Sovera

Heck, half my tanks don't survive that. Even with Barrier. It took playing Invuln to find a tanker who could AFK in it. Challenge accepted though. You can't think of a single test? Because 'content only Tankers can survive' requires at least some examples. Buffed ITF? Not sure most tanks will survive that either. Linea missions? What contents have you done where your Brute was creamed but your Tanker managed to squeak by?

It's just math though. We have Mids. We also know mitigation is not tested 100% of the time during the gameplay. We -know- this. We are not doing napkin math, we both routinely experience the content. A single spawn is annihilated in seconds by a full team and a few seconds more when solo. Once ten mobs are reduced to five are we ever in danger? When occasionally in danger we pop Barrier if not wanting to use an inspiration. So it boils down to what? The AV fights? That one minute fight after one hour of a TF? Is this what the big war between Brutes and Tankers has been all about? Tankers are tougher but do less damage. This is not napkin math but tests ran on the actual game. Brutes are squishier but do more damage. Proven by tests done in the game You're pushing the idea Tankers are somehow stronger -and- tougher and I do not know from where this has come other than Tankers got a 50% radius buff as if important. Give me one test you can think of where Tankers will do more damage and be tougher than a Brute and I can run it. I have changed my mind when I was wrong and I will do so again if I find its the same. P.S. Still love ya even if we argue on this old topic.

Blah. Brutes tank as much as Tankers do, at most they might need a 50 inf insp to reach the same numbers. The increase in radius is a useless buff as well. Only in farming do mobs agglomerate so much that they cannot physically get closer and the extra radius comes in. Even then a Brute still does farming faster. Any non farming map spawns come in packs of 10-12 and -can- make a ball around the Brute/Tank and be hit by the AoEs without the need of the increase. The Trapdoor tests have shown this consistently with Tankers having 6-7 minutes times and brutes between 5-6 minutes. By the logic of the thing the Tankers ought to blaze with the extra radius but that's not the case. Same with pylons where Tankers still lag behind with 4 minutes without -res trickery. It takes a very specific broken combo like Rad/Super Strength to see Tankers get OP. The reason to go Tanker is Fire Armor. Getting Burn at 18 fixes sets without early AoE such as Stone Melee or Super Strength.

But they make the early leveling so much better when we are short on powers and slots and unable to slot the juicy stuff. After level one they stop existing for me.

Just for you I redid the first section on how to start a character. It was too poorly done for a new character and the solo option involved teaming.

That's me when playing a terrifyingly low damage Tanker and realizing I was SKIPPING MOBS! Skipping mobs!!? Because it would take too long to kill?? Dusted the character.

Another thing to consider is that endurance woes should not be something that holds a player from using a given tank. Recovery Serums are sold by the P2W vendor and we can stack 50 uses, Even the most obscene of endurance hogs I have played I could use a Recovery Serum and while it was going I would collect blue inspirations. When the Serum was on cooldown I would use the blues until it would be back up. But for most things a Recovery Serum is only needed once in a while, either because our endurance clickie is still recharging (if having one) or because fighting endurance draining enemies like Clockwork or Freakshow.

It's a weird flex, but sure. If that's what you want to do. Even lowbie characters can slot IOs though, some as low as level 10. By level 20 a Tanker can have... Let me check so I'm not guessing... I would actually place slots on Whirling Hands first since it's the sole AoE, but just to say at level 20 it is a 33%, and safe to say that with 40% defense a low level Stone Armor is already mostly impervious to low level content. Leveling with just SOs is some sort of iron man challenge thing.

Every gimmick in the book thrown at it. Another 6.7% for a second ATO stack puts the resistances at 76-77%. 5% from Barrier puts them at 81-82%. A third stack (not reliable to get three stacks) puts them at 86-87%. A more 'normal' build: Same as before with the maths, but always minimum 70% with one stack. Stone as a tanker has almost no flaws and without even going into granite. Brutes always have an E/N hole though, the best I can do is about 40ish%.

