Onlyasandwich

I've been playing your Rambo build and having a blast! Cryo has a rather unique and satisfying animation - very chunky, quick, and impactful. I do believe that LRM deserves about half the animation time, or maybe a shorter recharge at least, but it's great fun to throw out when it's up. As you say, sometimes it's more about embracing the theme and making the most of it with the tools available. I hope AR gets a little love some day, but this build is at the very least a very fun iteration of what is possible currently.

I am not aware of any "buff" style proc that will activate on your target. I believe panacea +hp/end, performance shifter, and other +hp or +end procs will affect your target, but not any procs that confer a direct stat benefit.

You have some great starting points, here! Rad is a classic solo defender favorite. Has every tool you could want in a defender tied in a neat little package. Pairs well with any secondary. Kin is comparatively difficult to solo early levels, but can be built very strong late game. Poison is actually a really solid solo set, and operates well on fast teams. Storm is tremendously powerful solo, though it requires a little finesse with hurricane for strong safety. Team style is much more relaxed - you won't usually break out the cane here. Dark is a worthy contender as well. Similar to Rad in many ways, but stronger defensively with a beefier heal and strong control effects. Trick Arrow is actually really great now solo! Will be a little "tricky" (ho ho ho) until your whole kit is online though. Honestly any defender is a worthy solo warrior these days, and of course you'll be welcome on any team.

I think both approaches are fine. I agree that the set bonuses allowed by WoC make Psy epic a more balanced and perhaps optimal defensive choice. I don't find that Soul Drain affects my playstyle on Poison/DP too much. I open in melee anyhow because of HoB - just one more button to push. Power economy isn't a big problem in Poison/, as the primary isn't very demanding in this regard.

I have to agree with Nemu on this one. Even my build above, which is still a little shy of softcap S/L, is more survivable than most of my other Defenders because of its strong resists. I do see Psy epic as less valuable in /DP, as you already have a procabble hold in your secondary. The real draw here would be the set bonuses in WoC. Dark epic is really nice here given that Poison already wants to live in Melee.

I love my poison/DP! Great combo choice. My build is a little silly in the lengths to which I go to mule out S/L. You may have more success with a ranged defense focus as Nemu said. This fellow plays very smoothly and dishes out plenty of damage. Speed of Sound is a concept choice - you may be better off with combat teleport or something else entirely if you prefer.

Not a bad build, Tristan! General Impressions: Your proccing of ToF looks really strong! I'd think about putting sup gauntleted fist in blazing aura, might of the tanker in smite, and blistering cold in siphon instead. Adjust slots accordingly. Smite is the perfect power for your Might ATO proc. I'm not a total hater of slotting it in an aura for lazy times, but you will get more value out of it in a go-to ST attack. Since you have consume as well, it wouldn't be the craziest thing to drop energy mastery and grab DC. You could rotate them both for end recovery and have a free power pick. If you do this, I would very much suggest a taunt grab! You can totally tank without it, but it makes life much smoother. The -range is especially helpful for loose spawns in areas with little environment to hide behind for tight packs. In order to grab an easy melee softcap, I would consider taking that 5th UG in both of your armors and dropping it into temp protection. Eat one of the impervium psi resists as well, and you can 4 slot UB into temp protect. This brings you to melee softcap, as well as some extra E/N resist and some (less important) cold resist. Obviously you trade a good chunk of Psi resist to do so. I would consider achieving self-softcap worth this trade. A pretty big one! You are missing the reactive armor scaling IO. I'd find a slot you could live without and drop this in Combat Jumping. Rather than my temp protect scenario, another option for softcap melee: switch the fury proc from burn to soul drain. Not ideal from an applications per minute scenario in a protracted boss fight, but actually nice to have it in an opener. Fill that sixth burn slot with the final oblit, stealing from one of your UG 5th slots. To the -KB discussion above - I generally run 8 KB protect on my fire/ or dark/ tankers. It works well enough. While Jojo's stats are true, it's less about the mag of a single KB, and more about a scenario where they are stacked on you. Two council grenades and you go woosh with only 4. Dedicating a slot somewhere to make up for this is not a bad idea, though you can judge for yourself through experience. In any case, I see the logic behind your slotting overall. I think it's a strong build!

Looks like great fun, Nemu! The build itself looks well-optimized for its (rambo-oriented) goals. I do wish there were a free slot to drop one more proc in sniper rifle. If Ignite is working effectively for you ST, then that is less of an issue I guess. I think it's a really fun idea to give a character every incentive possible to use some underappreciated powers as a part of their regular battle plan. Ignite, flamethrower, and as you noted the entire munitions pool, don't get any love normally. Also, this makes me wish Defender Glue Arrow had a small damage component so I could proc it out in a similar fashion. Nice job!

