tanker New(ish) player - Tanker

[Sickraspy]

Hello! 

 

I'm new to Homecoming, i played CoH when it was live with a few lvl 50's. 

 

I'm trying to decide what to commit to for my first character in this. 

 

I'd like to be a tanker and want to make sure i'm at least viable for endgame content if i decided to be less than casual. 

 

Are there any powersets that i should AVOID? I'm not looking to Min/Max, mostly just want to avoid anything really subpar. 

 

Thanks!

 

(i haven't posted here yet and i'm somewhat new so let me know if this isn't the appropriate venue or question.)

[Sovera]

You will be spoiled for choice as Tankers are in a good place. Radiation Armor is top defensive goodness with Radiation Therapy holding you up from level 16 to level 99. Fire Armor is your most offensive oriented armor and it will blow holes on things to a point you'll forget you are not a damage oriented character.

 

There is no particular set that I would say is bad though with the caveat that some are slow to start or need IOs to get up to snuff. Granite Armor is a bit obsolete nowadays with the built in downsides not making it a fun set to play.

 

I may be biased but my altitis has been cured by my Fire Armor/Claws which I've posted on these boards.ots of damage and starting early unlike, say, Super-Strength, whose trademark powers only kick in at 28 and 38.

Edited July 23, 2020 by Sovera

[Warboss]

Hi Sickraspy,

 

Welcome back! My suggestions would be Rad/Fire, Rad/Rad and then any other combo (I'm a Rad and Fiery Melee fan, so I might be biased). Aside for that, what sets did you play on live and did you like/enjoy them?

[Sickraspy]

1 hour ago, Warboss said:

Hi Sickraspy,

 

Welcome back! My suggestions would be Rad/Fire, Rad/Rad and then any other combo (I'm a Rad and Fiery Melee fan, so I might be biased). Aside for that, what sets did you play on live and did you like/enjoy them?

Thanks! 

 

My main was a ice/fire blaster. it took forever to level and death was always looming. i then did a MA/regen scrapper that i adored, i loved soloing and appearing mobile. i also played a cold/dark corruptor and the support role was great but also lacked in solo content.

 

I've been playing WoW the last couple years and i discovered that i far prefer tanking. I was thinking about Ice/Ice or Stone/Stone but i do worry about speed. i like the idea of a tanker with mobility. 

[Sickraspy]

1 hour ago, Sovera said:

You will be spoiled for choice as Tankers are in a good place. Radiation Armor is top defensive goodness with Radiation Therapy holding you up from level 16 to level 99. Fire Armor is your most offensive oriented armor and it will blow holes on things to a point you'll forget you are not a damage oriented character.

 

There is no particular set that I would say is bad though with the caveat that some are slow to start or need IOs to get up to snuff. Granite Armor is a bit obsolete nowadays with the built in downsides not making it a fun set to play.

 

I may be biased but my altitis has been cured by my Fire Armor/Claws which I've posted on these boards.ots of damage and starting early unlike, say, Super-Strength, whose trademark powers only kick in at 28 and 38.

Thanks for the heads up, i have been thinking about stone armor because i like the flavor i am scared about mobility and having to wait a while for it to work. 

 

I have been seeing a lot about fire and radiation being a blast and being strong. what are your thoughts on Ice ?

[kiramon]

3 minutes ago, Sickraspy said:

Thanks for the heads up, i have been thinking about stone armor because i like the flavor i am scared about mobility and having to wait a while for it to work. 

 

I have been seeing a lot about fire and radiation being a blast and being strong. what are your thoughts on Ice ?

It works, but it's lacking. The newer sets have very few holes, whereas ice has many. It relies on layering defenses (with debuffs/drains) in a way that is not intuitive at first glance.

 

For Stone, it's probably still your strongest out of the box tanker - but unlike other sets, when you get to IOs youre not really building up its defenses (it reaches the softcaps/caps quite easily), you're building up your recharge/recharge procs/movement speed. Still can't jump, though.

 

Stone definitely isn't bad - it's just (much like in wow) tanks have evolved to be how much damage they do, since most everything can survive now. 

[Sickraspy]

1 hour ago, Sovera said:

You will be spoiled for choice as Tankers are in a good place. Radiation Armor is top defensive goodness with Radiation Therapy holding you up from level 16 to level 99. Fire Armor is your most offensive oriented armor and it will blow holes on things to a point you'll forget you are not a damage oriented character.

 

There is no particular set that I would say is bad though with the caveat that some are slow to start or need IOs to get up to snuff. Granite Armor is a bit obsolete nowadays with the built in downsides not making it a fun set to play.

 

I may be biased but my altitis has been cured by my Fire Armor/Claws which I've posted on these boards.ots of damage and starting early unlike, say, Super-Strength, whose trademark powers only kick in at 28 and 38.

Just went and looked at your Fire/Claws guide. i honestly think that's the direction i want to go in, i appreciate the link! what server are you on? As a disciple of your build i'd love to see you around town

[Sickraspy]

1 minute ago, kiramon said:

It works, but it's lacking. The newer sets have very few holes, whereas ice has many. It relies on layering defenses (with debuffs/drains) in a way that is not intuitive at first glance.

 

For Stone, it's probably still your strongest out of the box tanker - but unlike other sets, when you get to IOs youre not really building up its defenses (it reaches the softcaps/caps quite easily), you're building up your recharge/recharge procs/movement speed. Still can't jump, though.

 

Stone definitely isn't bad - it's just (much like in wow) tanks have evolved to be how much damage they do, since most everything can survive now. 

