How important is taunt?

[Chalkarts]

I'm playing a Rad/Wpr.

Between Punch Voke, My Wpr Taunt aura, and contaminated ground, do I really need to take the Taunt power? 

[Heraclea]

If you are playing solo only, it probably can be skipped.  I don't treat it as all that important on a brute; all of my brutes have it, but it tends to be a late pick for them,   Still, even when soloing it is useful for the -range effect.

 

If you want to tank for teams, which is the chief reason for choosing a tanker rather than a brute, it simply is the best tool for the job. 

[Psyonico]

Take it, use it, love it.

[Bastille Boy]

It's essential if you plan to play on teams. People expect tankers to taunt and to do it well. On my first tanker build, I made the mistake of one-slotting Taunt. I wasn't very good at keeping people alive. I was a more helpful teammate after I respecced and six-slotted Taunt.

 

Take Taunt and slot it. Not necessarily six slots, but more than one. Perfect Zinger and Mocking Beratement are both great sets.

[Heraclea]

I seldom add slots to Taunt.  But I always lead with it, and it tends to occupy the 1 slot on the attacks bar.  I usually put some kind of proc in it like the Perfect Zinger psi damage. 

[tidge]

3 hours ago, Chalkarts said:

I'm playing a Rad/Wpr.

Between Punch Voke, My Wpr Taunt aura, and contaminated ground, do I really need to take the Taunt power? 

If you only ever play solo, no one will care if you have Taunt. If you ever team, many(*) teammates will have a low opinion of you as a tank.

 

There are things a solo Tank can do with Taunt, but you can't Tank for a team without Taunt. A big part of Tanking involves grabbing aggro from your teammates on top of whatever else you are doing.

 

(*) I can't promise that some teammates won't be laughing at you as they peel enemies off of you.

[Call Me Awesome]

55 minutes ago, tidge said:

If you only ever play solo, no one will care if you have Taunt. If you ever team, many(*) teammates will have a low opinion of you as a tank.

 

There are things a solo Tank can do with Taunt, but you can't Tank for a team without Taunt. A big part of Tanking involves grabbing aggro from your teammates on top of whatever else you are doing.

 

(*) I can't promise that some teammates won't be laughing at you as they peel enemies off of you.

I can promise that teammates will have disparaging things to say when they peel enemies off of you.  Things like "pointless" or "pathetic".

 

A tank that easily looses aggro isn't a tank, they're a low damage scrapper or brute.  If you're planning to team then you need to learn to manage aggro, and Taunt is an invaluable tool for that.  CAN I manage aggro without it?  Yes, but I know the tricks and WORK at it.  DO I have Taunt on all tanks?  Heck yes, it's the best tool in your arsenal for grabbing aggro, and one of the very few you can use to get aggro without physically moving over to each individual mob that may be outside of the group clustered around you.

 

Bottom line, if you're not going to take Taunt and manage aggro then roll up a brute or scrapper... they'll do better damage and their durability is more than adequate.  Plus teams won't expect you to manage aggro and cuss your name when you don't.

[Caulderone]

Bear in mind, Taunt has a target cap of 5.  Be sure to target the biggest, baddest thing directly, as you can't control the targets chosen by the splash.

 

The tanker PBAoEs now have a target cap of 16.  Quite useful to snag the small fry, if they live long enough for it to matter.

 

 

[Luigrein]

In my experience, it’s nice to have but it doesn’t need to be heavily invested in.  Anything near me is generally handled by auras/gauntlet, but the taunt power can be pretty handy for pulling an enemy off of someone from outside melee range. Sets without a taunt aura probably will get more mileage out of it. (I know all auras on tanks taunt with gauntlet, but ones that rely on damage ticks tend to be less reliable about it. Or at least this was the case, the recent tank changes may have shaken it up a bit.)

 

You can tank for a team without it, but you may need your team to slow down a little and let you establish aggro for a second before they start lighting things on fire.

[Infinitum]

9 hours ago, tidge said:

If you only ever play solo, no one will care if you have Taunt. If you ever team, many(*) teammates will have a low opinion of you as a tank.

 

There are things a solo Tank can do with Taunt, but you can't Tank for a team without Taunt. A big part of Tanking involves grabbing aggro from your teammates on top of whatever else you are doing.

 

(*) I can't promise that some teammates won't be laughing at you as they peel enemies off of you.

 

8 hours ago, Call Me Awesome said:

I can promise that teammates will have disparaging things to say when they peel enemies off of you.  Things like "pointless" or "pathetic".

