Onlyasandwich

I might amend one further weakness of my build - it's sort of expensive. To really round out the incarnate softcap totals, almost everything defense related is plussed out with boosters. Two purple sets, both ATO sets, and one winter set aren't the worst bank breakers, but it is definitely not a bargain build. That said, influence buys you out of some compromises shield may have to make without!

I think other powers are a priority. Grant cover is primary there for more ddr, a lotg mule slot, and some slow resist. You will protect your team best by being a good tank. Any buffs you provide them via auras are somewhat incidental. 15 ft radius is good for an attack. It is pretty much beans for an aura. Leadership powers are 60 ft for comparison. It helps add a little layer for melee blasters who stand near you, but it's nothing to build around

Certainly! What this build focuses on: - Chasing high base S/L resist. At 83 without an ATO proc. Capped with one ATO proc. - Incarnate softcap to all positions - +recharge and procs where I can find space - Recharge is pretty strong at 67.5 before Hasten. Where it may lack compared to others you see out there: - Mostly a few extra procs in some key damage powers. Savage Leap, Shred, and Rending Fury especially are often juiced with more procs. - You could definitely drop my smash/lethal resist mission entirely and just accept whatever naturally occurs in your build, focusing instead on maximum proc damage. Easy Flex slots: - The extra slot in active defense. I like it for double stacking the DDR value. - Could probably pull numina proc and be fine. - If you don't care about Kismet +acc, you could condense some slotting in Deflection. I find it makes a big difference on builds without tactics. I've toyed with the idea of dropping shred for maiming slash. This would improve ST damage a little, but at the cost of a relatively seamless aoe attack chain. One of the true joys of this build is its ability to just chain shred, rending flurry, and savage leap all day with the occasional shield charge nuke. Note that this is a build for someone who likes flying melee. I find hover combat ideal for positioning on a tank, and it makes lining up cones a dream (just hover over the spawn and sploot). The triple muling of flight pool powers here means if you switched travel pools you'd have to fiddle around a bit to get back to ranged and aoe softcap. - Another neat hover trick - hover straight up and savage leap down for max distance/damage/blood frenzy. Also feels cool - murder diving! This is the perfect combo if you want to make some sort of rabid aerial dolphin. - If you've never tried Afterburner, bind it to an easy key and give it a shot! It makes flight feel so much better for travel, and could even be a decent poor man's intangible if you ever need to reset a pile of debuffs. Incarnates: Musculature radial for sure. I'd recommend Rebirth Core for your Destiny. There is some argument for Ageless radial to totally cap your DDR and allow more spammability when needed.

I've seen others mention this. I wouldn't say it's a huge end hog. You do have one extra toggle you want to run (grant cover), but otherwise it matches up fairly evenly on end consumption to other armors. It just doesn't have a proactive tool to help end management. I don't have any crazy slotting and have no issues. Modest endredux in my powers, one extra slot in stamina, health uniques are present. I feel no need to grab ageless for end. I can spam all I want most of the time, though may have to look a little at my blue bar if I'm on an incarnate team that requires me to leave weave and maneuvers on for softcap. No need for these in non incarnate content.

I just built and hit 50 on my shield savage and am loving it. Check out the savage alpha slot thread below for mine and a few other builds. This combo has amazing aoe and unmatched mobility with its two teleport attacks. Savage leap is good both aoe and st as well. It lacks a little in st damage, as you only have one higher tier heavy hitter in vicious slash. Hemorrhage just isn't very good. Shield helps make up some of this with the damage buff aura.

This is an outstanding suggestion!

I would still love to have a more intermediate recharge single target attack to put Might in. Hemorrhage would be perfect in terms of recharge/base damage if it didn't kinda stink. The aoe nature of Shred makes it tougher to proc when you don't have a crowd. What do you think Hemorrhage needs to work? Shortened DoT, faster animation? It's sad, because I like the unique approach of a heavy DoT. It just doesn't fit in with modern CoH gameplay. I wouldn't want to rely on melee core for my resistances - partially because it's only up half the time, and also because all of the other facets (mez protection and defense) are wasted. Not taking Assault Hybrid is a much larger opportunity cost in my book. I did use some of your slotting advice and maxed out avalanche in order to give savage leap room for the fury -res proc. Strict damage numbers go down a modest amount on leap, but I think both my ST and AoE damage will benefit overall.

