Need suggestions for a new Tanker

[Socks10]

I recently got back into CoH after a (15? year hiatus). Thank you very much for bringing this back. I am having a lot of fun with a group of friends being super heroes. Since its been a long time, a lot of information out there is new to me, but I'm picking up lots from these forums. So far I've leveled a 38 Grav/Time Controller, 19 Ill/Rad Controller, and have been using a 13 Fire/Broadsword Tanker. 

 

My questions are for the Tanker. I've been playing with a group that has a Empathy Defender, Mind Controller, and a Elec Blaster or Psionic Corrupter. I decided to use my Tanker to help out this group, but I'm not sure I am enjoying my choice so far. I know it's early and maybe I should just stick with it, but Broadsword doesn't seem great. The animations for the sword attacks take a while. Are there options for faster attacking secondaries? More damaging secondaries? 

 

I'm open to any Tanker suggestions. I basically want to be able to survive almost anything for my group and hold aggro. More damage would be nice too, but as long as I'm doing these other things, less important. I've been going through the forums looking for new build ideas. So far the only thing that's jumped out is Ice/Ice. Any suggestions would be appreciated. 

[Carnifax]

How about Ice/Staff. Staff will bolster your lethal defense, it seems to have longer ranges on everything and it comes with 2 big melee cones and a pbaoe making it punchvoke-happy.

 

The deal breaker might be the animations. They're not actually slow but they are busy (one is essentially a breakdance). Of course you can just lean into that and use it as concept (plenty of 80s hiphop with Ice in their names...)

[Socks10]

Thanks for the response. Staff was something I was considering. In fact, I didn't know it existed when I came back to the game and picked Broadsword. Staff would have won for sure. I'm also looking at /Elec or /Dark for a secondary...and am now considering Inv for a primary. 

 

There are so many options in this game and they are almost always fun to try. 🙂

[Psyonico]

If you don't like the slow animations of Broad Sword, might I suggest Katana? It's identical in terms of powers, but damage is slightly lower, animation time and recharge time are slightly higher.

[Solarverse]

*Looks at the hundreds of threads on this board with some really great Tank builds.*

 

All one needs to do is look.  🙂

[Gauntlet_Prime]

For what it is worth I cannot recommend dark/savage enough.  Fast animations, good (read huge) aoe, and dark is tough and has the best heal in the game.  If it can't kill you in 12 seconds it just cant ever kill you.

[Socks10]

I've been looking through the Tanker boards all morning and actually created an Ice/Ice tanker to play, but there are so many good options.  I think what I'll end up doing is creating a few and trying to get a decent amount of time with each. There is a ton more options over what I played when the game was released.

[Cutter]

58 minutes ago, Gauntlet_Prime said:

For what it is worth I cannot recommend dark/savage enough.  Fast animations, good (read huge) aoe, and dark is tough and has the best heal in the game.  If it can't kill you in 12 seconds it just cant ever kill you.

I just reimagined my old main as a Dark/Savage! Only in the teens but so far so good.

 

OP: In terms of faster animations and a faster attack rotation in general, in addition to Savage you should have a look at Claws and Street Justice.

[Solarverse]

1 hour ago, Socks10 said:

I've been looking through the Tanker boards all morning and actually created an Ice/Ice tanker to play, but there are so many good options.  I think what I'll end up doing is creating a few and trying to get a decent amount of time with each. There is a ton more options over what I played when the game was released.

Fun factor, Ice/Ice is the absolute most fun Tank to play in game IMO. You picked a damn good choice there. If you love the theme of Ice, they did a damn good job utilizing that theme and you'll have a hell of a lot of fun. Good choice, Socks10.

[Socks10]

Thanks Solarverse. To tell you how indecisive I am, I was almost ready to make a Dark/Sav to try that build out today. I'm going to give my Ice/Ice build more time though. I'd like to get up to a decent level soon so I can help my group out as soon as possible. 

[VV]

1 hour ago, Cutter said:

I just reimagined my old main as a Dark/Savage! Only in the teens but so far so good.

 

OP: In terms of faster animations and a faster attack rotation in general, in addition to Savage you should have a look at Claws and Street Justice.

I second these. Dark is an amazing armor set. Savage, Claws, and Street Justice are all fast animation attacks. They all kind of have thematic symmetry with Dark, too. The other primary I recommend is Bio. Also hard to kill and versatile. Plus, with the triple forms, you can adapt to a variety of situations.

 

I tried an Ice/Ice and couldn't deal with it. The attacks feel fluffy, not like you're pounding someone at all. The Ice Armor looks dorky. Just didn't enjoy it at all, but YMMV.

[Solarverse]

3 hours ago, Socks10 said:

Thanks Solarverse. To tell you how indecisive I am, I was almost ready to make a Dark/Sav to try that build out today. I'm going to give my Ice/Ice build more time though. I'd like to get up to a decent level soon so I can help my group out as soon as possible. 

