build help Secondary for my new Shield Tank

[Dischord]

So me, my wife and our best friend just started playing and I'd like to make  Shield Tank for when we play together but I'm not sure which to do for my Secondary powerset.  For thematic reasons I'd like to go with a weapon if at all possible so Battle Axe, Broadsword, or War Mace.  Any of them work better with Shields?  Builds or just recommendations would be most appreciated.

[Menelruin]

Dunno about working with Shields specifically, but I know WM is supposed to be brutal, and Shield is a strong set to begin with, so it's probably a strong combo.

[Sailboat]

IMHO Broadsword's Parry stacks nicely with Shield's positional defenses.  But it's a tougher question now that the Tanker buffs make AoEs more attractive.  War Mace does very nice AoE now, and (as much as I love Battle Axe) is probably the strongest choice of the three  mechanically.

Edited February 19, 2020 by Sailboat

[Kaballah]

You get to the point where all your defs are well over capped very easily without relying on stuff like Parry, so don't think that's going to make or break you.  Any of these are just fine IMO.

e: A useful thing about Broadsword is that it applies -def on everything, which is good for everyone in your team (at least up to the point where everyone is accuracy capped anyway) and you can also put Achilles Heel proc pieces on whatever you want.

Edited February 19, 2020 by Kaballah

[SaintD]

War Mace tends to be more hurty due to being smashing damage. Battleaxe is huuuugely underrated as a damage mitigator for having knockdown in every single power. Seriously, if an enemy can be knocked, then battleaxe reduces enemy DPS to whatever can come out of their butt, because they're going to spend most of their time upside down.

 

Broadsword isn't in contention for this combo. Shield doesn't need extra defence, so you're left with battleaxe being just plain better as the lethal damage option. It's fine for concept, but isn't optimal.

Edited February 19, 2020 by SaintD

[Kinvesu]

I agree with the War Mace pick. I have only a level 16 one but, it is pretty good. It is my solo tanker. Damage is great so far.

[Call Me Awesome]

Broadsword works quite well with Shield, even on a Tanker Parry will free up your build so you can focus IO bonuses other directions and let it finish the last bit to the soft cap of Melee defense.  I've played that combination twice, albeit on a Scrapper, and its thematic and very effective.

 

Fire works quite well with Shield, I took a Shield/Fire tanker to 50 on Live and the combination works very well.  Good AOE and ST damage output but no secondary effects to aid durability.  On the other hand Shield's tough enough to not need any help.

 

Shield/Electric is very popular and an AOE killing machine.  For Tankers the single target damage is somewhat lackluster but the AOE is top notch.  My experience with this combo is on a Stalker, so I didn't have the single target shortfall due to Assassin's Strike.  This combination works well on any AT you care to play it on.  The only secondary that comes to mind as rivaling the AOE is Spines and you can't put Spines with Shield.

 

Most secondaries should work pretty well with Shield, those are the ones I've played to 50... although only one as a Tanker.

[Call Me Awesome]

A question just came to mind, has anyone played a Shield/Elec tanker at high levels since the changes? How does the damage now compare to the set on the other AT's?  I had a sudden desire to roll one up... like I needed another alt while I'm still working on two other tankers, 3 defenders, 2 corruptors, 1 blaster, 2 scrappers, 2 'trollers and a PB.

[SaintD]

5 hours ago, Call Me Awesome said:

Shield/Electric is very popular and an AOE killing machine.  For Tankers the single target damage is somewhat lackluster but the AOE is top notch.  My experience with this combo is on a Stalker, so I didn't have the single target shortfall due to Assassin's Strike.  This combination works well on any AT you care to play it on.  The only secondary that comes to mind as rivaling the AOE is Spines and you can't put Spines with Shield.

There's actually a very deserved pushback against Shield/Elec as the AOE monster, in favour of Savage Melee which can also do ridiculous teleporting AOE and is still an absolute murder machine for single target.