Why on earth did I think this? It must be a holdover in my brain from flight/SJ being exclusive. In that case, it's a great combo for a build that has an extra power pool pick. I definitely feel you on some of the incarnate content and Shadow Shard. Your approach would work better in some of those scenarios I'm sure!

You could try consciously focusing on aim usage in a session, and see if you remember. Key binding it more conveniently might also help. Aim is always nice before a nuke, but is not strictly necessary. It you team mostly, gaussian proc in tactics has its own advantages as well.

Looks fairly solid to me, Infinitum! A note - crowd control doesn't need sudden accel. It is natively a knockdown only power. Just throw an armageddon or fury proc in there I guess. I'd also switch the sets in Jawbreaker and Shatter. You'll get good use out of the Gfist ATO proc that way. The hold proc in Blist Cold doesn't really matter here. The free slots could also go to Explosive Strike in kick for closer to cap ranged defense. I'm not totally certain on the rationale behind picking up both hover and combat jumping. It doesn't serve a lotg mule purpose, and they are exclusive to one another. I still wouldn't want to go without Taunt or Whirling myself. Even keeping with the current build, I would probably drop the energy pool in favor of a taunt pickup and one other one-slot wonder. Maybe conserve power if I felt end-hungry. With those 3 extra slots, you could even make one of those two powers whirling and do a nice 4-slot enhancement. Overall, it's a reasonable compromise build for someone who values high universal resists and easier end management over the extra damage and luxury of taunt. Personally, I find my shield tankers plenty tough (unkillably so) just focusing on S/L resist, my incarnate softcaps, and whatever other resists I pick up along the way! The ATO proc makes up for a lot of the difference in situations where other resists matter more. One somewhat related question - I don't see many folks doubling up on recharge in Active Defense as I like to do. Do you ever find yourself wanting for DDR? I find it makes a big difference to keep the AD double stack up in troublesome cascade failure territory. The extra animation tax is annoying, but it keeps me going..

This is fair enough, but I don't think they're going to make procs useless or anything. In the case of heavily leveraging a combo of dam/acc and proc only slotting on something like Gloom while pursuing global recharge, I certainly wouldn't rely on this high level performance staying forever. However, dropping an extra proc or two in even a normally slotted power is still very impactful, especially if it's a purple proc. HOs, combining sets, and heavy proc use will still be the best way to reach beyond ED and the damage cap. As long as you can still achieve your other build goals, it's all gravy.

Mu epic is a great choice! Easy first tier grab, and good resist totals. Regardless of your other attacks, Proccy Ice arrow competes even with your Snipe for DPA. I'd think hard before dropping it! Your more austere OSA slotting I think is perfectly fine. I had room for the procs, but this is a reasonable place to siphon slots. I think you'll find the heal from Bastion proc will be plenty of healing to top you off, especially with the other defender ATO pinging as well. Yes, all of your attacks can ignite OSA, and all fire or energy procs can as well. I usually find Acid arrow ignites mine most of the time. I see a few spare slots in the current mids you linked. I'd throw them at Cutting beam and lancer shot for sure. Maybe OSA procs or acc in ice arrow as well. You are missing some easy defense grabbing stealth instead of Combat jumping. Half of stealth suppresses in combat. Also, sprint stealth proc + flash arrow works for full stealth in a pinch. I don't know that the extra melee defense From UG in charged armor is getting you close to any meaningful numbers. Flash will make up well enough without. You could turn this into two ribosomes. Throw one extra ribosome into tough, and you still have an extra slot to throw wherever. I think you'll find this is definitely plenty of recharge. Only playing will tell to your taste, though!

