Onlyasandwich

Further update - I dug in to see what I would change if my priorities lined up more with yours, while keeping power selection as is. Build below. A few freebies to point out: No reason not to move the PM proc to Hoarfrost - it is taking a slot either way. May as well get the set bonus. The Winter recharge resist IO as I mentioned is purely redundant - you are already way overcapped on this stat. Combat jumping has no use for -end - no reason not to drop a lotg in there. No reason not to move reactive def +res unique to match the set in weave. Things I otherwise moved about: Swapped slow set slotting to an area that better benefits the goals of overall resist and patching F/C defense. Otherwise I moved a few slots around to grab low-hanging bonuses for F/C or S/L here and there. There is a huge amount of room to re-optimize this build for higher S/L if you wish. I found a spot for the gladiator +def unique - this was missing! Shifted a few uniques down to earlier levels - doesn't matter unless exemping down, but there is no loss in doing so. As a result you have a nice bump to defense across the board, and are now hitting 78 FR, with other small improvements beyond. The only thing sacrificed was 5 seconds off Build Up's recharge. I did remove the Numina unique to get a 5th lotg in glacial and thus a nice S/L resist bump as well. Honestly you have a huge fountain of end with EA and don't need the Numina, but could swap it back for sure if you prefer. This build also sports a little more global recharge. A quick note - Ragnarok F/C bonus is hitting rule of 5 and wasted. I kept it in the interest of preserving your KD proc - not sure how attached you are to it. This is true of your original build as well. I would probably put another set in there myself. There are many other defensive directions you could focus of course. You could sacrifice ~10% Fire res for a really healthy layer of Psi res, or a strong bump to S/L. I just sort of rolled with the focus at hand. Additionally, here is a version that maintains the spirit of your build, but treats Seismic Smash as the beautiful attack it is while keeping the absorb proc. This also picks up a modest amount of extra S/L resist. It does lose some E/N defense, but maintains softcap. I got a little carried away and moved away further end support in stamina to pump S/L with some sets. EA really is that good! also moved around other slotting to re-optimize while avoiding the rule of 5.

I actually think this is true, but haven't really tested it specifically.

I appreciate that everyone has different priorities for sure. My builds are not geared toward fire farms or 801 missions, but instead any mix of random content as well as capable solo work. I also keep exemping in mind, though don't build specifically for it. Mot in the aura is nice and hands free for sure. However, you can get more consistent double stacking, and often persistent triple stacking when in a good single target attack. This might not fit your playstyle, but in content where that resist really matters, I will typically have a hard target that's worth wailing on. Outside of 801, I haven't encountered any situations where dropping into ice block would pose a hazard to the team. If you are functionally immortal without it then do what works for you! It sounds like we have very different playstyles. On a fire farm, it's not like I can hold map aggro anyhow - everyone has to be able to fend for themselves or die instantly as there are so many mobs over aggro cap. It sounds like your goal is survivability above all else, which is perfectly fine! I'm glad there's room for different approaches and each to be successful. To be honest, outside of fire farms, our builds would not fare much differently in survivability. If you are quite enjoying the absorb proc, you could always part it out and drop it on top of more traditional slotting as well. It is worth noting that with persistent knockdowns, you're good to go against anything that can actually be knocked down. Those targets that can't be (AVs, GMs etc) are going to allow you more resist stacking in your MoT proc as you cycle single target attacks.

Hilariously, I think slotting in in Stamina can stun you - at least it used to. Even if they fixed that, there is no point to slotting in in Stamina. : ) Indeed they would proc for stuns, though it's not very worthwhile as the stun is extremely short duration. Unless you are just doing it for the sillies or theme, I would invest my slots elsewhere.

That is correct! The difference is exactly that, and appears to be working as intended. Note the smaller value attributed to stealth is not suppressed. 6.75 is suppressed in combat however.

