I'm seeing more tankers these days, are you playing more tankers?

[DougGraves]

I play tankers and controllers, so me playing a tanker is not unusual.  But lately I've been seeing other tankers on my teams.  I don't know if the changes have made them more popular or just sampling error.

So are you playing more tankers since the changes?

[The_Warpact]

With the dmg buff in the latest patch I finally rolled one a Bio/SS, I'm liking it so far the dmg is noticeable and the survivability is awesome.

 

So long story short I believe because of the dmg buff that's the reason your seeing them.

[Leogunner]

I only had my 3 tankers on live. I didn't think to remake them until the announced changes. Since the changes, I've made 1 tanker and remade a Brute into a tanker. 

 

I dunno about everyone else. I'm thinking most players don't keep up with what changes are made. 

[Coyotedancer]

I've had one unfinished Tank in my crew since... May? I think? 

I just rebuilt/replaced that one recently, though. (Went from WP/SS to WP/Street-)

 

While the old one was pretty much shelved, this new version may have a shot at actually getting to 50.  We'll see. XD 

 

 

Edited February 8, 2020 by Coyotedancer

[Myrmidon]

I started with only one to play on Tanker Tuesdays (since they won’t let me bring a Brute) and seven Brutes. Now, I have four Tankers, one of which was converted over from a Brute. The changes are the only thing that prompted the creation of more Tankers for me.

[Coyote]

The changes are the only reason I made one.

 

Before, Tankers had a purpose... but it could be largely (but not completely) fulfilled by a Brute, while the Brute's greater damage in pretty much all cases made it better in all situations where you didn't really need top-shelf aggro management.

 

Now, if you aren't in a situation where that purpose matters (team that actually needs defensive help, and larger team because on smaller teams it's not hard for a Brute to hold aggro and tank), the damage and AoE increases still give Tankers a role to play. Especially the AoE changes... if I want a single-target tank with some aggro management I'll still make a Brute, and for Titan Weapons (and probably Staff), since it still has large AoE sizes on Brutes, I'll probably still make a Brute. But I now have a reason to make a Tanker, if I'm looking to make an AoE-oriented melee character, giving up a small amount of damage but gaining in AoE size. Some sets like Dark Melee really could turn from almost no AoE to "not bad" AoE, for example.

[Snarky]

I am currently running a Tanker for most of my gaming. This was planned and only partly to do with buff. I started the character in late November and had heard rumors About the changes. I had also heard rumors they would not happen. Rumors lol

 

i started the tank and solo arc ran it through Redside. Grabbing blue and red TF and SF.  (Rogue). Then the changes happened and u 50’d it and is pretty much my main

 

this has more to do with i wanted an easy badger (this is my badger) than the tank changes

 

i have traditionally played Brutes most of the time and still have a fully kitted out SS/Invul Brute that i pull out once or twice a week
 

so personally i am running tanks more

 

which probably means i will start blasting or bruting soon lol

[Saikochoro]

The changes prompted me to make two tankers that I am currently leveling up. I had always wanted to make one, but felt the Brute was the better option. I feel like the changes probably closed the gap so I dove in. 

[Sailboat]

I have been playing a Fire/Fire Tanker off and on for the last 10 months or so.  The changes are awesome...the increased target cap for Fire Sword Circle and Combustion are wonderful.  I have no math to support this, but with the new base damage AND target caps, these attacks feel as good as, or better than,  Brute versions, which do more damage but to only 10 targets instead of 16.

 

Also been slowly gearing up my Inv/SS, a stronger tank defensively but substantially less killy.

Edited February 9, 2020 by Sailboat

[nihilii]

I see no reason to play a Brute and little reason to play a Scrapper with the Tanker changes.

Not to say Tankers are OP. I happen to enjoy wider radius AoEs more than a lot of things. Tanker survivability is nice, instead of pushing for more I consider my builds freed of that need. And Tanker damage is now adequate.

 

Tankers now fill a specific niche. Great changes.

[Apparition]

6 hours ago, nihilii said:

I see no reason to play a Brute and little reason to play a Scrapper with the Tanker changes.

