Good luck, Mob.' Cause if I'm rad, fire or energy melee, you're in deep trouble. I like 6 slotted Preventative Medicine. It's good value for it. Big nice dollop of recharge. A sound Absorb unique. (I like things like this. Especially on my squishies as it acts like a 'Hand brake' on getting Alpha'd. Giving you time to react.) Ofc. It works great on a Tank with a big VAT of HPs or one with a lower HP stack. Your True Grit slotting is noted. Azrael.

On point. Sometimes I've six slotted Regen' ('Regen' as in Dull Pain or any given Tanking Regen semantic...) and it's been mandatory for the bigger picture. Sometimes, three of those slots could have maybe been spent elsewhere. Slotting can get real tight on Tanks when I'm haggling about 1-3 slots and how best to spend them. And I think that 'hollistic' balance is something I'm even now, still grappling with. As I've said, many of my 1st Tanking builds which I thought were the best ever look a bit...'What was I thinking?' when I go back to them. 'oh. I'm not Captain America after all.' But my current builds are more robust, the design more often reflects my intentions. But squeezing out eg. My Fire Defence number on Shield (eg. 15%) is an area I can still better balance. And it comes down to choices. I love Som's Invul'EM build. But I couldn't live without Taunt and Bone Smasher on my Tank. So I'd have to find a way to squeeze those in. Maybe cope without Energy Punch. Don't use it 'That Much.' I'll go back and fix my 'proc' based Invul' / EM as a case in point. My intention at the time was proc damage. But I traded defence. Resistance. Now? I want him to be a hard az. Which he is against Council. But now I want MoAR. So I'll throw out the procs (maybe keep a minimum of them if I can. If not, I'll live. It's not like EM doesn't hit like a truck anyhow.) And that's the beauty of the debate here. Can you do it? Can you make it better? Get that 'balance.' Azrael.

Sound advice. You're right about builds. If you're new to wrapping your head around building, copy a build. But keep in mind what you want. Or find a build closest to what you want. Then copy that. As your confidence in building grows? Change the build. Don't copy it verbatim. Change little things. Play with mids. It won't bite. (At one point, I didn't see the point in Mids at all. 'Hey, he's crazy...!') Then you'll eventually get to the spot were you can just build what you want yourself. ('I want to cap Melee defence...' for example...which I finally did on my Invul'/SS Tank. I got so beepd off by the Rage Crash? I just took it out of my power tray. So what did I do? I made a design decision to put 'SOME' proc into my damage powers whilst minimising the impact to Melee defence. I can still make the cap with Barrier.) I'm a better builder now than I was on live. I had no clue what I was doing even when I spent 3.5 billion on a Dominator. Azrael.

Perhaps, regarding your last line. As you and I have both said, a Tank is a different thing at different stages of the Tank journey. The nice thing about that is it gives beginner tanks, levelling tanks, 80% build tanks and recent Tank vets like me something to aim as we shift gears through our Tank journey. Your builds speak for themselves (with the 'End Game' caveat.) I have had a look at your uber builds and based my derivations off them, Infinitum and others. I'll have to check your builds again. And you're spot on re: this point. EVEN as a starter, levelling Tank. You don't have to spend hundreds of millions. As an SO levelling Tank? If you put 'nice to haves' (as you say) such as Numina, Miracle, Panacea uniques (and the two Global Defence Unqiues) they can have a massive impact for the sake of a handful of uniques. That's relatively little coin for the improvements they bring. If you add the Tank ATs? It ratchets things up to the next level as you shift gears. The last two points are crucial for anyone new to Tanking. Azrael.

There have been cased were I've six slotted a regen power on a Tank and later thought. I could have done with '3' of those slots elsewhere. Cold reflection. Lots of the Tanks I rolled (80-90%-ish builds) I thought were hot builds. Until Hami lasered my SR/SJ Tank. Or a Sapper pulled my Toggle pants down on my Invul'/EM tank (Because I swapped out the defence for Procs as an experiment. I never did get the chance to fix that. But looking at Sovera's Invul/EM Tank build, I may go back and fix dat.) DP works like an absorb. You get a big chunk of HPs. Regen is generally reactive. You get hit you put it back. (I remember being somewhat disappointed with WP on a Tank because it didn't take an alpha strike too well...before WP finally kicked in...but built out? A WP can be impressive when Res/Def' are in harmony.) Prevention is better than cure, etc. And that mitigation comes in many forms. On my Elec Armour Tank? Power Sink. Mobs stand around looking a bit worried. 'What's he going to do next?' Azrael.

