Favorite Tank for non tanks

[Chalkarts]

What is your favorite tank?

 

Not your favorite tank to play, your favorite tank to have.

If, as a non tank of any type, you arrive to a party for a run of any sort, what kind of tank do you want to see waiting for you?  What tank gives you, the healers, controllers, and blaster types, the warm and fuzzies?

 

What tank do you feel will keep the party moving and safest?

 

Any archetype, not just Tankers, if a Brute is better, or even a specific Scranker build, let me know.

[MunkiLord]

Honestly, I don't have a favorite. So long as the tank isn't attempting to dictate the pace to everyone else on the team, I don't care. I don't even look at teammates powersets.

[Spotlore]

As a blaster main, I have felt the safest with a Rock tank.  They can't run for shit, but they tend to get teleport.  But I imagine I feel safe cuz the rock tanks abilities are very visual compared to the other tank types.  Not because of ability.  Although they seem to be very effective if played well.   

[Heraclea]

On a squishy I am a bit more nervous if the tank or brute is fire/spines.  They may not know what they're up against outside their tailored content.  They may also be quite good - that's an excellent combo for holding aggro - and by the first couple spawns you will know.  So, anything other than that. 

[Ravenprince]

Invuln/Stone - Can take the alpha better than any tank except a Stone Tank in Granite.  No movement penalty.  And can aoe disorient most of the enemies every group.  Missing a quick recharging heal, so Dark or Fire depending on the group makeup.

[Without_Pause]

A tank who can control melee and mobs in general.

Edited September 23, 2019 by Without_Pause

[Apparition]

I like my Dual Pistols/Temporal Manipulation Blaster for tanking.

[Yomo Kimyata]

Whoever wants to take aggro point.

[Leogunner]

Dominator, preferably one with a means of keeping foes from moving and some added debuffing.

 

Earth is a good one for -def and lots of AoE control.

Elec can cancel mobs with drains.

Neo-Fire with the Knockback-to-KD proc is great for softening mobs up. 

[ScrewlooseCohh]

 

The most important factor is behind the keyboard.

 

By his Acts will you know the quality Tank.

 

Confidently into the next spawn.  Taunting any stragglers or outliers.

 

Able to gather a spawn so that they can be efficiently AE'ed, by using line of sight or engaging mobs so they sue their melee attacks.

 

Tolerant of knock back and mobs being immobilised away in odd corners.

 

Not too greedy of the aggro, your teammates should be able to handle one or two minions no matter their AT.

 

Able to gauge the tempo that their team can handle and engaging new spawns at the appropriate time.

 

AT and powerset are less important than how your Tank acts.

 

regards, Screwloose.

"I am not young enough to know everything."

[boggo2300]

WP/Fire tank!

[MetaVileTerror]

Masterminds!

No joke.  I've seen some very talented Masterminds aggro and tank through some truly staggering odds.

[Papaschtroumpf]

Any tank that doesn't try to tell the rest of us how to play, that he has to chase, of that we immob too early, if that he died because we knocked some mobs away. All those things happen, deal with it. That being said, except for a few exceptions, I'm just fine with no tank. My corruptor's, kheldians, brutes and other controllers seem to be doing fine at x8+4 Solo or teamed.

Tanks that taunt to grab aggro from a specific mob in addition to their aura are usually a sign of a better tank.

[DR_Mechano]

Well personally, being british, I'm a fan of the Challenger II, though I must admit I always did like the style of the M49 Patton and Sherman Jumbo...

 

...ah..not that sort of tank...

[Jeuraud]

1 hour ago, DR_Mechano said:

Well personally, being british, I'm a fan of the Challenger II, though I must admit I always did like the style of the M49 Patton and Sherman Jumbo...

 

...ah..not that sort of tank...

You know what you see on a Tank whether it's the Challenger II or the M1 Abrams... a really huge gun. I've never understood why the MMO Meatshield is called a Tank.

 

Oh, and being I'm a Yank, I have to go for the M1 Abrams.

Edited September 21, 2019 by Jeuraud
forgot shit

[Sanguinesun]

Depends on the level. Some tanks are better able to handle stuff at different levels than others but at 50 and tricked out, it'd be a DA/DM tank that I'd want to see on my team.

