Best Tank using SO's only

[Ravenprince]

What do you think the best overall tank is using SO's only?  

[Sovera]

Super reflexes. I just posted one on the proc monster. At level 24 you're softcapped with just SOs. Everything else is just gravy.

[Shoulung]

For survivability, defense is a pretty good choice; my question is the best tanker at what. If it’s controlling aggro then SR starts to fall behind. Pairing it with dark/ice/spines can help with that though.

[Redlynne]

If you're limiting yourself to SOs only, then Stone Armor starts looking mighty survivable.  After that, it's just a matter of picking a secondary.

I mean, Stone Tankers were the "stone standard" before Inventions came along for a reason.

[Shoulung]

Just be aware stone can be a little rough for a new player.

[Frostweaver]

Any Tanker back in I5

[Call Me Awesome]

It's been awhile since I played the Tanker version of Shield but I remember it being very easy to soft cap.  I'd have to check with Mids to see if it gets there on SO's alone and it's a great aggro holder.

 

You can pair it with most anything; my shield tank was Shield/Fire and quite capable... although I was heavily IO'd out which does make a difference.  The classic Shield/Broadsword will be very tough, particularly with Parry boosting the Melee defense.  I've played the Shield/Broadsword combo several times, twice as a Scrapper and once as a Brute and it's very tough; as a tanker it'll be even tougher.

[Haijinx]

SOs only

SR/Claws

 

[Luigrein]

I can’t really disagree with stone as mentioned above. I think I saw someone say rooted works on a suppression system now instead of a self slow which sounds... terrible but granite is still the highest baseline survivability. You do pay for that in damage and recharge though.

 

For a new idea: Ice tank. I’m pretty sure you can softcap on SOs and its aggro control is phenomenal.  Energy absorption can also help shore up your blue bar.

 

Really though, all tanks can get the job done in SOs, the road there may be a little rough but you’ll get there.

[Ravenprince]

10 hours ago, Luigrein said:

For a new idea: Ice tank. I’m pretty sure you can softcap on SOs and its aggro control is phenomenal.  Energy absorption can also help shore up your blue bar.

I started an Ice/Spines tank yesterday.  Fun so far!

[Frostweaver]

But why?

It's like asking what sort of black-powder rifles you should buy for your modern military.

Edited October 1, 2019 by Frostweaver

[Frostweaver]

meh I guess someone's gotta replicate the Mona lisa using minecraft Blocks. Cannot say that I understand it though, especially since even vanilla content has been made more challenging since I5

[Ravenprince]

8 hours ago, Frostweaver said:

But why?

It's like asking what sort of black-powder rifles you should buy for your modern military.

 

7 hours ago, Frostweaver said:

meh I guess someone's gotta replicate the Mona lisa using minecraft Blocks. Cannot say that I understand it though, especially since even vanilla content has been made more challenging since I5

 

Based on that logic, why play any character less than optimal.  Why doesn't everyone just play Fire/Kin Controllers.  I enjoy the challenge, although the game is actually pretty easy with SO's to be honest, I wouldn't want to make it any easier.  Plus, it's the game I remember, I left shortly after IO's came out.    

[Frostweaver]

"Based on that Logic"? Apparently You and I have VERY different Ideas about what logic entails, because your example of expanding the analogy is patently ridiculous. So please, use your own words instead of attempting to 'explain' mine.

It is, in fact, EXACTLY like making the Mona Lisa in minecraft. You get a crap ton of recipes and salvage as you play, so you literally have to REJECT a decent set of building blocks in order to keep your build 'old skool'. Why even bother asking which tank is the 'best Tank' When you are already intentionally and willfully crippling it? Why not ask what is the 'worst tank' instead since you seem to be focused on increasing your challenge level for no real purpose?

The best Tank for using SO's is the one that chooses to use the recipes you recieve as a matter of course, and change to a generic IO tanker on it's way to getting real IO sets. You are not going to be able to take ANY of the higher-level content, and will Handicap any high-level content team you join as they are forced to compensate for your comparative weakness.

As a Historical question, however, the old school 'gold standard' for tanking during the limited period in between ED and IO's was a Stone/Fire. Fire didn't offer any extra mitigation, but combustion paired with mud pots tended to stick aggro to your crawling body without constant taunting, and if your blasters (also ED capped SO's) waited a decent interval (and you would have to team up with blasters prior to their upgrade) about 15 seconds, they would be unlikely to peel aggro off of you... assuming that they also chose not to chain aoe and big hitters, voluntarily lowering their DPS.

Of course, there's no way to 'simulate' the pre-ED and pre-aggro cap, when invulnerability could herd disgusting levels of self-buffing mobs, so you have to leave Invulnerability out of the question. And of course, wp, Dark, electric, Bio, and Rad were not a thing yet, so your only real competition was fire (known at the time for being a faceplant-fest) Ice (when it still sucked) and Invulnerability (still suffering from the massive ED and cap nerfs).

If you want to recapture that limited period, you will probably have to design a set of AE missions using Mobs you have 'rebuilt' to resemble the older factions. or maybe you could look around to see if someone has decided to run a super old version of the server, or maybe even run one yourself... when you could 6 slot hasten with recharge. Of course, during the pre-ED period, Invulnerability was the undisputed master of tanking, PLing required 'bridges', and claws/regen scrappers (with instant healing toggle) were the farmers.

Many of the newer sets were built specifically with IO slotting in mind. They just don't WORK without it.
 

[Frostweaver]

BTW, fire/kins aren't money anymore, since the pet recharge nerf. You apparently have some catching up to do :). they also nerfed all the old s/l farms by making them timed (and changing some of the mobs in many cases), so now you have to use AE for half the rewards. And brutes are the new kings of farming...specifically spines/fire or rad/fire. Although there has been a hint of challenge lately from savage.

[Ravenprince]

1 hour ago, Frostweaver said:

It is, in fact, EXACTLY like making the Mona Lisa in minecraft. 

 

That actually sounds fun and I have attempted to recreate things in Minecraft.  Not sure why my post bothers you so much.  Don't worry, I won't be crippling any teams.  I have never had a max level character where it actually mattered anyhow.  I may eventually play CoH on God mode at some point, but right now I am just enjoying the nostalgia.

[MajikMayhem81]

On 10/1/2019 at 8:52 AM, Frostweaver said:

BTW, fire/kins aren't money anymore, since the pet recharge nerf. You apparently have some catching up to do :). they also nerfed all the old s/l farms by making them timed (and changing some of the mobs in many cases), so now you have to use AE for half the rewards. And brutes are the new kings of farming...specifically spines/fire or rad/fire. Although there has been a hint of challenge lately from savage.

When were the s/l farms nerfed?  I havent done my warrior farm latley, is that a new addition?  Also when was the pet recharge nerf?  I seem to remember something about 6 imps, but wasnt sure if I was mistaken.

[Frostweaver]

Warrior farm was given a timer. imps are 3, ninja temple farm was given a timer, werewolf farm was given a timer, Dreck(? freakshow) farm was given a timer, so were several others I am not personally aware of. new odd damage mobs for banished pantheon, new odd damage mobs for CoT, and several farms were replaced with a new villain group that has disgustingly OP or extreme damage of unusual types, like knives of vengeance who use titan weapons, dual pistols (that can be cold, toxic, or fire) and melee psionic attacks.

I don't know, I stopped playing live after AE was introduced. but there IS  a post over in the 'guides' section that tells you generally which issue introduced what.

Edited October 10, 2019 by Frostweaver