What is Your Favorite Tanker Ever?!

[Mythcreatio]

As the title says! I'm just seeking what people have loved/enjoyed playing the most!

 

Seeking some inspiration for my next tanker!

 

My current/first/and only tanker ever is a DA/Sav that has been cool thus far, but now I have that itch to test out different builds etc for tankers!

[Bill Z Bubba]

SR/Claws for overall utility. But my bias was set a looooong time ago.

[Heraclea]

I chose well very early on in HC.

 

Inv/Dark Melee for overall toughness. 

 

Bio/Spines for aggro holding ability and earning potential. 

[Gulbasaur]

Dark/Dark hands down. Having a control aura as well as a taunt aura is great - you're not just controlling aggro to keep your teammates safe, you're controlling enemies to keep your teammates safe while you goes head to head with the bosses. 

[Sovera]

I've gone on for too long about Fire/Claws to start about it once more, but having decided to level another one for my actual account it feels so nice. Even while leveling but already chock full of attuned IOs and ATOs it's all about killing minions with one use of Burn, seeing the sudden melting of things with Follow-up, Spin, Burn. And it starting doing so early.

 

But it's squishy. It's fine while we level and do easy content but the defense debuffs mess it badly and it needs Incarnates to survive well.

 

The opposite is Invulnerability that just ignores everything and plows through things without a sweat but then we are whittling enemies nice slow and steady. I prefer the Fire Armor approach -because- we have Incarnates and can build for damage and then use a clicky for the tough moments, but most of the time the tough moments are well spaced apart so for me it's about the 90% of the content, not the 10%.

[Sovera]

I was thinking about my reply and decided to add to it. I really really feel that I am super-hero with this. I'm sturdy, I stab faces, I wade first into a room full of enemies and break them with none of the 'tanks are meant to do low damage' from other games.

 

Looking at other things I've tried in the past I consider how far my Controllers were from this fantasy. Even a powerful multiplier like a Plant/Kin does not make me feel like a super-hero. Things like running around during Numina to kill greys and be slowly whittling them is pretty anti-heroic-feeling. Or wanting to AoE and not having it

[Infinitum]

Well, it doesn't exist as it was at the time of it being my favorite. 

Invul/EM.  

 

Currently for survivability:

Invul/SS

Shield/STJ

 

For Damage

Fire/EM

 

For AOE fun

Shield/Elec

 

But really if it's a tanker I like them all, except Ice.  Sorry to my ice brethren, just not my cup o tea.

 

I recant my ice position btw - it's awesome and I love it now.

Edited February 12, 2021 by Infinitum

[tellania]

Strangely, its invul/ss.

When homecoming opened up, I remade my main into bio/dark.   Under most conditions, more survivable than my invul/ss namesake.

But ... I notice the differences.  Fighting COT and their -tohit, rage does care, while dark melee will wiff more.

During some fights, I noticed the -regen or -recharge (bio is about the recharge to get your 3 heals/hp shields up).

 

I ended up switching bio/dm with my invul/ss (name wise), and back to favorite.   It might be  a preference, since I played invul/ss so much, everything is second nature, and with bio (even with a 50!),  I still play with the build, or attack chains.

[Biff Pow]

Most of my COH time has been playing the classic Inv/SS. I keep trying to branch out but then it's just a hero game instead of SUPERhero.

[Bastille Boy]

Of my three level 50 tankers, my main, an Invulnerability / Street Justice tanker, is my favorite. This is the only toon I have that can handle AE 801.2 solo at +2/8. (I can't do +4/8 with anything yet.)

 

My Super Strength / Willpower proc monster can solo an AV but isn't nearly as good at tanking. The lack of defense debuff resistance in Willpower is a problem. Functionally, this is a tough, low-damage scrapper.

 

My Dark / Dark tanker is quite tough. It's a ways away from full incarnates, so I can't make a fair comparison yet, but I think I prefer the layered defenses of Invulnerability to going all in on resistance. (The build does have softcap defense to melee and S/L, but only 30% to everything else and no DDR.) I don't have the endurance issues that some people report with Dark Armor.

[KC4800]

I currently have 3 lvl 50. Rad Armor/WM on Indom. Ice/Stone on Everlasting.  Fire Armor/Savage on Excelsior. A lvl 30 Elec/Elec on Torchbearer. All have their strengths/weaknesses, depending on who I am fighting. The Ice/Stone is my best build. 

[Gobbledigook]

My favourite at the moment is Rad/SS with Rad/DM close behind. Great mitigation/heal set and some nice added AoE damage clickies.

 

I am partial to Dark armour also. Looks cool.

 

WP is fun also for easy straight forward tanking whilst attacking.

 

I have not tried SR Tanker yet , I keep meaning to.

 

Back in the day my main was an Ice/SS Tanker. I enjoyed that back then but haven't made one since.

 

All Tankers are good though it's hard to make a bad choice.

[VV]

ALL the fire!