[Luminara]

Someone on the original forums started a thread, asking what the worst powerset combinations could be.  A lot of people suggested Rad/Energy (defender), because all of the knockback would make Rad's debuffs pointless.  So, of course, I had to make one.  Not surprisingly, fun.  I had her up to the high 20's or low 30's and logged in to burn a respec (i forget why), expecting to log out again after running a couple of test missions.  Before I made it to the door of the first mission, I receive a /tell asking for help.  One mission is as good as another for testing out tweaks, so I consented and accepted the subsequent invitation.

 

Turns out to be a full team.  With the difficulty maxed.  When I enter the mission, they're all standing together, near a room they haven't cleared yet.  I peer in... Freakshow.  A whole lot of purple-con Freakshow.  I pop AM, pan the camera around and wait a few seconds with my fingers hovering over the number keys.  And a few more seconds pass.  Then a full minute.  Tick tock, tick tock.  AM expires, I refresh the buff, and still nothing.  Finally, I ask who's tanking.  They don't know.  They're on Vent, trying to decide.  Also trying to decide whether to boot me and go looking for a "healer".

 

Well, that was the end of my patience.  I buff the team again, then run into the room and start unloading with everything I have.  I've got Freaks bouncing and flying all over the place.  By the time the rest of the team realizes I'm not meekly awaiting their decision as to my fate, I've aggroed the entire room and have half of the Freaks pinned in one corner, juggling them with KB, the other half standing on my head with RI on one of the bosses.  The rest of Team Chucklehead finally remembers that I was there, and start coming in to "rescue" me.  Then they notice my full HP bar and actually start attacking.

 

I stayed and helped them finish the mission.  The only deaths were due to the Fire/whocares blaster, the team leader who set the difficulty so high and refused to reduce it in spite of the problems his team had encountered (he was +3 to the next highest level in the team, so everything was at least +6 to everyone else).  He ran ahead of the rest of the team and tried to nuke.  Three times.  Died every time, before his nuke activated.  Then he quit the team and logged out.  And I made seven friends.

 

From then on, my favorite tank has been the one who gets in there and tanks.  My favorite tank is the one who's confident enough to do his/her job without making the team wait ten minutes.  Not brash, not foolhardy, not stupid and reckless, but also not timid.  Let the buffers do their job, then get your ass in there and do yours and I'm happy.

[DR_Mechano]

8 hours ago, Jeuraud said:

You know what you see on a Tank whether it's the Challenger II or the M1 Abrams... a really huge gun. I've never understood why the MMO Meatshield is called a Tank.

 

Oh, and being I'm a Yank, I have to go for the M1 Abrams.

Originally Tanks were basically like that they hit VERY hard but slowly and had the armour to back it up. If left alone they would take large chunks of health off so having multiple 'tanks' wasn't an issue. It was only through various iterations (like the introduction of 'threat' in MMOs) we get to today that the tank ended up being the low damage, high HP, high defenses we see today and that type of role they originally had split off into another form of melee DPS but without the defensive options (like Retribution Paladin or Arms warrior in WoW).

 

One thing I find funny is that CoH invented the term 'scrapper' to explain a faster hitting melee dps that was inbetween the glass cannon of rogue and the glacial offense of Tank and has since become proliferated throughout the gaming jargon.

[synfoola]

I'm with Screwloose for the most part. 

My favorite tank to team with is one who can anticipate the needs of their team to maximize the /faceroll XP, whether that involves taunt management, "melee-controlling" (love Stone Melee for this), bunching up the next group while we're cleaning up stragglers to have them set-up like bowling pins for us to AoE down or giving the AOE a head-start to AoE them down before Blasty Knock-Backer'son spreads them all to hell, or whatever. 

Some set-combos do this a little easier than others, but the ability to play to the teams strengths AND weaknesses is a quality I appreciate the most in any PuG.

[TheOtherTed]

Nothing against melee tanks, but give me a Dark/anything defender any day.  Barring that, anything that brings the chaos (Storm, Illusion, whatever).

[nihilii]

20 hours ago, Papaschtroumpf said:

Any tank that doesn't try to tell the rest of us how to play, that he has to chase, of that we immob too early, if that he died because we knocked some mobs away. All those things happen, deal with it. That being said, except for a few exceptions, I'm just fine with no tank. My corruptor's, kheldians, brutes and other controllers seem to be doing fine at x8+4 Solo or teamed.

Tanks that taunt to grab aggro from a specific mob in addition to their aura are usually a sign of a better tank.