Welcome back, Camel! My first impressions: I see you went for Scorpion shield and softcap S/L/E. This works fine, but I think the new buffs to flash arrow are a great opportunity to instead take an epic resist shield and rely on Flash arrow to make up the difference. Otherwise it's a bit of wasted potential. I would highly recommending focusing instead on procs in ice arrow. It is a beautiful ST attack when slotted this way. Without procs, it's just a slightly slow ST hold that does neat things in PvP. I would put the Sup Def Bastion in something else ideally. It works okay in OSA, but you are wasting proc potential in OSA, and the accuracy here is largely wasted as well. Personally I drop in in Disintegrate so I can make regular use of the Bastion proc. I don't think PGA really needs anything but base slot, really. This could free up some room for the 6th slot in disintegrate that would be needed for my previous suggestion. I'm guessing the missing IO in Combat Jumping is the resist scaling IO? I like your Piercing Beam slotting. Cutting Beam is a tough skip here. It's your only aoe besides your Nuke. It also has great proc potential, and is an efficient damage dealer with an easy cone. TA positions wherever it wants, so a cone should work fine. I can see why you may have chosen to skip though - the build is tight with strong power picks. The newly buffed TA powers make me want to pick them all as well! Personally, I'd drop superspeed and put the extra slot in CJ for KB protection. As for where else you may find slots - you seem to have focused heavily on recharge here. The new TA doesn't really need recharge that much, as its powers don't stack and they are up every combat anyhow (except EMP and OSA - I generally rotate these). You could probably consolidate your slots a bit on attacks if you aren't chasing these set bonuses. This is worth examining even if you don't need to mine slots for cutting beam. I would prefer a more procced out snipe a vs a recharge bonus. Overall it's actually a fairly clean build! None of these are fundamental criticisms, but simply a different way I would personally approach this combo. Here is my TA/A build for reference. A few 1:1 comparisons in the blasts, and of course the primary is the same:

With current proc mechanics, nothing really holds up when you compare it to procced out Dark Oblit. DO has crazy good DPA and fireball radius. Even so, whirling mace actually has better DPA than a lot of mid-tier pbaoes like Whirling Hands for example. Radius is ever so slightly smaller than DO on a tanker. Unless you are crazy cranking recharge at the expense of all else, you will probably want whirling mace, as it will give you another dummy-proof large aoe to chain while DO and CC are on cooldown. One thing I really like about mace is that it has less incentive to go into soul mastery for gloom and DO, as it has a great ST and AOE chain without these additions. Granted, a build purely focused on the best offense possible and nothing else will always have Gloom and DO as it currently stands.

I really do like the approach! My blind spot is my devotion to assault hybrid. If I have an undemanding primary, grabbing RoP and rotating melee hybrid or maybe demonic as you say is a very viable alternative, and gives a broader base of more predictable protection, while saving Destiny for something besides clarion. I can definitely see how this would be similar to Bio. Medium defenses, clicky absorb and heals, and a solid dose of regen with strong resists.

A second for this! DM works really well for the melee-centric nature of poison, and the stacking stuns are useful as well. DreadShinobi's build here gives you an easy life throwing aoe/pbaoes right in melee, buffing yourself to the gills in relative safety.

My pleasure! War Mace is one of the few Tanker secondaries where I recommend taking almost every single power. Bash - You have to take it. It will go off the bar and never be used. I guess you use it when exemplaring. I give this one Werther's original. Pulverize - No reason to take it! It's okay, like most Tanker Tier 2's, but not worth a power pick. I give this three salted cashews. Jawbreaker - Your ST chain won't be the same without it! Punchy, and the perfect base recharge for procs, with a reliable CC component. I give this ten Werther's originals. Taunt - It's Taunt! I always take taunt. Do you? I give this fourteen free months of HBO Max. Build Up - It's Build Up! I always take Build Up. Do you? I give this fifteen free months of Hulu Premium. Whirling Mace - It's your large, easy to use, but lower damage pbaoe! Of course you want this, even though it's not crazy impressive. I give this two hardboiled eggs with a little salt - the perfect easy breakfast. Clobber - This is super hard-hitting, fast activating, with an excellent cc effect. If you aren't here to crack skulls, you've picked the wrong secondary. I give this five Conan O'Brien's new haircuts. Shatter - It works well as a ST attack, it has a healthy cone, it's fun to use! Shatter is always by your side, ready to fill in the gaps for anything else on recharge, and do a great job of it. I give this seventy-two lazy sea lions. Relaxing just to look at, and terrifying in action. Crowd Control - Why are you picking WM if you don't have this attack! It may be the best tanker aoe period. It gives Footstomp a run for its money in my book. It hits the entire side of the bus, it hits hard, and it knocks all the children down. I give this one Helena Bonham Carter.

Always interesting to see a new take! No crowd control or jawbreaker though? This is a strange world you enter indeed!

I do love speed of sound! Jaunt was my first love, but I think I may yet marry Combat Teleport. Instaporting is truly game-changing on a melee character. I personally don't even slot the stealth IO on sprint in my tankers. Sometimes I leave sprint on in battle for kicks, and I don't want it to interfere. Also, who needs to stealth when you have this nifty shield? I just hide behind it while I click the glowie. : ) Flight is a very personal decision to me. If it is part of the character concept, I have to take it. I enjoy playing flying concept characters both to fulfill the specific concept and because flying melee is fun times. I wouldn't enjoy fighting with a jetpack by comparison though - the air control and smooth ride of hover is much nicer, not to mention kinder on endurance.