Super weird! Do you have a screenshot of your Combat Attributes before and after this is in effect? I have not experienced it on my Gravity characters before.

Worth noting: Touch of Fear's -tohit and fear component are single target only. This also means that -tohit and fear procs only affect a single target, so be sure to use melee aoe damage procs when slotting it out.

They have savage leap, which is basically feral charge but better, with longer cooldown. I agree that hemo needs love though.

Glad you're enjoying Ice! I'm right there with you - Ice seemed unimpressive on paper, but actually builds really well these days. I'm not sure that it really needs much if it ever gets a pass. A few observations on your build: Seismic Smash is an amazing attack. It is a pretty big waste to slot it as a hold. It might be the single hardest-hitting tanker attack other than maybe Energy Transfer when properly slotted. You are overcapped pretty well on recharge resist - don't need to lean so much on winter sets. Could at least remove the Winter's Gift from your travel power. You are really invested in the Earth epic pool, with several powers that aren't so great. They are certainly usable, and if thematically important, go for it! However, you would be more powerful overall investing into things like Hasten, Hibernate (actually a really nice power), Sorcery to grab Rune, or other epics. I would worry less about stacking pad beyond softcap for your typed defenses, and more about shoring up resists and making your attacks worthwhile. As it stands, you are going to hit like a wet noodle. /Stone really benefits from at least a few procs, and FFback somewhere in there keeps you rolling. Slotting your defense powers a bit more traditionally will get the important defenses online just fine all by itself. There's not a huge need to shore up F/C defense or resist. Most flagged with these types will include smashing damage as well. You sacrifice too much trying to get there. Resilient Alpha is not really giving you good returns, as it only affects a handful of powers that are pretty weak in resist to begin with. You're just getting a tiny bit of S/L, and a sneeze of fire resist. I would recommend going musculature radial to double up on your end tools and of course damage. Rather than breaking it down further, I'll provide my recent Ice/Stone build for context. There is of course no perfect way to build, but perhaps you will find some useful bits to pull for your own purposes! Highlights of my build: Higher defense values except F/C. Similar resists, with beefier Tox/Psi. Much higher damage in attacks, with a clean attack chain further accelerated by FFback and Hasten. Stone fists only really used at low levels. One thing you might not like - I did skip a travel power. Physical perfection isn't really needed, and could easily swap in Super Jump or whatever. Playstyle notes: With the FFback procs and other global recharge+hasten going, you can basically chain Fault+Tremor back to back with no gap. You won't have the bursty aoe of other combos, but everything stays flat on the ground (no matter what damage types!), and you will wear them down at a moderate pace. Single target damage is very strong - this isn't so much wearing them down as smashing them to dust. : ) Energy Absorption stacks from multiple casts! With recharge rolling high, you can get moderate double-stacking going. Even single-stacked, it really pumps your totals. Think of Hibernate as your panic button, your second heal, and your debuff cleanser. It is super flexible, and really brings together the strengths of the set. You won't use it often, but will really appreciate it in certain content. Things I haven't explored: This build holds up well to the /Stone changes, but doesn't account for the fact that Fault now has a small damage cone. I actually still like my current slotting for ease of use and mitigation, but there might be some argument to treat it as a real attack. Currently, I can throw it out without care and it adds a bit of aoe damage to my rotation, gives me breathing room, and accelerates tremor for quicker cycling with FFback. The Purple proc here could easily be swapped for a damage IO. If you want to be more offense-oriented, Tremor takes well to a proc slotting focus as well. It can do a lot more damage slotted this way. I was more interested in pumping global acc and recharge a bit more, as well as a healthy bite of exotic resists. Note that EA is actually really easy to spam without taking up too much of your animation time, and worth throwing out on cooldown in most instances. This means you can easily afford to run something like Focused Accuracy, which I have here. This gives me more flexibility in attack slotting as well. Build:

It is the king of suck sets mountain! Anybody? It's a good show.