For what it's worth, I've been playing with shred and will be keeping it for sure. It is a nice little cone! I don't think it is the absolute optimal st option, but will help me clear spawns faster overall, and give me some actual aoe when exemping.

That's great! I am happy to be wrong if this is the case. I wonder if this holds true for every psuedopet aoe.

It affects any aoes. I believe it is an actual buff,so won't affect psuedopet powers like shield charge.

Very good point on the shield charge dam proc - that isn't doing a whole lot given how often its used. If I keep it closer to my current build that could give me a few extra slots to play around with, shunting one for another aoe mule in a travel power, and sucking all but a couple ribos from tough. Thank you for the build! Your slotting here will inform some further iteration. Overall, it is a significant sacrifice to S/L resist though ( going from 83 to 65 with no ATO procs - I do like giving the ATO proc room to provide benefit, but want to be close to 90 with only 1 proc for S/L. Other resistances I'm okay playing catchup by stacking). The pursuit of strong S/L resist is what guided a lot of my choices in this first build. If I'm actually using maiming slash, it will easily double or triple stack the ato proc. If maiming slash is trash, that is obviously not the best way to achieve stacking. I really like the idea of switching the fury proc into SL, as it will generally be the first attack in, and finding a better home for the purple damage proc in Rending Flurry. How much does blood frenzy end up buffing Shred? I don't see this info in mids to compare. As it is, Maiming Slash has literally twice the DPA if I'm looking only at ST utility. I know Shred is a solid cone of course - do you find yourself relying on it to clear crowds, or do SL and RF pull most of the weight? I like to focus on optimizing my ST chain on Tankers, as my strongest aoes will tend to knock down the trash pretty quickly as I throw them in while focusing down harder targets.

Thank you for the perspective! I'll definitely pick up shred as I'm levelling to get a feel for it and potentially modify to switch it in. Do you pay much attention to when and with what you cash out your blood, or do you just go for the attacks as you like? Is shred a part of your ideal st chain when focused on a hard target? The tough slotting is for the set bonuses, most importantly the aoe defense. In previous iterations I had leaner slotting there and used ribos, but this ended up being more efficient given my goals. All of my defensive values are fully enhanced on powers, every unique I want is in the build, and every attack is fully slotted, so there aren't a lot of interesting targets if I siphon slots. The full ato sets are strong in pursuit of sl resist. Usually I do cut them up for the procs as you suggest, but shield has a little more room to reach resist cap than some other primaries.

I built for ranged defense on my rad/sonic, though I do have healthy melee. I have choking cloud fully slotted with the lockdown set. The proc goes off quite often, and it doesn't take long for lts and bosses to be held. Even without stacking, it is valuable for me to instantly be able to neutralize minions in melee without them running about. Ranged softcap handles the rest I also have a procced out hold to instantly guarantee an important boss is held while I burn him down. It helps that holds have some really awesome set bonuses!

I used to poopoo on choking cloud as well, but the last rad/sonic thread with beradical got me to really try it. If you give it slotting love, it's pretty wonderful. Takes no animation time, so quick contribution in fast teams. Handles all those minions in melee automatically, and stacks to hold a lot of lts and bosses too. Just show up to do all of your other rad stuff and it keeps on chugging.

You're welcome! It got me interested in making a Shield tanker. While I do love WM, I've played it a lot - I put together a fun Shield/Savage Melee that is looking pretty good. I hope you have a great time with the sets!