Not to say Tankers are OP. I happen to enjoy wider radius AoEs more than a lot of things. Tanker survivability is nice, instead of pushing for more I consider my builds freed of that need. And Tanker damage is now adequate.

 

Tankers now fill a specific niche. Great changes.

 

IMO, Brute vs. Tanker comes down to the tier 1 attack.  Some power sets' tier 1 attack is well... not good, to be kind.

[Oneirohero]

I only have one Tanker and he's my first 50 since Homecoming, he's the one in my avatar (circa Febuary 2020). Invul/SS. Since hitting 50 I played with other characters and was absent for some time waiting on the changes, thankfully the changes went through and I notice the increased damage and areas of effect, especially with [Hurl] and [Force Bolt]. Feels even better to play than before and I already made him into a clicky juggernaut as it is!

[Ultimate15]

I just rolled a stone/stone. 

 

Anyone ever play a stone/stone to 50? I've never done one before, but I've heard good things!

[Call Me Awesome]

1 hour ago, Ultimate15 said:

I just rolled a stone/stone. 

 

Anyone ever play a stone/stone to 50? I've never done one before, but I've heard good things!

It was a popular combo on Live, however Stone Armor isn't as popular anymore.  After level 32 it offers unmatched durability but it also has very limited mobility, slow recharge and lower damage than any other character.  With IO's it's now possible to nearly match Stone's durability with none of it's drawbacks making it unpopular.  How do you feel about Teleport for your mobility?  You'll need to get used to it or you won't be able to get over a curb in combat with your mez protection (Rooted) or Granite Armor activated.  Make friends with a Kinetic so you can move faster than a slow crawl without dropping your defenses.  Unfortunately that's the reality of playing Stone Armor.  If you want to go with it then by all means, just realize that it comes with some really heavy penalties.

 

I've played two Stone Armor tankers to 50 on Live, both of them after the great Nerfs of issue 5 and 6 butchered the durability of all characters.  At the time Stone was the only tanker left that could approach the durability all tanks took for granted in the early days of the game.  We gritted our teeth, teamed with Kinetics and took Teleport so we could have mobility and tanked on.  Now that many tanker primaries can again reach unkillable levels of durability Stone's primacy in that regard is no longer viewed as worth the penalties it imposes.

 

Still, it IS the most durable tanker out there... once you get Granite Armor at 32.  Before that you'll be fairly squishy and will have to be careful.  Be aware that Stone Melee is a fantastic set with loads of soft controls in knock downs, stuns and a MAG 4 hold in Seismic Smash... however it IS endurance heavy.  I've played Stone Melee since issue 3 when I rolled up CMA and it's probably my favorite tanker secondary overall.

[Heraclea]

I've always played tankers often.  I did roll a new one (WP/Mace) to check out some powersets that were improved by the patch.  This is a quite fun character. 

 

But my current main project is a staff/regen brute I am making as an experiment, to see if adding stuff like tough, weave, and IO global defense bonuses improve Regen enough to make an adequately tanky brute.  Some people were complaining that the patch nerfed brutes.  I find it quite the opposite.  Brutes are better off than they were beforehand 95% of the time because of the slower rage dropoff and easier generation on teams. 

[Ultimate15]

1 hour ago, Call Me Awesome said:

It was a popular combo on Live, however Stone Armor isn't as popular anymore.  After level 32 it offers unmatched durability but it also has very limited mobility, slow recharge and lower damage than any other character.  With IO's it's now possible to nearly match Stone's durability with none of it's drawbacks making it unpopular.  How do you feel about Teleport for your mobility?  You'll need to get used to it or you won't be able to get over a curb in combat with your mez protection (Rooted) or Granite Armor activated.  Make friends with a Kinetic so you can move faster than a slow crawl without dropping your defenses.  Unfortunately that's the reality of playing Stone Armor.  If you want to go with it then by all means, just realize that it comes with some really heavy penalties.

 

I've played two Stone Armor tankers to 50 on Live, both of them after the great Nerfs of issue 5 and 6 butchered the durability of all characters.  At the time Stone was the only tanker left that could approach the durability all tanks took for granted in the early days of the game.  We gritted our teeth, teamed with Kinetics and took Teleport so we could have mobility and tanked on.  Now that many tanker primaries can again reach unkillable levels of durability Stone's primacy in that regard is no longer viewed as worth the penalties it imposes.