The procs for a lot of the Frozen themed IOs goes well with Ice Tanks as well. You can throw the Immob in Frost and the Hold in Frozen Fists, and double stack a hold on Bosses with it. The Immob goes great with Frost as it not only gives a nice effect, but holds them in place as well. Put a Knock Down IO in Frozen Aura and it's like Foot Stomp, but much frostier.  🙂

[Ironscarlet]

Unique builds

Dark/Staff toughest Tank  when IO out. Also level smooth because staff stack -end cost as long as you don't use them.  Allowing you to run dark armor to its full potential because it has a heavy use of endurance. Think of the build like peanut butter and jelly.

Great leveling

Super tough cap everything at max IO

 

Rad/Dark Aoe proc monster. 4 aoe proc monster capable powers = 4 mini nukes. 3x16 target cap  1x32 target cap.  

Massive Aoe potential 

Layered  mitigation absorb,regen,resistance 

Tough to cap def 

 

Great builds

Shield/ anything

Bio/ anything 

 

Old school

Fire/Ice 

Ice patch KD +burn = Furnes  

To slow setup in current game speed

Still great at solo play or farm

 

 

Edited March 18, 2020 by Ironscarlet

[Heraclea]

I have four tankers that really clicked and one that didn't but probably wants revisited.

 

The greats:

 

Invuln/Dark Melee.  Tough as Granite with none of the disadvantages.  Matchless synergy between attack and defense sets. 

 

Bio/Spines.   My first offensive tanker.  Just shows up and mobs die.

 

Shield/Fire.  Another offense oriented build, but quite tough.  Plenty of AOE.

 

Willpower/Mace.  I used to be a big fan of Willpower until the rise of other endurance friendly armor sets like Bio and Radiation.  Now that's fixed on HC and I need to give it a second look.

 

Did not quite click:

 

Reflexes/Katana.  I presume Reflexes is not disadvantaged at holding aggro now.  Needs a second look. 

[Gauntlet_Prime]

3 hours ago, Heraclea said:

<snip>

Reflexes/Katana.  I presume Reflexes is not disadvantaged at holding aggro now.  Needs a second look. 

Concept wise it is fantastic but Katana felt wasted on mine.  One of Kat's big selling points is its parry but as a tanker you cap SR without even trying.  If you take out the parry then it is just a standard weapon set which is nice but doesn't synergize much mechanically.

[Socks10]

Thank you for all of the suggestions. It looks like I am going to have try try out a few of them. So far I have only had time to solo an Ice/Ice Tanker to 12. Not much to go on there, but I have enjoyed it so far. I should get a chance to use this Tanker tonight with my group. My main takeaways so far is:

 

1. My goodness there are a lot of toggles. Endurance is going to be a problem. 

 

2. No self heal. This isn't that much of a big deal really. 

 

3. Slows are awesome. 

 

4. Not many attacks. The prestige attacks are very much needed at these early levels. 

 

So far I have been following Redlynne's build found on these forums. I used their build for my Grav/Time controller and it was very good. 

Edited March 19, 2020 by Socks10
Added a fourth point.

[Solarverse]

@Socks10 I can post my Ice/Ice Tank build if you would like a secondary build to look at.

[Sura]

Ice Armor gets a self heal (and +HP boost) in Hoarfrost, which is available at level one I think.

[Socks10]

4 minutes ago, Sura said:

Ice Armor gets a self heal (and +HP boost) in Hoarfrost, which is available at level one I think.

Yeah, I've been playing this character a bit this morning and just hit 14 and went to grab that power....realizing that it is in fact available right away. 🙂

 

I'm really enjoying this character quite a bit right now. I have absolutely no worries about keeping aggro, but I am a bit concerned about being able to stay alive while holding all of that aggro. Hoarfrost should help and I am trying to slot my powers with little to no funds. I'm buying cheap IOs (15) off the AH right now and that's about it. Slotting DOs when I get ones that fit. 

[Solarverse]

1 hour ago, Socks10 said:

Yeah, I've been playing this character a bit this morning and just hit 14 and went to grab that power....realizing that it is in fact available right away. 🙂

 

I'm really enjoying this character quite a bit right now. I have absolutely no worries about keeping aggro, but I am a bit concerned about being able to stay alive while holding all of that aggro. Hoarfrost should help and I am trying to slot my powers with little to no funds. I'm buying cheap IOs (15) off the AH right now and that's about it. Slotting DOs when I get ones that fit. 

Ice Patch and Energy Absorption makes all the difference in the world with survival. They come soon enough. Just keep in mind, you are a Defense based Tank, you won't have any issues capping your Defense, so when you go to slot for IO's you will want to focus on bringing up your Resistance. Once you get those two powers, your survival will double.

