What is the worst Tanker you've ever played?

[MrAxe]

Shield/Energy. Aside from EM being terrible back then the one thing that killed it for me? The energy clipping through the shield. It was so damn ugly. Drove my ocd mad! Worse still if I used my blue shield my red EM would come out pink. There goes my patriotic colour scheme! I got my dream secondary in Psionic so this is no longer an issue. Really should have gone electric. Always regretted that I didn't.

[tidge]

I don't think I could be persuaded to play a ?/War Mace Tanker, but for a particular reason.

 

I wanted to try War Mace (especially after the Tanker updates), but the way I wanted to play the character concept had me go old(er) school and roll it up as a WM/Invuln Scrapper instead. I feel like I gave up a little on the AoE-side, but for most content I play the rest of the team will have that covered anyway. Similarly, I didn't want to specifically ever have to fill the role of a "tank"/

 

The need for +Recharge is real, but now that I have one War Mace character, I don't think I'm likely to roll another unless a specific concept hits me.

[KC4800]

War Mace is great on a tank.

 

I really don't want to pick a worst tanker I ever played. I will say that I never played Stone Armor, Shield, or Axe, and really can't see ever doing that.

 

I can't even remember seeing a Stone Armor tanker on Homecoming, although I am sure there are a few.

 

The worst tank I ever saw played was a PB who thought he knew what he was doing but...nah.

 

[Hyperstrike]

Hyperstrike was fun, but not enjoyable....at first.

Would have been nicer had I actually PAID ATTENTION about enhancements in the tutorial...

So I was in my teens by the time I realized what the drops I'd been selling for cash were for.

And yes, I six-slotted Brawl.

He mostly, uniformly SUCKED until I was able to get him, successfully, through a respec trial.

And because most of the people I teamed with were on broken builds too, that took some doing!

After that, I respec'ed into one of the Vox Populi "Super Tanker" setups and things were better.

After another respec, using Call Me Awesome's Invuln research, I had a friend tell me I was 10x the tank I'd been prior and people were quite literally SHOCKED at how survivable I was.

[Infinitum]

On 3/3/2021 at 1:40 PM, Hyperstrike said:

Hyperstrike was fun, but not enjoyable....at first.

Would have been nicer had I actually PAID ATTENTION about enhancements in the tutorial...

So I was in my teens by the time I realized what the drops I'd been selling for cash were for.

And yes, I six-slotted Brawl.

He mostly, uniformly SUCKED until I was able to get him, successfully, through a respec trial.

And because most of the people I teamed with were on broken builds too, that took some doing!

After that, I respec'ed into one of the Vox Populi "Super Tanker" setups and things were better.

After another respec, using Call Me Awesome's Invuln research, I had a friend tell me I was 10x the tank I'd been prior and people were quite literally SHOCKED at how survivable I was.

That's similar to the OG Infinitum's level up story.

 

I 6 slotted resist physical dmg, Resist elements, and Resist Energies - after ED.

 

That's when I discovered the planner before Mids was Mids and fixed that Yugo and turned it into a Ferrari that could excavate also.

 

Then the IO system arrived and I never looked back.

 

I remember Vox also - wonder if they are still around.

[Meknomancer]

Stone/Rad, after 4 respecs i don't think its possible to make this a playable/fun build i had hoped the new teleports would help out. They don't. The end usage is worse than any ice tanker i've played the damage is horrendous and there's too many powers trying to be squeezed in with no slots for them. 

[BLVD]

I was not a fan of my Dark Armor tankers. They were excellent against almost everything.. until I got to endgame clockwork and IDF. The energy resistance weakness hurt big time. It also didn't help that a lot of enemies in endgame content stay at ranged distance, so it can be hard to use the heal. It's also the only primary I was unable to pull AV's on the BAF with. 

Edited March 5, 2021 by tan702

[Lancek]

Stone/EM, I made just before the EM nerf

[Sailboat]

On 2/26/2021 at 12:56 PM, Bill Z Bubba said:

Edit: However, the stone/ma almost lived just due to the hilarity of granite feet to the face.