It's a pretty decent one slot wonder if you really need the extra end support and other options aren't appealing. However it is fiddly to use. The main issue is that you can't create a macro that only targets boss or Lt corpses, so you have to manually target to make it worthwhile. If it hits a minion it is useless. I have tried it a few times and it worked, but always end up respeccing out. As far as the effect goes on LTs or Bosses, it's very strong. I used it on my Demon/Dark MM who has tons of toggles and expensive attacks with no special end tools. Popping VR on LT or Boss allowed me to spam attacks/other powers to my heart's content, and MM attacks are intentionally overpriced on end usage.

I love my Nature/Ice! I have colored Ice blasts to look like dirt or spores, so the theme works pretty well too. Below is the build. I haven't revisited it in a while, so likely some further optimizations possible. Most prominently, it doesn't include the new Ice Mistral slow damage proc. This would be ideal to drop into blasts where possible.

I did want to thank you - this provided just the boost I needed to revisit my old rusty Rad/WM Tanker. : ) I reoptimized her with a very similar slotting strategy, and lo and behold she is beastly! Seriously - this build does not miss the extra end support IOs even a little bit. Spam to your heart's content. Obviously /WM is different than DM, but a surprising amount of the damage comes from Rad/ itself. Procced out Ground Zero and Rad Therapy provide more aoe damage than most Tanker secondaries all by themselves.

A person of great culture, I see!

Join the Mids Discord first - link in this thread: Go to the manual updates channel, download the zip, replace the Data folder in your mids install with this new one.

Here we go! I put together a build to illustrate my own personal approach. A few highlights: Resists are not quite as high overall as yours, but very little wastage through overcap, and S/L is "close enough" with one ATO proc - will be overcapped with multiple. Still respectable melee def at 37.7. One small luck brings you softcap. I don't bother chasing softcap too hard on resist sets, as you will cascade pretty quickly against debuffers, and even a moderate amount to layer with your resists, heal, and absorb is plenty for survival otherwise. All of the attacks do much, much more damage with the proc strategy - even your heal does ~300 aoe damage on a decent cooldown while still healing nicely. Complete immunity to slows. Note that even removing all extra end support, you still have 3.24 rec - plenty to sustain. Despite my earlier comment, I did end up placing several of the uniques later in the build in order to save slots. Comments on how I would play: Smite basically replaces Shadow punch entirely in play. You might use Shadow punch when hasten is down (not long downtime on hasten), or of course exemplaring. Keep Smite rotating to stack those ATO procs. Don't forget to pop particle shielding on cooldown to maintain recovery. Gaussian proc in Soul Drain is very lovely. More damage! Meltdown is actually useful here on occasion. Use it as a damage buff, or if you are facing tough content pop it before going in. It will give your ATO proc time to stack and then you'll hold steady even when it drops. I'm sure there is further potential optimization, but this is where I would start on my own Tanker. The build: Alternate version that doubles down on Psi resist, but takes a recharge hit:

Love the spirit of sharing here JJ, but would prefer not to see this cross posted on every single AT forum. Keep up the great work in your thread! Build collaboration is great fun.