Used the Fire/Stone Melee build and soloed Posi 2 at 0x8 in 48 minutes, no deaths. Then did Yin, and, surprisingly, did not use inspirations until having reached Clamor. I say surprisingly because I had an unslotted heal, unslotted shields, unslotted Consume, but even so it was done in 48 minutes (again). Still deathless. ...which is not really bad at all considering it's a Tanker and its ST heavy hitter is over level 38. Previous attempt was 46 minutes. The recordist in these 'Yin challenges' is still the Claws/Fire Brute at 38 minutes followed by a Fire/Rad Melee Tanker with 39 minutes and honorable mentions to the Savage/Stone and Rad/Stone Brute at 42 and 43 respectively. Rad Melee is just brutal even without Burn and Fiery Embrace and this is not even counting on how most of its damage is energy/toxic instead of smash/slash.

Yeah, Stone Armor's weakness is rather E/N, though on a tanker we can still pump those upwards of 60%.

After looking at Stone Melee I finally conceded that the problem with its ST rotation was trying to only use the mallets. It makes leveling a chore, it makes the ST clunky, and even at end game it requires everything in place plus an FF proc to be gapless. Once I accepted this I also saw that, y'know what? Actually Stone Fists isn't bad all. I cranked up another Fire/Stone Melee, used an alt to do two passes in a farm map which placed it at level 23 and then went for Posi 1 cranked to 0x8 after having grabbed eight hours worth of amplifiers. The ST rotation was Heavy Mallet, Stone Fists, Stone Mallet, Stone Fists. Repeat. While Hasten was up and even at such an extreme exemplaring the rotation was already gapless and a pleasure to work with. Burn was a good help as usual and the sole AoE since Fault is... well.. it's crummy. and a bit of a noob trap IMO. Large recharge, heavy endurance costs, abysmal accuracy, low damage, weak CC (when the accuracy even allows it to hit). Burn was enough for my AoE needs and with Build-Up I could punch through CoT BS while the FF procs in the mallets helped things along. Only used the inspirations that dropped and did not replenish at the store or AH. Only one death... at the very end... last spawn after the shadow bosses... I was already banking on bragging rights for a deathless run but after surviving eight shadow clone bosses I was out of inspirations and a mix of -tohit aura + force field + earthquake + spammed immobilizes finally got me. Still not bad for a 'squishy Fire Armor' and done in 46 minutes. Also the non weapon aesthetic looks nice with a very brawler feel to it. The usual with my builds: 76.7% resists with one stack of the Tanker proc in Heavy Mallet, a second stack and it's 83.4%, Barrier's 5% and it's 88.4% and once at 90% HP the Scaling Resists IO in Hover pushes it to 89.4%. If desired I can post a leveling build.

Fire Armor has Consume which protects against sapping (the sucking of the blue bar), though it does not protect from -recovery (the stopping of the blue bar filling up). Makes Carnies fine, but not Super Stunner's ressurection. Consume does need to be used before being sapped, but the sapping prevention buff lasts for two minutes (and is a 98% protection if Consume is slotted) and recharges in one minute (if slotted).

Brutes do more damage and can tank everything. It takes reaching the 5% of end game AND be solo to find a Tanker would do better. A well built Brute needs only one 50 inf inspiration to be at the level of a Tanker. What the Tankers have is an easier (cheaper?) way to be very sturdy without investing a lot of money. In return their damage is more mushy (despite what some claim in these forums). Now doing a bit less damage is not what someone who picks a Tanker is really worried about so this is moot. If you have your heart set on a Tanker then I suggest Fire Armor/Ice Melee since it is good straight out of the box. Tankers are pretty tough and there is no need to aim for -more- sturdy since it is difficult to die. Especially with Ice Melee dropping Ice Patches. I you prefer a Brute try a Radiation Melee/Stone Armor. It's pretty much easy mode with Irradiated Ground killing things around you while you're focusing on a boss. I had very good results with a Claws/Fire Brute too, but unlike Stone Armor that one needed to eat inspirations until mid game (around level 30 ish) where the Stone Armor becomes impervious around level 22+ish (needs a good build using all the tricks though). If you need examples I have builds in my signature and how to make money.