[Call Me Awesome]

For sheer aggro management there's nothing in the game that beats an Ice tanker.  It won't mature to be as durable as some of the other sets but with a good build you can be tough enough to handle whatever the game throws at you.  I've played Ice/Fire on Live and currently have a mid-30's Ice/Spine here, that's a fantastic combination for getting and holding attention.

1 hour ago, Solarverse said:

Ice Patch and Energy Absorption makes all the difference in the world with survival. They come soon enough. Just keep in mind, you are a Defense based Tank, you won't have any issues capping your Defense, so when you go to slot for IO's you will want to focus on bringing up your Resistance. Once you get those two powers, your survival will double.

This is a good point on durability.  As a defense based tanker you're going to be a bit squishy in the lower levels, that's just the nature of all defense sets.  The more defense you get the better it gets... each % of defense is more valuable than the last.  0% - 5% is no great effect but 40% to 45% is HUGE.

[Socks10]

So, I finished Day Two with my new Ice/Ice Tanker. I soloed up to level 14, then got into a fire farm and leveled to 33. I finished the night grouping up with a couple buddies for my first real taste of grouping with this new Tanker. I'm basing my build off a build by Redlynne:

 

Now, with how fast this Tanker leveled, he was low on funds and time. I picked up what IOs I could before I grouped up with friends, but some slots were empty. I'll try to post what I was working with last night below. 

 

Level 34 Science Tanker

Primary Power Set: Ice Armor

Secondary Power Set: Ice Melee

Power Pool: Leaping

Power Pool: Medicine

Power Pool: Leadership

 

Hero Profile:

 

Level 1: Frozen Armor

• (A) Defense Buff: Level 15 IO
• (3) Defense Buff: Level 30 IO
• (5) Defense Buff: Level 35 SO
• (5) Empty

Level 1: Frozen Fists

• (A) Prestige Enhancement - Damage: Level 1 IO

Level 2: Chilling Embrace

• (A) Taunt Duration: Level 25 IO
• (7) Taunt Duration: Level 25 IO
• (7) Endurance Reduction: Level 32 SO
• (9) Empty

Level 4: Frost

• (A) Accuracy: Level 30 IO
• (9) Damage: Level 34 SO
• (11) Damage: Level 34 SO
• (11) Accuracy: Level 32 DO
• (13) Empty
• (17) Empty

Level 6: Wet Ice

• (A) Endurance Reduction: Level 25 IO

Level 8: Super Jump

• (A) Empty

Level 10: Taunt

• (A) Taunt Duration: Level 25 IO

Level 12: Icicles

• (A) Prestige Enhancement - Damage: Level 1 IO
• (13) Prestige Enhancement - Damage: Level 1 IO
• (15) Empty
• (15) Empty
• (17) Empty
• (21) Empty

Level 14: Hoarfrost

• (A) Healing/Absorb: Level 30 IO

Level 16: Injection

• (A) Empty

Level 18: Glacial Armor

• (A) Defense Buff: Level 30 IO
• (19) Defense Buff: Level 30 IO
• (19) Defense Buff: Level 30 IO
• (21) Endurance Reduction: Level 35 IO

Level 20: Ice Patch

• (A) Endurance Reduction: Level 25 IO

Level 22: Aid Self

• (A) Healing/Absorb: Level 30 IO
• (23) Healing/Absorb: Level 30 IO
• (23) Healing/Absorb: Level 30 IO
• (25) Interrupt Duration: Level 35 IO
• (25) Interrupt Duration: Level 35 IO
• (27) Interrupt Duration: Level 35 IO

Level 24: Maneuvers

• (A) Empty

Level 26: Energy Absorption

• (A) Defense Buff: Level 30 IO
• (29) Defense Buff: Level 30 IO
• (29) Defense Buff: Level 30 IO
• (31) Endurance Reduction: Level 35 IO
• (31) Endurance Reduction: Level 35 IO
• (31) Empty

Level 28: Freezing Touch

• (A) Accuracy: Level 36 DO
• (33) Hold Duration: Level 35 IO
• (33) Hold Duration: Level 35 IO
• (33) Empty
• (34) Empty
• (34) Empty

Level 30: Tactics

• (A) Empty

Level 32: Hibernate

• (A) Empty
• (34) Empty

Level 2: Stamina

• (A) Endurance Modification: Level 35 IO
• (3) Endurance Modification: Level 35 IO

 

I realize this probably looks a bit ugly. Please keep in mind that I haven't played the game in 15+ years. IOs and Set IOs are new to me. 

