Glowworm

My challenge guy is only 14 (I had to log early the previous time we played on Indom). I'll log in early and get him up to 15 in case we want to do Synapse.

I have a Time/DP defender and he is fun to play. Lean on procs for damage but, yeah, you're not going to be a huge damage beast with DP regardless. DP and Time both like to be in the middle of melee (well, DP's nuke does anyway) and though I usually run with fire ammo for more damage the debuffs from cold or toxic ammo are significant on a defender and are worth using in some situations. Defender buff values combined with Time's -ACC aura make a melee Time/DP 'fender pretty durable.

So is the Challenge Set idea to make a Shield/* tanker and just run them on Tanker Tuesday, not leveling them separately?

I thought the same thing at first but it would have the more powerful melee attacks that most blaster secondaries get. So, like a defender with medium punches instead of weak blasts.

All-Tank Kahn? Load up on your daggers! It's fun, but that last fight takes...a while.

Whatever you roll, get the Might of the Tanker ATO +Res proc in a damage aura or an attack you use pretty often. It makes a big difference. It's got high enough PPM that even if it's in an attack that isn't ideal for procs it's still useful. I've got a bio/rad tank that's fun and easy (end management, proc potential, heals, some debuffs - lots of toys). SR also makes for a very tough tank but you don't have a damage aura. It's hard to really go wrong but I guess broad sword and kinetic melee are probably at the bottom of the list for offense.

9 PM East Coast

Re: "Backup Tank", be aware Ice/Spines is really good at stealing aggro. I assume it's the combo of 2 damage auras and an auto-hit debuff aura. Might very well steal aggro from whatever the main tank is.

The idea that tanks have "weak secondary attacks" is untrue. Tank's melee damage scalar is .95; for comparison Blaster and Stalkers are at 1.00. Tanks are capable of doing significant damage, especially when you take into account their large AoEs with high target caps. Tanks are ideal for taking out the trash and then keeping hard targets focused on them. More to the point, they can slot up their attacks well and still be tough enough to tank hard content. The idea that you have to gimp yourself in order to survive and hold aggro just isn't true. (And attacks are a significant way of generating and holding aggro anyway). Yes, eating the alpha has traditionally been a tank's role but lots of ATs can do that well enough. Tanks excel at it but any big -ACC debuffer or an AoE controller or dominator can blunt it enough to get the job done. So the idea of a tank who just eats alphas and doesn't otherwise contribute to damage output of the team is pretty underwhelming; I mean, I can see that being a thing at level 10 but if at level 29 that's still the only contribution, that's not what I would expect or want.

Put it this way, Hibernate got a workout last night.

Before I switched servers to last night's TT, I thought "I should get some SG boosts before switching because you never know what TT will serve up." I then, of course, forgot about it till after I switched and was SG-less. Man, I could have used some End Drain Resistance and Fear Resistance vs those 4 Horsemen. Famine, I guess, kept doing a massive end drain combined with Terrorize that would detoggle everything. Those were some challenging fights for Shiny Doom Ball (ice/spines). But the whole thing was fun and not many people can say they've done a tank-only LGTF. Next time, I'm respeccing to get more holds!

Werewolf World dumpster diving with the mission team was a lot of old school fun.

I played Kin/Dark and wasn't crazy about it for this reason. Kin really likes melee and /Dark really likes range, so you end up hopping around a lot. Too busy for me. I wonder if TA/Dark would be good though, since they both love range.

Corruptors of any set are going to shine when taking on big HP bags like AVs and Giant Monsters. On those targets, scourge can be meaningful. On regular minions, scourge is mostly irrelevant since if they are below half hit points (when scourge can trigger) then you are probably going to defeat them on the next hit regardless. But corruptors do have better damage scales and higher damage caps. For Dark/Dark specifically, I agree that the debuff values are so high and layered (especially -ACC), that it can be overkill on a defender so you may as well get the extra damage from a corruptor. However, defenders can be significantly tankier if they take an epic armor, tough, weave, and maneuvers, which is a reason to go defender instead of corruptor. Defenders gets max value from those armor-like powers just like other buffs. It just depends on your preference; I would probably go corruptor but both have their advantages.

Now you don't have to be a law-breaking, anarchistic, punk-pirate to play your favorite game. So, I guess I need to find some additional outlet for throwing off the shackles of The Man.