Firrrrrrrre/Clawsssss 😄 You can exemp down to level 15 and still be rocking. Or Fire/Ice Melee if you feel you want to help your team. Do damage -and- be sturdy.

The easy solution is to have Focused Accuracy, then you're the one who makes them cry. That would also let you drop Nerve and go for Musculature which ought to be a net gain. Speaking of Diagmagnetic thingy is pretty worthless as well and needs to be tuned by the devs. Either go for the resist (which actually is useless, but the 75% medium DoT makes a difference) or the 75% chance for DoT Degenerative (best middle ground since it helps for regular gameplay and against AVs where neither the res or the -tohit incarnates has an effect on AVs). The procs in Beta Decay are doing you no favors. Might as well have the slots as two +5 recharge in Build-Up so you can punch through more often. Regardless Decimation proc is valueless due to its abysmal 1 PPM, anything you slot in its place will be better IMO. Consider the math on Swipe + Lunge in the time it takes to use Impale (my own ST rotation with Spines is Ripper, Swipe, Lunge, Swipe. Repeat). Since you have a lot of endurance with the Radiation Therapy spam those slots could be scrounged from Health and Stamina. Mids says that the new and improved Impale does 465 in 2.64 seconds. A slotted Barb Swipe and Lunge take 2.9 second to animate and do 379 + 239 = 618. Check this slotting. More damage than the previous slotting (old Impale did 317, new does 465) but some endurance discount, (near) immune to -tohit, bit more recharge, bit more resistances (lowered S/L resistances on purpose since Barrier will give 5% that can be perma), etc. If you're fighting +3 (or +4 while having at least T3 Alpha) you're are 93% chance to hit making the Kismet not needed (if you do fight actual +4 or +5 then keep the Kismet). I sacrificed some of your S/L defenses since they were so low as to only matter statistically. It's pretty difficult to pursue them while going proc bomb in any case. The Swipe and Lunge build:

You do not need to play the game in absolute min max mode. If a ranged character who covers up for the weakness of the tanker friend is something you wish to play then go for it, and ultimately you will make their life easier at the start and at the end (at the start because you provide with endurance and heals and at the end because once their defenses are in place you can pump their (and yours) damage). Two meleers can accomplish the same content though, and not be fussed with CC. You just won't cover for any weaknesses, but even then if you go with Ice Melee you can make something impossible actually happen.

The suggestions so far have all been good. It's true about the CC being a weak point for a ranged character but having a few breakfrees (and the fact you'd be playing with a Tanker who is first in running to danger) should limit this. Remember you can buy more breakfrees from the auction House simply by typing /ah between missions. You can easily go around with six greens and six breakfrees if need be. I would still say a Kinetic for the reasons stated above. At some point heals and defenses are no longer of use (especially in a Tanker duo) since the Tanker is very sturdy and does not require extra sturdy. Helping with the damage and endurance takes over and that makes a Kin helpful through the whole leveling range from squishy Tanker friend to tough-but-slow-damage Tanker friend. In my own experience when we start getting whittled down by the enemies a single 50 inf purple or orange inspiration is enough to turn the tides, and sadly that's what all the contribution from Defenders and Corruptors usually boil down to: preventing that one or two 50 inf inspiration sporadic use. Where they shine is as damage boosters. Honestly, if we were to put a tankermage duo and a tankermeleer duo I have good reason to believe the tankermeleer duo will do everything easier and faster.