 

A tank that easily looses aggro isn't a tank, they're a low damage scrapper or brute.  If you're planning to team then you need to learn to manage aggro, and Taunt is an invaluable tool for that.  CAN I manage aggro without it?  Yes, but I know the tricks and WORK at it.  DO I have Taunt on all tanks?  Heck yes, it's the best tool in your arsenal for grabbing aggro, and one of the very few you can use to get aggro without physically moving over to each individual mob that may be outside of the group clustered around you.

 

Bottom line, if you're not going to take Taunt and manage aggro then roll up a brute or scrapper... they'll do better damage and their durability is more than adequate.  Plus teams won't expect you to manage aggro and cuss your name when you don't.

Pure fiction. 

 

Taunt isn't a bad thing to have but if you are a really good tank you absolutely dont need it.

 

Usually if your team is fluid it wont matter, cause anything that might get peeled off will be held, debuffed or dead in a matter of moments anyway.

 

I move in fast and AOE then the team is shortly behind and alphas after I have absorbed the mob alpha and I move on once its in the process of being mopped up.

[tidge]

7 hours ago, Infinitum said:

 

Taunt isn't a bad thing to have but if you are a really good tank you absolutely dont need it.

 

Usually if your team is fluid it wont matter, cause anything that might get peeled off will be held, debuffed or dead in a matter of moments anyway.

 

I move in fast and AOE then the team is shortly behind and alphas after I have absorbed the mob alpha and I move on once its in the process of being mopped up.

This isn't tanking... this is cannon fodder. In the scenario you describe, the team is doing all the work.

[Infinitum]

3 hours ago, tidge said:

This isn't tanking... this is cannon fodder. In the scenario you describe, the team is doing all the work.

No, not really tanks also do dmg, thanks to homecoming tanks do really good damage now.  Absorbing the alpha, and hitting AOE, you have the mobs attention then the team unloads with minimal collateral damage.  Its smooth its fast its efficient.

 

What you are describing while still useful, is more of a relic and the last ties CoH has to the Trinity which isnt really the most efficient way to play it.

 

Like i said though it still works, and if its fun for you and your team do it.

 

But to say people laugh at tanks or call them pointless or pathetic for not taking taunt is pure fiction and more disconnected from how tanking really is in CoH.

Edited April 25, 2020 by Infinitum

[tidge]

53 minutes ago, Infinitum said:

But to say people laugh at tanks or call them pointless or pathetic for not taking taunt is pure fiction and more disconnected from how tanking really is in CoH.

I've witnessed several people 'taunting' Tanks during Posi 1 and 2, which are at levels below ROFLstomping. With enough defense, there is zero need for the type of 'tanking' you are describing.

[Infinitum]

1 hour ago, tidge said:

I've witnessed several people 'taunting' Tanks during Posi 1 and 2, which are at levels below ROFLstomping. With enough defense, there is zero need for the type of 'tanking' you are describing.

Posi 1 and 2 are hardly measuring sticks.

 

Secondly ill drag any squishy faster than they can go in posi 1 and 2 the only ones that die are the ones that either dont stay back if we are stealthing it or the ones that dont stay close.

Edited April 25, 2020 by Infinitum

[Redlynne]

Taunt is the difference being able to control aggro in a PBAoE and being able to control aggro in a Target AoE.

It's also been known to make runners run back to you ... which can sometimes be helpful.

 

I personally like Taunt as a One Slot Wonder™ power (put a Perfect Zinger proc in it) that you can use to pad out attack chains that would otherwise have a gap at zero endurance cost (spoiler alert, Taunts cost zero endurance).  That then helps you stay active without costing you additional endurance while simultaneously making it harder for others to peel stuff off you.

 

But the real gravy is the ability to draw aggro from a distance while simultaneously debuffing their Range so they HAVE TO run over to you in order to do anything.  Makes pulling a LOT easier to do (when you need to do it).

[Haijinx]

For most teams you won't need it.

 

But its a valuable power.

 

But everyone needs multiple skippable powers so they can get vengeance I guess ...  or something. 

 

 

Edited April 25, 2020 by Haijinx

[Haijinx]

3 hours ago, Infinitum said:

Posi 1 and 2 are hardly measuring sticks.

 

Secondly ill drag any squishy faster than they can go in posi 1 and 2 the only ones that die are the ones that either dont stay back if we are stealthing it or the ones that dont stay close.

A lot of people can't fit Taunt in by that level easily.  So Posi is a weird metric.

 

 

[Bill Z Bubba]

50 minutes ago, Haijinx said:

For most teams you won't need it.

 

But its a valuable power.

 

But everyone needs multiple skippable powers so they can get vengeance I guess ...  or something. 

 

 

 

I'd go with this. I take taunt on my tanks and my brutes because I like the power. I like an easy "save the squishy" click at my disposal.

 

Is it necessary when you've also got taunt auras and punchvoke? No. Edit: Unless you're playing with REALLY bad players.