I was inspired by the build I put together in the Shield/War Mace thread. I wanted to play it, but have played a lot of War Mace and wanted to try something new. Savage melee seemed like a fun fit. My build has a little less recharge than OP, but is incarnate softcapped to all positional defense, and has a modest improvement in S/L resist as well. I prefer ATO sets to go in attacks I will use where the procs actually matter. Large crowds tend to melt quickly, so I find them much more effective in attacks that live in my ST chain, as hard single targets are where they will really matter. You have to work with the sets available for the attacks you have, though! Sometimes you can't balance everything perfectly. I based my build on the shield/WM I put together, but am still inexperienced with Savage Melee. I understand Hemorrhage is not very good on tanks, and I've seen plenty of mixed opinions on Shred. Maiming slash serves my slotting priorities better anyhow. I don't really have a feel for how the flow of blood frenzy will affect my attack chain yet. Note that this is not a very good build for someone who doesn't have flying as a part of their concept! Edit: Switched the slotting of savage leap and shield charge to better take advantage of SL's procability. Second Edit: Managed to remove the kick muling and put those slots elsewhere while still retaining incarnate softcap. I'd love to understand more about in-combat effectiveness or any tips and tricks regarding Savage Melee. It's disappointing to see how sad Hemorrhage makes people - I'd love to have a third chunky ST attack. Savage Leap looks like it will more than make up for it in fun and damage though!

Here we go! Fully enhanced and ready to go. Only sacrificed ~5 global recharge, a little F/C resist, and the fury proc in whirling mace. As a trade-off, whirling actually does a little more damage now. I think it's pretty fair. Now we're up to 81.57 S/L resist with only 1 ATO proc, and still at softcap incarnate for all positions. OoTS is still there to smooth over any predictable alphas while you build up more ATO procs. You could always pull the 7.5 hp IO from tough and drop the fury proc back in, but it's nice to have the extra HP. Edit: Egg on my face! Incarnate softcap is obviously 59, not 56. I don't know how I got this flipped in my head. It may be worth going barrier on this build to bridge the gap. Alternatively, you could just count on some number of teammates having minor defensive buffs when running this kind of content. Honestly you'll probably end up at like 80 on most teams at this level. Agility Alpha would get you there, but I don't think it's worth it to lose the damage. You'll be fine! Futher Edit!: I messed around some more, and brought S/L resist up past 80 without an ATO proc! ATO procs will cap you super easily. I also worked in Kismet, which will be super handy against +4's or incarnate shifted enemies. This is reflected in the S/L focused build below. Note that I did sacrifice Numina unique and 7.5 unbreakable unique. Looking at end consumption it should still be fine, and I think it's a fair trade to get stronger base S/L for consistency. Also adding a new build below this that is a little more gung-ho about S/L resist. S/L focused build:

I looked at the totals in mids, and the ~6% gain in S/L is not a bad trade for missing incarnate cap a little on ranged. Sort of a coin flip in my book. I prefer a clean softcapped baseline. I would probably pull the endmod slot from stamina instead, possibly along with the numina unique to drop a Ribosome or two into deflection. This would depend on your feel for the end consumption of the build once you roll with it for a while. You could definitely chase more sl resist than I have here, but you'll end up with a lot of redundant melee defense and noticably less damage. Even without the ato proc rolling, you'd be hard pressed to find a situation that stresses your protection outside of maybe tanking lord recluse. For recluse, I'd just pop a few inspirations until the ato has stacked. That said, maybe there are some minor offensive compromises that could net us another 6 to 10 sl resist. This might be worth it.

This set is needed for incarnate softcap on ranged defense. I wouldn't recommend sacrificing that for a little sl. Ato procs will bring you to or close enough to 90, although there may be some slot jiggering I could do to find a free one or two to drop some resist into deflection.