My favorite tanker ever is whichever one I just made an exciting build for and locked in a fun concept/character name. My least favorite tanker is always the one I finished leveling and IOing out last the previous week. That being said, I love all of my tankers! Time for a new alt...

I maxed out my shield/savage tanker recently, and can give you my impression from that perspective. Granted, shield is boosting the savage damage as well. SM on a Tanker still has outstanding aoe. You can chain Shred/leap/Rending flurry all day smoothly, and clear the trash very nicely. ST damage I'd say is on the weaker end of the spectrum for tankers. Vicious Slash is strong, especially with a few good procs thrown in, and Savage Leap actually does nicely ST as well. Unfortunately, you don't have a strong third heavy hitter like many sets do, because Hemorrhage is kinda sucky. My ST is Savage Strike/Vicious Slash/Savage leap, and it's not totally seamless. I have to throw in shred for filler here and there. You could do better if you picked up Maiming Slash, and/or more importantly procced out Gloom if it fits in your build. That being said, tanker base damage values are pretty strong these days. I don't have to grind on a boss all day - they go down okay. It's just that my /WM, /EM, , /SS, and /IM all have a better time knocking down the bigger foes.

Thanks Linea! I do like the RoP pickup for mez protection, but find less value than normal in this, given the strong resists built into nature. It does bring you into pretty universally high numbers across the board though - worth considering! It is sort of hilarious to see a Defender with max resists to everything under only their own buffs. Perhaps there is something to be said for thumbing my nose at a bucketload of redundant S/L resist. It looks like you doubled down on resists rather than pursuing any sort of defense totals, and got some nice damage buffing tools from Dark epic in the trade as well. Not a bad approach! How safe do you feel soloing on this when RoP is down? It looks like you might need to rely on Spore cloud for solo work to live with safety - is this the case, or do you find the other tools sufficient?

Looks pretty solid all around! No major nitpicks here. Some notes: Might be worth splitting arctic fog into resist slotting as well? I know you've capped energy resist (almost) and the set bonuses are nice. I see you likely slotted it this way chasing recharge, which is not a bad idea to maximize fire's ST chain. Reactive armor sets might be better consolidated into a couple Ribos each. The bonuses don't look like they're helping you hit important softcaps or other goals. You could take these extra slots and proc out Infrigidate more perhaps? Maybe sprinkle some other procs around for incidental damage. I might recommend a Preventative medicine proc in health. You can pull the purple proc from blazing bolt, give it to Blaze, which otherwise lacks the ability to slot another damage proc. You can swap the purple for the javelin toxic proc in bolt. One tack to consider: You could take these extra slots from Riboing the armors and mule out fly and hover for zephyr ranged defense. This would allow you to drop ragnarok 5 slot in Rain of fire and still keep softcap ranged, along with even more recharge. You'd even have one slot extra to play with - maybe drop a proc in RoF, maybe keep the 6 purple slot for the bonus - whatever.

Cold/AR may be just be ticket for me! I definitely get that some people enjoy those single target stuns. I might like it more if you had something with which to stack it, or if it did usable damage all by itself. One problem I see with AR is that its ST damage is pretty anemic, and highly resisted. The only big punch you have is your sniper. The way around that is proc damage. My guess is that this build would take forever and a day to take down a single Warwolf boss, for example. Your aoe is more versatile, and you would be fine in teams I imagine. I can understand why you might not prefer procs in aoes, given the less consistent application. The procs would definitely be much more damage if you choose to try them some time! As for Dark's endurance tool - it is on a long enough cooldown that it is hard to rely on as a part of regular endurance needs. It is at best an occasional topper. I use it on some of my defenders that love melee, but it's more of a bonus than anything important. I don't know that I would suggest dropping hasten. As you noted, there aren't a ton of really attractive and easy pickups. If you did drop any powers, the low-hanging fruit for a one-slot wonder would be tactics or assault, or maybe a real travel power. Travel powers have a nice two slot mule for ranged defense as well in Zephyr. What you could do is focus your slotting more on ranged defense instead of heavy recharge. You could get to ranged softcap pretty readily if you tried. This doesn't mean you ignore recharge entirely - just pick it up where it happens. I usually start by piling on every possible bit of ranged defense I can find, check my total, and then see where I am happiest to shave off/reoptimize towards recharge or something else.