[Warboss]

Back in the day (a loooong time ago...) I really enjoyed my Fire Tanks. Very fun, all aspects of them, and I leveled up all the combos.

I really enjoyed my Invuln/Stone, he was incredibly difficult to kill. I had Fault slotted for recharge and between bouncing goons and Invincibility there just wasn't much that could touch him.

Here, I really enjoy Radiation Armor/anything! After so many worked so hard to get the set going, it's nice to have it here and extremely fun to play. Rad/Fire is my combo choice, and probably over all my favorite Tanker combo to date.

 

Note: I did run Electric/Fire for a long time on live and I enjoyed that combo as well.

[Yomo Kimyata]

I can't claim to really be a tanker kind of person, but I'm REALLY liking my Bio/Energy.  

[Golden Azrael]

Favourite?

 

Ice/Ice/Ice.

 

It's phenomenal.  Thoughtful.  Depth.

 

It has it all.  Heal.  Defence.  End recovery.  Slows.  Knock down.  Hibernate.  AoE damage.  Holds.  Arachnos Smasher.

 

A joy to play.

 

My Invul/EM was rock 'ard ( I did enjoy it, great on ITF!!! (but very dull by comparison.  And EM hits like a fairy.

 

Azrael.

[Sura]

1. Ice/Electric

2.WP/Ice

 

Leveling a Rad/DB right now, and that's been fun too.

[Maxzero]

 

Whatever I am building at the moment.

 

Currently working on SR/Rad which may be my best character ever (although I think that with every build).

[Colder]

Bio/fire. People hate combustion because of the cast time but with build up and the offensive toggle running that and fire sword circle clear most of the group. Not to mention he's ridiculously durable with a handful of options for nearly every situation. Vet level 40ish

 

Edit: just wanted to add, my other tanks are Shield/dm, which is a fun combo but the damage just feels extremely low in comparison to the bio/fire. Level 49

 

And then there is my Elec/MA. I swapped the kicks to the punches and it feels kind of clunky. But he's durable as heck. He's my only red side tanker at this time. Level 46ish

 

I plan on adding an Ice Armor/something eventually, as my favorite toons and mains are an ice/ice stalker, and a Rad melee/ice brute

Edited October 9, 2020 by Colder
Added

[Xandyr]

I have the following tanks:

 

Fire/Staff

Elec/Staff

Invuln/WM

Bio/Rad

Rad/Spines

Dark/MA

WP/Staff

Shield/Dark (work in progress...only level 32)

Ice/Elec

 

 My favorite? Bio/Rad. It's fun, damn near unkillable, and it's awesome seeing you regen 200+HP/Sec.

The Elec/Staff was fun to play, as was WP/Staff. Fire/Staff has soooo much AoE. 

 I'm thinking the new Shield/Dark tank will be a beast. But yeah....Bio/Rad is my fave.

 

[Force Redux]

Shield/Martial Arts. Looks great with all the kicks, shield adds so much goodness, and Tanker MA has a solid AoE and a parry ability. Only wish Shield's mez resistance wasn't a clicky. But that's a small quibble. Character has great health, solid defense and appreciable resistances. I specced out of Aid Self as a result, never need it. 

[Camel]

My Fiery Aura/Energy Melee Tank, definitely. Back in live, a loooing time ago... Fire/EM Tanks could practically 2 shot any squishy in PvP. Something about a Build Up + Fiery Embrace buffed Energy Transfer/Total Focus just seemed.... dirty.

 

Even with the nerf, I still love it. When you use both of your build ups, Energy Transfer and Total Focus SLAP. Even level bosses can be two-shot frequently and +4 bosses may as well be. You will frequently team with Kinetics users and de-buffers.. this just makes it hilarious. I’ve watched AV hit-point bars drop like a bosses would with just one Energy Transfer... 😎 You just have to take my word for it! 

Edited October 16, 2020 by Camel

[ninja surprise]

Shield / Stone is my ultra survivable hoot, with the stomps and charges and constant smashing.

 

Bio/DM is fun for lots of clicking and having to pay attention or die but rewarded with oodles of damage with Soul Drain buffing the Bio AoE into mini nukes. It's what I wish Dark Armor was more like.

 

Rad/Fire is coming up my enjoyment scale though. Plenty tough with good damage, don't need to worry about mitigation and exemplars well.

[Bill Z Bubba]

1 hour ago, ninja surprise said:

Bio/DM

Hmmmmmmmmm.

 

Edit: I'd be more interested if I didn't feel forced into the MG/Gloom/SL/Gloom attack chain.

Edited October 19, 2020 by Bill Z Bubba

[Shocktacular]

I play brutes a lot more than tankers, but my Bio/Rad tanker is still a bunch of fun.  I put the Avalanche "chance for knockdown" proc into one of the dmg auras, and the results are hilarious!  Basic strategy for this tanker is pretty much just walk into a mob and attack the bosses.  Everything else has usually melted by the time the bosses are down (there may be one or to Lts in some groups who are still just barely up).