I felt inspired and put together a build. This is incarnate softcap for ranged/melee/aoe, and still achieves high values for other resists across the board, especially when you hit OoTS. The weaker psi resist will be covered very well by your positional defense. Bash is muled - you can safely take it off your action bar except when exemping. Note the extra slot in Active Defense. This is so you can keep it double stacked almost all the time - especially important when facing defense debuffers, as you double up on the DDR. I love hover melee combat myself - not everyone does. It's great for positioning melee cones ideally, as you can hover just above and aim down while still in melee range. That extra bit of easy free defense really helps push the defense totals - I wouldn't recommend running without one of this or Combat Jumping. Flight pool serves our purposes very well here with three powers to mule positional defense bonuses. Afterburner also makes flight a dream for travel - try it if you haven't! This build is not even remotely end hungry. You really shouldn't need Energy mastery to help, and your accuracy is great with strong global bonuses on top. Shatter is a solid part of both your ST and AOE attack chain. This makes it a great spot for the other ATO set, so you have good up time on the absorb proc in a variety of scenarios. Note that all of your attacks here will do way more damage now that they are properly procced. You don't have to go all proc monster, but it is worth carefully considering where your most powerful procs will go and ensuring they make an impact. This includes the ATO procs as well. One excellent facet of War Mace is that is doesn't need an epic aoe at all. It has a full chain in whirling >crowd control >shatter, though shatter requires a little positioning. It's part of the charm. I recommend Musculature Radial for your Alpha. You can pick any Destiny that suits your taste. Rebirth is the only one that adds much to the build, giving you an active heal to pop.

It looks like you're going for a heavily resist focused build, while relying on Shield for the defense layer. You have a healthy does of +recharge in the midst as well. A few things I'd change upon first evaluation: You are missing the Steadfast defense IO! Get that sucker in there. You are still shy of softcap for ranged/aoe, and this will put you there. You may be happier in end-game content if you focused your slotting and power choices on pursuing the 56 defense incarnate softcap instead of the spread of resists you have achieved. Remember that you have built-in scaling damage resist that will kick in and help make up the difference. Don't forget the Shield Wall +Res IO and Reactive Def scaling +Res! These are both stronger and way more slot-efficient than other res bonuses you have. Jawbreaker is an excellent attack, and a pretty important part of your ST chain on WM. I would drop Pulverize in favor of it. I like to Slot the might of the tanker set here, as it gets a lot of use in the scenarios where the proc is most important, namely AV fights, where you will be able to reliably triple stack the proc. I'd either drop the second slot from build-up or replace it with a recharge. The tohit buff gaussian's and the set bonus aren't really doing anything for you here. Phalanx fighting is crazy overslotted to no great benefit. It's a great one slot wonder with a plussed out lotg. Only the per ally part is increased by enhancements, and you will seldom have allies close enough (this is radius 8, basically the range of your standard melee swings). Grant cover doesn't really need an extra slot. It's purpose is mainly existing for a lotg slot and adding DDR. If you choose to keep focused accuracy, I see no need to give it slots. It's primary use will be to help resist tohit debuffs. The base value you are enhancing is super low, and you aren't achieving any good set bonuses. Physical perfection has an endmod/acc in it. I wouldn't even bother with the extra slot (base value fairly low - biggest use is a spot for the perf shifter proc), but make it a straight endmod if you keep it. I hope this helps! If I get around to making a build, I'll definitely share. Take a look at some other shield and mace builds here on the tanker forums for comparison.

Can't go wrong!

It's a tanker in my book, mostly for the higher target cap. Poor brutes only have whirling mace to hit the whole crowd, while your crowd control knocks the whole spawn on its now very bruised rear.

My opinion on this. 100% silly to skip: - Accelerate Metabolism - Enervating Field - Lingering Radiation Really nice and I would suggest taking: - Radiant Aura - Radiation Infection (less useful high levels, godsend lower) - Choking Cloud (requires slotting love to shine) - EM Pulse (others rate this lower - I like it as a back pocket whoopsie everything is held now power - also basilisk's gaze is primo slot value) Still good, but easily skipped: - Mutation - it's a pretty good rez! Why do you need a Rez? - Fallout - This is absurdly powerful, but a little awkward/situational to use. Can be really fun and hilarious.

Cold is definitely an excellent Primary for this. My personal choice is Rad/sonic, and my build can be found in the thread Bastille Boy linked. - Cold offers a modest amount more resistance debuffing, a stronger but less consistent end tool, and a more convenient/animation friendly defensive option than Rad (I'm comparing RI to shields here). - Rad has a heal, strong -regen, recharge, and some other sundry tools in exchange. I actually really like choking cloud and EMP myself. Both are mighty fine options! Even if you go cold, the rad/sonic thread above has some great ideas for slotting your secondary.