This.

 

My favorite tank takes alphas quietly and efficiently. But really, my favorite tank is more defined by the things he DOESN'T do than the things he does.

 

My favorite tank does not:

- herd. Not only it's boring, it's also slow and inefficient most of the time.

- spam taunt for no other reason than he feels bad if he's not getting all the aggro.

- spread mobs apart running to the next group after aggroing them because "I'm here to tank, you guys deal the damage".

 

My favorite tank acts as a cushion for the team. My favorite tank does not use said cushion to smother the team to death.

 

 

Edited September 21, 2019 by nihilii

[Clave Dark 5]

I normally have no idea what power sets other people on my team have unless I see them use one I've played before and therefore recognize, so all I can offer for an answer is "a well-played tank."

[Razor Cure]

3 hours ago, nihilii said:

My favorite tank does not:

- herd. Not only it's boring, it's also slow and inefficient most of the time.

Really? Herrding is slow? The whole idea of herding is too kill multiple mobs at once. Sure, depending on the team, they MAY be able to do 1 mob at a time, almost faster than herding, but not often. I think you mean the bad herders, who try for way too many mobs and just lose aggro, leaving them strung all over the map.

 

On 9/21/2019 at 3:54 AM, MunkiLord said:

So long as the tank isn't attempting to dictate the pace to everyone else on the team,

Wait, so the tank, the guy who SHOULD be in every mob first (aside from maybe a stalker)..is doing it wrong if he sets the pace? Color me confused by that one. Nothing else is better than taking an alpha strike and leaving every other AT to debuff, control or blast things in relative safety.

 

 

In all seriousness, I find (this is in general, and MY experience) that Brutes make the best tanks, in regard to keeping the team safe. Of course, this is totally disregarding any 'bad tanks/brutes' (of which there are many, especially /fa brutes) but when you get a good Brute (one with taunt, and knows how to use it), they usually have a much better awareness of what can be dangerous. I think this is due to the fact that most Tanks get by on BEING a tank, not by actually being a good tank. Such as the tank who tries to 'solo' Clamour, on Penny's tf, why the rest of teh team gets murdered by the huge ambush, and they proceeds to be totally shocked that not everyone has their hp and defences..

Seen example of the about happen so many times. As well as the tank trying to play like a scrapper and kill the one boss in the corner, while the team fights everything else. lol

 

[MunkiLord]

12 minutes ago, Razor Cure said:

Really? Herrding is slow? The whole idea of herding is too kill multiple mobs at once. Sure, depending on the team, they MAY be able to do 1 mob at a time, almost faster than herding, but not often. I think you mean the bad herders, who try for way too many mobs and just lose aggro, leaving them strung all over the map.

Yes, standing around not fighting while someone gathers a ton of enemies is slow and inefficient. And boring.

 

Quote

Wait, so the tank, the guy who SHOULD be in every mob first (aside from maybe a stalker)..is doing it wrong if he sets the pace? Color me confused by that one. Nothing else is better than taking an alpha strike and leaving every other AT to debuff, control or blast things in relative safety.

I said dictate, not set. If the tank sets a good pace for the team, cool. If a tank dictates to everyone how fast the team will move, that person is a control freak and waste of time.

[Razor Cure]

7 minutes ago, MunkiLord said:

I said dictate, not set. If the tank sets a good pace for the team, cool. If a tank dictates to everyone how fast the team will move, that person is a control freak and waste of time.

Pretty close to the same thing. If I dictate it, and yet, my pace is too slow for you..that is ok, because I dictated it, not set it? Also, you used 'dictate' twice then, so it IS teh same thing. You mean if their pace doesnt match yours.

 

9 minutes ago, MunkiLord said:

Yes, standing around not fighting while someone gathers a ton of enemies is slow and inefficient. And boring.

Also impossible with aggro caps. Which is why I mentioned too many mobs. A tank (or meat shield) who pauses on entering a big room, yells HERDING then grabs two mobs and does a nice corner herd is in no way wasting time. Sure, maybe you (the non herder) is standing around for all of 15 secs, (thats about how long it will be) which also gives all those nice aoe powers and controls, buffs, debuffs time to get ready..but when those two mobs just melt at once..THAT is saving more time then wiping one mob with every power you have..then having no BU/aoes/long rech debuffs etc etc ready when you jump into MoB2.