 

Still, it IS the most durable tanker out there... once you get Granite Armor at 32.  Before that you'll be fairly squishy and will have to be careful.  Be aware that Stone Melee is a fantastic set with loads of soft controls in knock downs, stuns and a MAG 4 hold in Seismic Smash... however it IS endurance heavy.  I've played Stone Melee since issue 3 when I rolled up CMA and it's probably my favorite tanker secondary overall.

Hrrrrm.

 

What about Bio Armor / Stone melee? Thoughts on that? 

[Sura]

I was playing Tankers for the most part before the patch, so my answer is no, I'm not playing more Tankers.  I've always liked the Tanker mindset.  

[KC4800]

I have not created one new tanker since the changes, but I am playing the one I have--more. Rad Armor/War Mace is my main. He always does everything first for me, unless its alignment specific. He even does an AE farm on occasion. But he sings< "No I don't, want to live, on the moon!" 

[AsheTDust]

The changes are so good that there really isn’t a need to play brutes anymore.

 

Tankers get higher health, better defenses and now can hit more targets than brutes with their AoEs. Sure Brutes can do a little more damage single target wise, but honestly, this game is all about the AoEs.

 

Time to watch the Brutes become the redheaded stepchildren the Tankers used to be!

[Bill Z Bubba]

1 hour ago, AsheTDust said:

Time to watch the Brutes become the redheaded stepchildren the Tankers used to be!

 

There's probably some truth here. I already had more tanks with HC than I ever did before the snap just because I got older and slower and team more these days. With the changes, some powersets just make more sense to go tank. My new main tank is a shield/mace. Solid AoE and ST, good mitigation and would be less effective as a brute. Even questioning my claws/sr brute now since stacked followup will do the tank more good.

[drbuzzard]

It's funny, I actually made a bunch of tankers when the changes first went onto test. Then the changes too rather a while to come to live, and those tankers mostly sat unused. Now that the tanker buffs are live, I've made 2 more tankers, and have been playing tankers a lot more. 

[Dreamboat]

I've never really played them before - I was always either a Scrapper or a Blaster guy - but I made one or two since the changes since I saw people raving about how good they were now. They were fun character concepts but I haven't really touched them after the initial few levels; I'm actually getting more mileage out of Brutes now. Can't let go of doing damage, I guess...

[Cutter]

I've been all over tanks this time around (coming from a scrapper main on live), and I'm definitely rolling more alts than I used to just because of how easy it is to level and fund them. The recent update hasn't had much of an impact in that regard.

 

17 hours ago, Ultimate15 said:

Hrrrrm.

 

What about Bio Armor / Stone melee? Thoughts on that? 

This is my latest project. Just hit 23 last night, running on L15/20 IOs, and it's great fun and decently survivable. Stone Melee has such a satisfying feel to it, even if it is way more single-target-focused than I usually prefer. I'm on all three ST attacks and I find Bio, especially in Efficient mode, powers up enough that I'm not usually concerned about end, even when I mix in the P2W filler attacks. SM was one of those sets that I barely dabbled in back on live, so I'm looking forward to the later game experience. Especially the change to Tremor's pick order: 28 can't come soon enough, but it's way better than 35! I just wish Mid's would update so I don't have a big hole in my build where Tremor's supposed to go 🙂

[golstat2003]

LOL, Brutes are fine. Nearly every farm I was on this past weekend trying to get my Elec/Shield Brute up was run by a traditional fire farming brute. My brute started on Friday, and is now level 42 from missions, tfs and various farms -- Only one was run by a tank.

 

Again Brutes will be just fine.

[Shred Monkey]

On a team with multiple tanks you get this tanker-competition thing happening where one tank ends up getting the agro and the other doesn't get to do the thing they built their toon to do.  It's rather off-putting, IMHO and it tends to be an artificial cap on ratio of tanks to non-tanks playing at any given time.  If you get too many tanks, someone will often switch to a non-tank rather than continue to compete for agro.