True. There is a difference to a 'Starter' Tank, a levelling Tank (or someone new to Tanks or CoH in general) and an END GAME build by Hyperstrike. I'm a 80-90% builder. Not a 100% builder and most of that I leave until I hit 50 (...and when I do build, I work under the 'restriction' of taking most of the armour and offences because I won't chop up the Primaries or Secondaries.) I'm also not that bothered about the 'END GAME' that much, to be honest. Many do. I don't. I've done eg. Hami, of course, once on HC. It's a bit overblown to me. I know players like it. My SR/SJustice Tank crashed and burned on it (no regen, no heal...) Those incarnate 'uber' missions. Don't like those either. I do like the ITF. I think Live devs did a sound job on that. Done that often. And the Dark Astoria post 50 content aint bad at all. But my thrust for this thread is for SO builds, levelling and probably 80%-ish Tank builds. Not 'edge' builds for uber content. Though any beginner Tank may want to get there at the speed of their discretion. Though 'Edge' builds for Uber content. It's still part of the conversation, to a degree. It's useful to see where you start and where you can end up. I guess I'm Patch Issue 3 at heart. Part of me will never there. Though I have come around to building with HC and surgical intervention with some 'Uniques' into my levelling SO builds...and I don't necessarily leave 'all' the build until L50 like I used to. Azrael.

Thanks for the explanation Re: the even higher foes having an even large floor rate. (I guess my common sense side of me knew this...but I don't think I ever wanted to acknowledge this. 😛 ) An essential fact of life that any beginner builder of Tanks really should know! And that's why on things like Longbow, Carnie, Malta etc, they'll eventually hit you and hurt you. +4x8. +3x8. No problem. eg. Council on even unoptimised Invinc' / EM builds I can stand there pretty much immune. (Just thinking for a moment. That and the way Invinc' scales when you're in melee. A rising tide lifts all defensive boats...and I have enough base amount to scale to cap and beyond. But I do come acropper vs Sappas at Range before Invinc' can kick in to mob proximity. I'll have to have another luck at my Invinc/EM Tank.) That +4x8 is some step up in my experience. Especially against certain mobs who'll debuff the crepe out of you if they get a 'lucky' hit in. Azrael.

That is a granite build. Top job. It smashes mine defensively (see why in my post above.) I'm wondering if I could reduce my extreme procability and infuse more robustness into mine. Probably a respec or a build 2 coming up. Props, Sovera. Azrael.

No problems with Sappers, eh? So that might explain why my Invul/Energy Tank occasionally has his toggle pants around his ankles. You have a 3-fold energy strategy. And it seems to stack. Melee will cover most of incoming potential damage. Invinc' saturates and your En/Neg will be over 45%. (Hmm. My Melee/Energy values must be too low on my Tank. I'll check.) My Range is 21%. So I'm guessing a Sapper will catch me out before I can close to mob melee for Invinc' to kick in. Melee at 28% defence. That's not enough. My recent Invinc' and SS build can cap. My Energy defence...is at...28%. Decent values. But not enough to stop me coming a cropper on +4x8 Malta missions. I'll check out your Invul' EM build. (Caveat, like Sovera's concept of '80%' builds...) My Invinc/EM Tank was built for proc' damage. Lots of great floating numbers in attack. But I can get caught out defensively at range because I recall now...that I traded Procability for Defence. Azrael.

Aha. I see. I guess, even with capped positional defences they just squeeze the opportunity for an enemy to hit to the 'last 5%?' ie. There's always 'a' chance for an enemy to hit. aka. A really bad dice roll for me. It's just highly unlikely (but not impossible) that I'll get hit. Most of the time I'll be fine. But now and again, I may get hit. *(Unless I'm on Electric Armour, where I can look at Sappers with some bemusement and give them the T.K.O!) Thanks for that, Bubba. Azrael.

'Oh for the Love of...' Azrael? *Bashful look. You'll turn my head. *Bats eyelids. You don't HAVE to take it. And some 'crack' builders, like your good self, may be able to 'build' around having to take it. Not something I'd advise for 'L' plate Tankers levelling on SOs. When ambition's reach exceeds their grasp. Or. Not in the 40s-50s when the 'Debuff' mobs start beating the crepe outta ya. Azrael.

I'll have to have a closer look at your 'Electric God' and compare builds (us male heroes...always comparing...you know? LOL...) Seriously, I rolled a Shield Elec and it is a barn storming barrel of fun. When a beginner Tank has moved on from the more obvious 'starter' Tanks, I'd recommend Shield Elec. The penny dropping moment for me was when I push for high global recharge, hasten, and fitted in TWO Force Feedbacks into TWO AoEs. The accelerated recharge was off the charts. Strategically, the mobs don't know what hits them. Lightning Rod. Shield Charge. Thunderstrike. TANKING WAR GOD OFFENCE. What's left of the mobs is in bits...reeling from a shell shocking series of attacks. And yes! I take the 'Hand Clap' power. For SHOW BOATING purposes, gloating and TURBO CHARGING that recharge. As in? 'You really do feel like a god when wielding Lightning Rod (I call upon ZEUS to SMITE them!), Shield Charge (sense shattering), Chain Induction (that's a nasty SoB power right there...under rated...), Thunderstrike (Mob crashingly good), and Mighty or Ionic togther. Azrael.