Definitely check out the mids manual update in their Discord! A decent amount has changed in the intervening time. A few observations on the build: Resists are looking really nice across the board, and melee softcap is a worthy goal here! However, since you are pretty overcapped on S/L, you have a few optimizations that may help. You aren't really benefitting as much from a full 6 slot ATO given your high S/L resist. Cut the Might of the Tanker set down to a 4 slot and drop procs in the other two slots to maximize damage. Do keep the Might ATO proc of course. Swap the slotting for Smite and Shadow Punch. Smite is the better attack, and ToD will provide more optimal damage. Consider dropping damage procs in Rad Therapy - it takes them very well, and requires basically zero accuracy. This will supplement /Dark's okayish aoe. I realize there may not be much in the way of low-hanging slots to move here. I would personally pull a few of the Impervium +res to slot in, as the damage benefit is pretty significant. I don't see any slotting on Touch of Fear. This is a great aoe power. I would heavily proc it, as base damage is lowish but it takes a lot of procs. Make sure to use melee aoe procs rather than -tohit or fear, as the latter two only affect the single target aspect. Consider adding a sixth slot here. Winter's gift slow resist in Super Jump is a good idea - will basically max your slow resist. I'd drop the achilles set from Beta decay. The proc goes off to unreliably in an aoe toggle. Instead, use it as a one slot wonder with an Enzyme Exposure HO. This will save you a slot to use elsewhere as well. Rad/ can get away with a bit looser End support. If you want to siphon slots, numina unique or even miracle could probably go without being hugely missed. If exemping is a thing for you, consider grabbing Combat Jumping earlier in the build both for the utility of movement and also muling out +res uniques earlier. I would personally swap positions with Taunt. Finding an extra slot for Hasten and +5ing both would be great for your attack rotations. The extra slot in maneuvers is also providing only marginal benefit - easy one to grab and move. Honestly it's a solid build all around! There are definitely areas to optimize, but a good foundation for sure. There is no perfect answer to how to build this, but if it were me going from the ground up, I would probably drop melee softcap as a goal, and pursue more optimal attack slotting by comboing HOs, winter sets, Purples, and damage procs in the best powers. Siphon Life in particular would benefit from this treatment, and could do way more damage in a proc-oriented build. Ground Zero is another prime power for swapping to a frankenslotting/proc maximization focus, as it will do literally twice the damage or more. If I get time later, I'll put together an example of what I would do in such a combo.

Thank you kindly, Sovera! There are certainly many ways to approach priorities here. May I ask broadly where you might focus differently if you started ground-up on this combo? I don't feel like I really sacrificed anything by adding the Psi resists. I'm not really sure what else those slots would go towards, as my attacks are maxed out, and sets are mostly focused on offensive potential/procs. I feel like the only big fundamental change that might be worth pursuit in other universes would be more of an overall global recharge focus for ideal rotations. This build does just sort of pick them up where convenient.

I've had a chance to get this build to the 30's and am really enjoying it! Haven't hit any situations yet that I really felt Rune might be preferred, though I haven't even had a chance to play with Powder of course. Defenses are holding up well with the very nice heal to back them up. The first true test here will be once I run an ITF - I doubt it will hold up well against the inevitable cascade there. I don't intend to make this character an ITF soloist though, so no worries. Meanwhile I keep chewing on the primary build further and have added several optimizations. Very pleased so far!

It's not so bad if you consider the opportunity cost. Having it on demand in aim is preferred by many folks simply so you can use it solo and guarantee it's up for your nuke or aoe combo. MMs do get mileage out of it, but base damage on their attacks is terrible, so it isn't exactly blasting them to the moon. It's just a nice bonus if you are focusing on your attacks. I still put it in build up or aim on most of my builds. I would consider it in tactics if my intention was only to team with a given character.

Apologies if I was unclear - the proc is affecting you, not your mates. Gaussian in tactics has a chance to grant you the proc for every single entity affected by tactics. In this case. A larger team would indeed increase proc chance. The key difference here is that tactics affects your team, where targeting drone does not.

Think of it more as a deferred payment than a crash. 😉

@BurtHuttis correct. Tactics allows gaussian to tick for every entity affected by it, even pets. On a team, it has huge uptime for the proc, all without having to waste animation time. On my mastermind, I have roughly 40 percent uptime on the proc with just my pets alone affected by tactics.

It's better on some ATs than others. Defenders and controllers have especially good modifiers for it. On any AT, it's pretty strong if everyone is taking it for full team stacks. Taken on its own, it's not so hot. It can be an okay one slot wonder if your other choices require more investment, but typically tactics is a better pick. Maybe you'd choose both if you have many free picks.