Touch of Death is one of the best melee sets. S/L resistance, E/N resistance, S/L defense, comes with a damage proc, decent raw stats spread. It only lacks recharge. Other sets come with bad bonuses (I'm sure someone will pipe in on how tox/psi is useful for their build) or have bad raw stats (Kinetic Combat), or useless procs (hold? Heck). No, ToD is one of the best evenly balanced melee sets IMO and being level 40 really does not hinder this. I'm not against the idea though, but other than having more raw stats by the ten level bump I'm not sure what would be gained.

Not sure the concept has been well thought. You're saying if you fight against someone and lose, they get stronger so you get less of a chance of winning?

Anything kinetics. Maybe Fire/Kinetics Corruptor. They will love Speedboost for their whole career (especially as Dark Armor) and the early healing and later on when the later is no longer necessary it is swapped for the damage boost. Defender if wanting the Kinetic goodies sooner. While the tankers survive a lot it depends what enemies you two decide to tackle. The more exotic (Praetoria, Ward, etc) the more having a source of healing can turn the tides. And when enemies are particularly dire do not discount the Kin's auto-knockdown toggle (with proper IO otherwise it's knockback). Honestly you could go Plants but it's a terrible set in terms of fun. One Seeds of Chaos and there is nothing to fight since mobs are ignoring the team. Very efficient, very powerful, but with an end result of nearly being the equivalent of clicking a button for free XP with only the hassle of moving between mission locations.

People praising the -res need to actually use it in a test and see the results with and without. The prime place where it might shine is the pylon test where stuffing the maximum number of -res sources allows for amazing times (/cold as a prime example) all thanks to pylons being +0. My own tests against +4 AVs (+3 with T3 Alpha) showed something like a 4-7% damage increase because of the purple patch effect. But this is two 20% -res with better uptime since slotted into attacks being spammed. The upside of the '4-7%' boost is that it's 4-7% for each player which makes it a reasonable choice. Outside of AVs/GMs the -res procs have shown to not affect the killing speed as tested on farm maps and the Trapdoor test over the Scrapper forum, and this is with the -res slotted in AoEs unlike WR who is a ST power. Looking at Weaken Resolve on Mids shows it has a 90% chance to make an Achilles' -res go off with a duration of 15 seconds and around 13-14 CD without any recharge slotted. The casting is 2.24 though. My experience on this (take it with a grain of salt, and of course anyone willing to run said testing mentioned above would fix all 'gut feels') is that the power is fine on a support character in a full team against an AV/GM. Any time it is up and the character can choose between tossing a T1 or T2 or using Weaken Resolve it will (probably) help the team more to choose WR thanks to everyone adding their % which is bound to be more than a support character's T1 or T2 damage. That said it would still only shave a few seconds (not a minute) and even less than one might think on quick fights that are short. A damage based character would probably suffer too much from sinking 2.24 seconds into a non damaging character (yes, I know, procs. Procs can be slotted into damaging attacks as well though), and of course that nothing under an AV/GM will be worth using it on even for a support character. Think of it like a /Rad's anchors and if they are worth using on normal mobs. Bopper can probably math this out.

Anything works. Tankers are so tough out of the box that it is hard to go wrong. I see the ITF bandied as a tough encounter and my Fire Armor soloed it at +4x8 with buffed enemies no inspirations used, and that's Fire Armor who is supposed to be squishy. Rather think what you would like as a playstyle instead. Big damage to kill things faster? The traditional 'go AFK in the middle of two groups and return 15 minutes still alive (Fire Armor does not do this btw)? Fancy tanktroller (Ice Melee comes to mind, minus the ITF all other enemies flop around making the team extra safe)? Several sets can do the afk-in-the-middle-of-two-groups shtick so if that's what you want but it's not required. I also did a few of the 801 teams and the squishy Fire Armor did not die, so again, think about what you'd like.

If it did as much slow as RoF does it would almost act like a pseudo agro aura (less effect once fight +4) which might be why? Dunno. could be worth a trip to the bug forums.