[Charistoph]

While not a weapon set, Dark Melee should also be looked at as it helps fill Shield's biggest weakness when compared to other Tanker Armors, no self-heal or similar ability at all.  Radiation Melee also has a a self-heal, but far too conditional and weak to be effective.

[Warboss]

My choices are would be:

Fiery Melee (I love the set)

Electric Melee (lots of fun with two "teleport" attacks)

Kinetic Melee (very "utility" set, excellent for teaming)

Dark Melee (Melee attack/heal, and minus to hit, work well with SD)

[Infinitum]

14 hours ago, Call Me Awesome said:

A question just came to mind, has anyone played a Shield/Elec tanker at high levels since the changes? How does the damage now compare to the set on the other AT's?  I had a sudden desire to roll one up... like I needed another alt while I'm still working on two other tankers, 3 defenders, 2 corruptors, 1 blaster, 2 scrappers, 2 'trollers and a PB.

Yes, I rolled one in honor of the changes.

 

Its awesome, and if you go assault radial and musculature core.  Those two boost your damage on lightning rod to ST levels, and gets thunderstrike to a relatively good but not the best ST levels.

 

I used my standard shield defensive build because it just works. Then changed those two incarnate powers for the damage.  I will probably get resilient alpha and melee hybrid also as backups though.

 

For attacks I have charged brawl with blistering cold slotted for spamming a fast attack with the hold from the set.

 

Chained induction because it's fast and spreads.

 

Thunderstrike

 

Lightning rod

 

Shield charge.

 

Mighty radial

 

Thats enough sustained AoE to demolish any mob ive come across, and add in the two incarnate +damage powers - assault hybrid is almost like a crit power, you are doing boss killing damage at that point.

 

Full burst of Build up, lightning rod, thunderstrike, shield charge, chain induction, mighty.  Is nigh unstoppable.

 

Its a lot of fun.

[TungstenShark]

9 hours ago, SaintD said:

There's actually a very deserved pushback against Shield/Elec as the AOE monster, in favour of Savage Melee which can also do ridiculous teleporting AOE and is still an absolute murder machine for single target.

This.

 

My other vote would be War Mace (as others have said), as it has a good mix of ST and AoE attacks.

[Ironscarlet]

I am a huge mini maxer but I went broad sword for ( Sith ) theme reasons. All the weapon sets you listed are almost the same damage. Public opinion on Mace is that it's stronger but numbers wise I see no evidence of this and when it comes to smashing or lethal damage they are resisted about the same. Mace does have a very small edge in single target damage. One thing people overlook is Broadsword has a great tier 1 power so for a Tank that really shines because you have to take the tier 1 damage power on a Tank and Broadsword tier 1 called Hack is usable and does almost double the damage of Axe and Mace tier 1 damage power. Build wise I will list the cliff notes on the three but again damage wise they are very close to the same.

 

Broadsword: Has a strong AOE similar in damage to Mace cone. Broadsword also has a cone weaker and narrower than its counterparts but stronger than thier aoe. Also it's main heavy single target attack can strike up to 5 targets in a line but out of all three it has the lowest single target damage. Negative defense on opponent every attack. This set also has parry which will allow you to cap out melee def while leveling. Making you tougher at lower levels making the leveling experience easier. At higher levels  due to shield capping def it is not needed.

Mace: has a weaker AOE but has a strong and wide cone attack. It also has a highest single target attack of all 3;  not by much.  Mix of disorients and knockdowns as bonuses.

(smashing damage)

Axe:  is very similar to Mace the aoe is the same and Axe has a slightly stonger cone with slightly weaker single target attack but adds knockdowns to every attack.

(Lethal damage)

 

I would say go with what your theme is or visually like the best.

 

Also as a foot note Ice and Fire can wield there own elemental sword for theme reason.

 

Ill post my SD/BS Tank build if you have mid build calculator. The build caps  all def and can cap S/L with 60% + N/E/C/F everything else pretty close with out T9 and with T9 caps N/E/C/F. 3030hp regular and caps with T9 to 3460ish. Going all damage incarnate. Really great damage and aggro. Normally solo DA missions all the time, really fast almost as fast as my scrapper. FYI This is a end game build not leveling build.