 

My group consisted of me, a 38 Elec/Elec Blaster, and a Mind Corruptor?. Our regular Empathy Defender took the night off. We ended up doing a string of missions in First Ward. We wiped once (because I kept trying to get Aid Self to work and didn't realize it could be interrupted...this is how new I am to tanking) and I think the Blaster died another time...again for the same reason. But I was please with how I played overall. I ran in and grabbed what mobs I could and ran back to the group. I was able to keep aggro for the most part and even made use of Hibernate successfully one time. I do have some thoughts on the build I'm using though: 

 

1. Aid Self is probably supposed to be used when your about done with a group of mobs and ready to go get the next. Then you run to the next group, grab aggro, and use Energy Absorption. 

 

2. Energy Absorption is awesome. 

 

3. The toggles are even more plentiful. As you an see, I grabbed Maneuvers and Tactics, but due to the endurance drain, I didn't toggle on either of those powers the whole night. 

 

4. Ice Patch is a very cool power.  

 

5. Would Tough and Weave be better options over the Leadership powers?

 

Thanks for any advice and tips so far. I am tempted to try some of the other builds mentioned above for comparison. But having a ton of fun on the Ice/Ice Tanker so far and learning a lot. 

 

[Redlynne]

55 minutes ago, Socks10 said:

1. Aid Self is probably supposed to be used when your about done with a group of mobs and ready to go get the next. Then you run to the next group, grab aggro, and use Energy Absorption.

Aid Self can be used IN COMBAT so long as you've got 45% or more Defense against what's attacking you (roll a natural 20 on 1d20 to be hit) and don't stand in DoT patches that will interrupt you.  Being MISSED by incoming attacks, due to high Defense does NOT invoke the Interrupt, while moving or taking damage does (and Defense helps prevent you from taking damage).  You can pull off this trick once you've got your Defense built out sufficiently to make almost everything miss you with their attacks.  Until then, you're best off using Aid Self between fights, rather than during, due to the Interrupt problem.

1 hour ago, Socks10 said:

2. Energy Absorption is awesome. 

It is ... and it NEVER gets old.

Energy Absorption is the Ice/Ice Tanker version of Rage.  Use it and abuse it!

58 minutes ago, Socks10 said:

3. The toggles are even more plentiful. As you an see, I grabbed Maneuvers and Tactics, but due to the endurance drain, I didn't toggle on either of those powers the whole night.

You're looking at Growing Pains™.  Until you get your build FULLY slotted out you're going to be starved for accuracy/damage/endurance/etc./etc. while you're leveling up.  A really BIG help in that regard is getting the Accolades that increase your Endurance and being able to start slotting in set IOs.  Having Panacea, Miracle and Numina's procs slotted into Health ... along with a common Endurance Modification, a Performance Shifter Endurance Modification and the Performance Shifter proc in Stamina will make ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD for your endurance budget and being able to manage all those toggles running.  It would also profit you to work towards getting the Accolade powers that increase your HP and your Max Endurance to help.

 

1 hour ago, Socks10 said:

4. Ice Patch is a very cool power.

It is, but it's also one that you will eventually outgrow.  Once you are FULLY built out, you'll need to rely on it less and less.  But definitely use is now while it is still valuable to you.

1 hour ago, Socks10 said:

5. Would Tough and Weave be better options over the Leadership powers?

In my experience ... no.  They cost just as much endurance and are what I call "selfish" options over the more expansive and team friendly Leadership pool powers.  Ultimately, both you and your teams will "get more" out of Leadership powers than you will using Tough and Weave.  Pretty much the only time when Leadership is the "inferior" option is when you're either soloing or when no one else on your team has Leadership powers aside from you, and it's better to be a part of the solution for that than to be part of the problem for that.

[Socks10]

Thank you very much for the response. I will stay the course with my Tanker for now. I did not know that Accolade powers existed. I found a post on this forum listing them and how to do them, so I will try to organize my group and get working on those. I also found a post talking about useful contacts I could have missed. So, I'll check that out as well. 

 

I do have questions about Set IOs. Should I ignore these until close to 50 and just keep putting regular IOs in slots? Can Set IOs be added at any time if you have the money or should they only be added if you have a full set?

[BZRKR]

20 minutes ago, Socks10 said:

Thank you very much for the response. I will stay the course with my Tanker for now. I did not know that Accolade powers existed. I found a post on this forum listing them and how to do them, so I will try to organize my group and get working on those. I also found a post talking about useful contacts I could have missed. So, I'll check that out as well. 

 

I do have questions about Set IOs. Should I ignore these until close to 50 and just keep putting regular IOs in slots? Can Set IOs be added at any time if you have the money or should they only be added if you have a full set?

I recommend that you do the Invention Tutorial in the University if you haven't already. The University locations are in Steel Canyon, Croatoa, Founder's Falls, and Cap au Diable. Look for the Admissions Officer in Paragon City or the Dean in the Rogue Isles. https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/University

 

IO sets are spread throughout the level ranges. To get an idea of what's out there, either look in the Auction House (type /ah almost anywhere but inside a mission or base) or here https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Enhancement_Sets