Thanks! i like the theme of ice but as a "new" player i do think it'll be best to avoid getting too complicated at first. I think i'm sitting between stone/fire/radiation now. Probably going to let the animations decided at this point lol

[kiramon]

5 minutes ago, Sickraspy said:

Thanks! i like the theme of ice but as a "new" player i do think it'll be best to avoid getting too complicated at first. I think i'm sitting between stone/fire/radiation now. Probably going to let the animations decided at this point lol

 

If you're considering radiation, legit go that route. You'll not have to worry about endurance at all -- the biggest fun sucker in the game. 

 

Edit: Add:

Some other things rad gets

1. The best toggle-damage aura in the game (it's unique in that it drops a pseudo pet, not actually a damage aura - every 5 seconds; which means, it procs 2x as fast as regular 

2. A little mini nuke! You can proc this out with IOs later on and it's literally a mini nuke!

3. A crashless t9 that serves as a +damage. WOoh.

4. Absorbs are the new it thing. Rad gets one!

 

Edited July 23, 2020 by kiramon

[Sovera]

18 minutes ago, Sickraspy said:

Thanks for the heads up, i have been thinking about stone armor because i like the flavor i am scared about mobility and having to wait a while for it to work. 

 

I have been seeing a lot about fire and radiation being a blast and being strong. what are your thoughts on Ice ?

Like the others its good. You can perfectly get away with playing thematic characters since it all boils down to simply making a good build for them. Ice/Ice or Stone/Stone won't let you down. Stuff like Fire Armor/Claws is just perfectly min-maxed to me which is important for my appreciation. By level 20 the character has everything from the core which means it exemplars down to 15 with that core. I - personally - would struggle to like a character whose linchpin powers would take too long to acquire or would be lost if I examplar too low.

 

It's something I've been looking at when I consider playing other secondaries. Energy Melee would do tremendous burst, but the linchpin powers come at 35-38 and even Build-up comes at 28. Fire melee would be thematic, but the first 'real' AoE comes at 28. Super-Strength is really fun and super-heroish, but don't you dare to examplar lower than 32 or you lose your only AoE, etc.

 

Most people won't take a big consideration in exemplaring down and intend to solely play at max level which makes this a non issue for them.

 

I'm on Everlasting btw, but have moved to a second account. If you intend to level there let me know since I bounce around all the time in the low levels.

Edited July 23, 2020 by Sovera

[Neiska]

I just rolled my first tanker this week too. Shes moving along well, up to 31. I went radiation/radiation. Rad defense seems very solid. Rad offense doesnt really stand out to me, but it fits the theme. I am hoping a few more levels will make the offense start to take off. But I havent given up, she is only 31. Some powersets dont shine until the very end.

 

But sorry OP, my experience with tankers are limited, for now.

[Cutter]

I've built at least one tank of every primary, doubling up on Dark, Fire, Rad and Shield. Of those, I'd give the base-level survivability nod to Rad (Dark can do obscene things but requires significant IO investment). As mentioned, Rad also has end management tools and mini-proc-nukes if you choose to build them. I'd also argue for Elec as another strong primary.

 

Really tho, it's hard to go wrong with any of the sets as long as you know what strengths to build for and weaknesses to manage.

[Gobbledigook]

I would also vote Rad armour  for a new player as many have suggested here. Solid resists, heals and really helps  with endurance. Slot a theft of essence proc in Rad Therapy early to further help with endurance.

 

I would say pick the attack set you like the look of really. You want to have fun. 1 or 2 powers that do knockback\down would be nice though to slot some +recharge procs in. But go with what you like\theme.  

 

Have fun 🙂

Edited July 23, 2020 by Gobbledegook

[Warboss]

Welcome to all the new Tankers, feel free to join us on a Tanker Tuesday. It's a good place to see power sets in action and how they're played. Granted you'd be in a scrum of Tanks demolishing the goons, but it's still a good place to see things in action and ask questions.

[Xandyr]

Having played Ice, Dark, Bio, Stone, and Electric,  my most favorite would be Bio.

 

 Dark was fun. Soft capped defenses and resists. I paired it with MA, and felt more like a "tanktroller" with all the fear and disorients.

 

 I'm currently playing my Electric/Staff and it's a very fun combo. It "feels" SOLID and feels like a good amount of damage (maybe bc you see so many numbers popping up due to all the AoE).

 

 Bio is....STRONG. I regen more than Regen scrappers ever thought about. It's not uncommon to hit over 225 HP/Sec. Add on Absorb, massive HP, and solid defenses with respectable resists, and well, you don't die. I paired it with Rad Melee. I've been in teams where the whole team has wiped (including another tank) and i just kept on trucking. I also enjoy the different stances that's available.

 

 Of course, nowadays, with IOs and Incarnates, most all tanks can be built to be indestructible. 

 I'm on Excelsior. Global is @ScarlettAngel.

 Welcome (back) Home.

[Hyperstrike]

7 hours ago, Sovera said:

You will be spoiled for choice as Tankers are in a good place. Radiation Armor is top defensive Resistance goodness

FTFY

[kiramon]

9 hours ago, Cutter said:

I've built at least one tank of every primary, doubling up on Dark, Fire, Rad and Shield. Of those, I'd give the base-level survivability nod to Rad (Dark can do obscene things but requires significant IO investment). As mentioned, Rad also has end management tools and mini-proc-nukes if you choose to build them. I'd also argue for Elec as another strong primary.

 

Really tho, it's hard to go wrong with any of the sets as long as you know what strengths to build for and weaknesses to manage.

Oh yes elec. cuz screw end drain