 

Spoiler

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Shield Defense
Secondary Power Set: Broad Sword
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Deflection -- ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(3), LucoftheG-Def(3), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(5), LucoftheG-Rchg+(5)
Level 1: Hack -- SprGntFis-Rchg/+Absorb(A), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7), SprGntFis-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), SprGntFis-Dmg/Rchg(11), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg(11)
Level 2: Battle Agility -- ShlWal-Def/Rchg(A), ShlWal-EndRdx/Rchg(7), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx(13), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(13), ShlWal-Def(15), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(15)
Level 4: True Grit -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/Rchg(17), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(19), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(19), UnbGrd-ResDam(21), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(21)
Level 6: Active Defense -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 8: Against All Odds -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 10: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Phalanx Fighting -- Rct-Def(A), Rct-ResDam%(17), Rct-EndRdx/Rchg(33), Rct-Def/EndRdx(33), Rct-Def/Rchg(33), Rct-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(34)
Level 14: Taunt -- Acc-I(A)
Level 16: Tactics -- GssSynFr--Build%(A)
Level 18: Grant Cover -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg(23), LucoftheG-EndRdx/Rchg(23), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(25), LucoftheG-Rchg+(25), LucoftheG-Def(36)
Level 20: Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 22: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 24: Tough -- ImpArm-ResPsi(A), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(34), UnbGrd-Max HP%(34), GldArm-3defTpProc(37), UnbGrd-ResDam(39), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(50)
Level 26: Shield Charge -- Obl-%Dam(A), Arm-Dam%(27), ScrDrv-Dam%(27), Arm-Dmg(29), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(36), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37)
Level 28: Whirling Sword -- TchofLadG-%Dam(A), ScrDrv-Dam%(29), Obl-%Dam(31), Obl-Dmg(39), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(40), AchHee-ResDeb%(40)
Level 30: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def(A), LucoftheG-Rchg+(31)
Level 32: One with the Shield -- UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(A), UnbGrd-ResDam(39), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(40), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(43)
Level 35: Disembowel -- SprMghoft-Rchg/Res%(A), SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg(37), SprMghoft-Dmg/Rchg(43), SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), SprMghoft-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 38: Head Splitter -- ScrDrv-Dam%(A), TchofLadG-%Dam(42), Obl-%Dam(43), Obl-Dmg(45), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), FrcFdb-Rechg%(46)
Level 41: Conserve Power -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 44: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(45)
Level 47: Physical Perfection -- PrfShf-EndMod/Acc(A), PrfShf-EndMod(48), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(48), RgnTss-Regen+(48), Mrc-Rcvry+(50), PrfShf-End%(50)
Level 49: Maneuvers -- DefBuff-I(A)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet 
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Run-I(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Clr-Stlth(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run 
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Prv-Absorb%(A), Pnc-Heal/+End(31)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod/Acc(42), PrfShf-EndMod(42)
Level 50: Ageless Core Invocation 
Level 0: The Atlas Medallion 
Level 0: Task Force Commander 
Level 0: Portal Jockey 
Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve 
Level 50: Musculature Core Paragon 
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On a side not a week ago I was Tanking a mission and we were all getting lazy and I taunted from long range and stood in place instead of the point sword at opponent animation my character clanked the sword on the shield for 5-10 sec until I used a power. I thought it was really cool animation for a taunt. Anyone else have seen this? Also do other weapon sets do the same?

 

Edited February 20, 2020 by Ironscarlet

[Dischord]

Thanks for all the replies, think I'm going to go with broadsword and try it out.

[DanteTheStoic]

Please.. Don't leave out Super Strength.. Against all odds stacks very nicely with Rage.. Tons of soft control with clap and stomp... It's lovely..

 

[Dischord]

I already have a Inv/SS tanker i'm playing when i solo and I do like it very much.  Even way back on live I never played any of the weapon sets so looking for one of those to play this time.