Edited April 25, 2020 by Bill Z Bubba

[tidge]

1 hour ago, Haijinx said:

A lot of people can't fit Taunt in by that level easily.  So Posi is a weird metric.

I'm usually seeing teams run Positron in the 10-20 level. YMMV.

 

At level 10, I don't expect the tanks to have Taunt (since AFAIK, it is a level 12 power across secondaries). But at the lower levels, Tanks really shouldn't be going heavy on Attack powers, and all of the Primaries are probably not a good idea either... all these things take Endurance, which is very precious for Tankers. The P2W prestige attacks are probably filling attack chains anyway at the lowest levels. I suppose Tankers could be dipping into Power Pools, but for a Tanker to forgo Taunt to pick a non-travel pool power seems like a weird choice.

 

One 8-player PUGs for Positron, it simply isn't possible to gather and hold the aggro of all the spawns using only an aura and punchvoke.

[Haijinx]

1 minute ago, tidge said:

I'm usually seeing teams run Positron in the 10-20 level. YMMV.

 

At level 10, I don't expect the tanks to have Taunt (since AFAIK, it is a level 12 power across secondaries). But at the lower levels, Tanks really shouldn't be going heavy on Attack powers, and all of the Primaries are probably not a good idea either... all these things take Endurance, which is very precious for Tankers. The P2W prestige attacks are probably filling attack chains anyway at the lowest levels. I suppose Tankers could be dipping into Power Pools, but for a Tanker to forgo Taunt to pick a non-travel pool power seems like a weird choice.

 

One 8-player PUGs for Positron, it simply isn't possible to gather and hold the aggro of all the spawns using only an aura and punchvoke.

Definitely works better being Exemplared 

 

For DFBs there is no issue not having taunt 

 

 

[Crysis]

5 hours ago, tidge said:

I'm usually seeing teams run Positron in the 10-20 level. YMMV.

 

At level 10, I don't expect the tanks to have Taunt (since AFAIK, it is a level 12 power across secondaries). But at the lower levels, Tanks really shouldn't be going heavy on Attack powers, and all of the Primaries are probably not a good idea either... all these things take Endurance, which is very precious for Tankers. The P2W prestige attacks are probably filling attack chains anyway at the lowest levels. I suppose Tankers could be dipping into Power Pools, but for a Tanker to forgo Taunt to pick a non-travel pool power seems like a weird choice.

 

One 8-player PUGs for Positron, it simply isn't possible to gather and hold the aggro of all the spawns using only an aura and punchvoke.

 Taunt is valuable to a tanker, ill agree to that.

 

But level 10-20 is done in a matter of hours to normal players, and skipped entirely by many. Any benchmark for how a build should work really should be focused on the levels 25-50, as that’s where most of the leveling time exists.

[Nemu]

It's a really nice tool in the tanker arsenal but some players/powersets need it more than others.

 

Tanks that play city of statues need taunt. They need it because they are perfectly content standing in one place doing their "tanking" and they normally don't prioritize their targets either.

 

"Hmm there are two dark ring mistress about 10 feet from me killing my teammates but nah, I'll stand here and punch the steel strongman cuz he looks stronk AF."

 

Tank that know how to move have less dependency on it to manage aggro.

 

 

 

 

[SwitchFade]

On 4/24/2020 at 7:51 AM, Chalkarts said:

I'm playing a Rad/Wpr.

Between Punch Voke, My Wpr Taunt aura, and contaminated ground, do I really need to take the Taunt power? 

Yes.

[Infinitum]

8 hours ago, Nemu said:

It's a really nice tool in the tanker arsenal but some players/powersets need it more than others.

 

Tanks that play city of statues need taunt. They need it because they are perfectly content standing in one place doing their "tanking" and they normally don't prioritize their targets either.

 

"Hmm there are two dark ring mistress about 10 feet from me killing my teammates but nah, I'll stand here and punch the steel strongman cuz he looks stronk AF."

 

Tank that know how to move have less dependency on it to manage aggro.

 

 

 

 

nail meet hammer

Edited April 26, 2020 by Infinitum

[SwitchFade]

12 hours ago, Nemu said:

It's a really nice tool in the tanker arsenal but some players/powersets need it more than others.

 

Tanks that play city of statues need taunt. They need it because they are perfectly content standing in one place doing their "tanking" and they normally don't prioritize their targets either.

 

"Hmm there are two dark ring mistress about 10 feet from me killing my teammates but nah, I'll stand here and punch the steel strongman cuz he looks stronk AF."

 

Tank that know how to move have less dependency on it to manage aggro.

 

 

 

 

まちがています。

 

Tank with no taunt lose aggro to brute, blaster, stalker, scrapper...

 

Sad tank.

 

Sad panda.