I just love Elec' Armour. Don't know what it is about it. Plays 'so-so' Smooth as Butter. Is it the robust Psi? Is it the super fast recharging Pocket Regen button? Er...is it the anti Sapper pull your toggle pants down? (!) Is it the Pocket Hasten? 20%!!!!! Could it be the 'Freakshow Stunner' Power Sink? 'Hey, mobs...you lookin' kinda tired there...' (*Mobs, 'Must....lift...arm......attack....gdm....cheeky...Tank...') Mmmm.....mmm....*nods head. Could be a perfect Tank Armour for beginner / rookie Tanks? Azrael.

You have to admire Hyperstrike's persistence of vision. 'I'll grind ya ta dust...even if it takes forever.' Kind of like the Thing against the Hulk. Azrael.

I've never taken left side for Rebirth. You make a sound point about boosting your squishy team mates with more HPs. Also useful for lower HP Tanks? On my lower 'HPs' Tanks, I've aken radial...but have had pause to wonder on the left side as I've gotten better at building Tanks (maybe try it out.) Azrael.

To a degree, yes. It can buy time to know them into the next universe. However, I've hand my toggle pants pulled down even when blessed in that department. ('Maybe it's because I've got high positional defence...but that may not extend to high Energy Defence. I'll check that on my SR and Shield Tanks.) So it may be that. Slightly embarrassing. Sappers can be lucky gits. (Most 'detested' mob on Live. My En/En blaster suffered greatly...) But if I gets my hands on them 1st... I do have have a Elec Armour B**** and Energy Melee alt. Laughs at Malta whilst knocking their lights out. By comparison, my nearest equivalent, Invul'/Energy Melee (great Tank for beginner/rookie/starter Tanks) has had his pants down with Sappers. Probably not high enough Energy Defence. Azrael.

Yes. I have Dull Pain on my Invulnerability, Ice Armour, Stone Armour. Because when ever you gamble, sometimes you lose. (Even on my SR/Kat Scrapper which can have defences as high as 100+ Melee defence, I still have a Regen' Heal.) I've found on my Defence based Tanks (with sky high Melee Defence) such as SR, Shield (which are backed by 'decent' resists.) You can still get hurt. Sometimes you can stand there on +4x8 Council and not receive a scratch. And then you can come up against content that doesn't like Defence. As such I have 'Regen' options (Ageless) for when I get 'unlucky' or the for 'that' mission content. I tried Tanking with my Shield MA on a fire farm. Because my defence for fire isn't as hot as my Melee defence? I can get my wings singed from time to time. I like the Ageless heal. It puts it back. My Tanks are usually '80-90%' builds. I expect to get hurt at some point. I'll always pick a regen' power if it's available. Even if it's only a single choice eg. Dull Pain in Invul'. I know it's common practice. However. I'm not prepared to dismantle my primary or secondaries to get that last 10%. Which, ofc, can make a difference eg to adding stouter resists to eg. Shield IF you are prepared to sacrifice 'some' of your attacking powers. We try and achieve the holy grail of Tank balance. For me, a decent regen' power is part of that balance. That said, I'd have a crack at Infinitum's Shield Street Justice build if I was imminent with a new roll tank. It's kick az tastic. Azrael.

Yes. There is an art to 'flipping.' aka. Buying low. Selling high. Getting familiar with the 'stuff that sells' and the 'stuff that doesn't.' Supply and demand. Patience (ie. As you've said previously. Go and play the game whilst it's on the market. It could sell straight away, later, much later, over night, in a few days.) My 2nd main is now on 1.9 billion. A combination of 'some' Tanking, crafting stuff and flipping. Azrael.

I remember on Live. When I 1st wrapped my head around what Dull Pain can do. 'The Bigger Tick.' (Read that carefully.) Azrael.

Can't go wrong with Kinetics for support. And your duo team. You get damage, heal, stamina, recharge, tough. It's the Gold Standard of team buffing. It will transform your Tank Duo Partner. It also has the benefits of debuffing your opponents. Azrael.

Before the improvements to Tanks, I rolled 'B****' versions of them and the damage difference was compelling. 'Madder Hulk gets...the stronger he gets...' (the more damage Hulk does etc.) It was frustrating to come back to Tanks and be 'out of breath' and 'hit like a tap hammer.' The Tank Patch created a night and day difference. I haven't bothered much with B***** since. On SOs, though, having tried B**** Shield/War Mace and Tank Shield/Elec Melee and MA post patch. I barely get a scratch. And I deal meaty Tank damage. I used to get hurt alot with the B***** Shield/War Mace. I don't think we're 'done' with damage improvements to Tanks. Once we see 'Rage' crash on SS fixed, we may get a clue as to where Tank damage goes next. Azrael.

Good post. Elec Armour (mine paired with the brutal War Mace) is one of my favourite Tanks. Sapper proof. Robust Psi resist. A 'pocket' regen button. What's not to like? Azrael.