Gotta say I've made a few Martial Arts characters with the large hooves just for kicking.  And a 60s chick who wears platform go-go boots.

[Hyperstrike]

On 3/4/2021 at 3:34 PM, Infinitum said:

I remember Vox also - wonder if they are still around.

Yep.  If he wants, he'll introduce himself.

[Infinitum]

5 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

Yep.  If he wants, he'll introduce himself.

Well either way - I owe him a thanks - his stuff steered me in the right direction back then also.

[ninja surprise]

My biggest disappointment was an Ice/Titan that I grinded up to the high 40's.  I've had good times with Ice Armor, with an Ice/Stone being one of my favorites on live.

But this, despite being soft-capped, having endless endurance with EA, despite Titan's rumored fantastic damage, it was just a drag. My Spines/Ice Scrapper could defeat stuff quicker.

So I stripped it and transferred it to my "archive" server where I keep an SG and base full of my cast-offs, just in case I want to play one of them to remind myself to not make another.

[Shred Monkey]

On 3/3/2021 at 12:40 PM, Hyperstrike said:

Hyperstrike was fun, but not enjoyable....at first.

Would have been nicer had I actually PAID ATTENTION about enhancements in the tutorial...

So I was in my teens by the time I realized what the drops I'd been selling for cash were for.

And yes, I six-slotted Brawl.

He mostly, uniformly SUCKED until I was able to get him, successfully, through a respec trial.

And because most of the people I teamed with were on broken builds too, that took some doing!

After that, I respec'ed into one of the Vox Populi "Super Tanker" setups and things were better.

After another respec, using Call Me Awesome's Invuln research, I had a friend tell me I was 10x the tank I'd been prior and people were quite literally SHOCKED at how survivable I was.

The first toon I got to level 30 on live was an Invul/Energy tank.   I figured out that I could have a complete attack chain with just barrage, energy punch, and flurry (from the superspeed pool... yeah.. that power). My logic was that attacks are probably balanced, so once I have a power up at all times, everything else is wasted.  And so, those were the only attacks I took.  This was back before invincibility was nerfed, so my survivability was fantastic as long as I attacked multiple enemies.  At the time, I thought I had beat the game!

 

Then one day I teamed with a Katana/invul scrapper street sweeping in Brickstown.  This scrapper killed stuff literally 10x faster then me, and ALSO didn't die!  I stopped playing that tank immediately.  And honestly, I don't think I ever made another tank again until homecoming.

 

 

Edited March 12, 2021 by Shred Monkey

[tellania]

Things changed due to issue changes:

stone/fire - love granite, but your status protection is like -90% run speed ... ugh, not fun

fire/ice - wished I had a fire/fire, then they nerfed burn to have fear (making burn useless), but I had ice patch ... then my tier 9 went from a sleep to foostomp level damage of pure cold.   Went tank-troller mode (boss held easy).  Great fun!

 

currently, an SR/spines is the least fun to play.   Spines worked on my spines/fire scrapper, but not so much on my tanker

 

[StriderIV]

40 minutes ago, tellania said:

Things changed due to issue changes:

stone/fire - love granite, but your status protection is like -90% run speed ... ugh, not fun

fire/ice - wished I had a fire/fire, then they nerfed burn to have fear (making burn useless), but I had ice patch ... then my tier 9 went from a sleep to foostomp level damage of pure cold.   Went tank-troller mode (boss held easy).  Great fun!

 

currently, an SR/spines is the least fun to play.   Spines worked on my spines/fire scrapper, but not so much on my tanker

 

To clarify, you like the Fire/Ice, correct? I’m interested in that combo.

[tellania]

4 hours ago, StriderIV said:

To clarify, you like the Fire/Ice, correct? I’m interested in that combo.

I do, actually.   Ice patch is a GREAT defensive melee power (taunt has -range to bring into melee range, so most, except flying flop).  

Frozen aura is footstomp level damage (but all cold, so exotic), add in burn, great aoe (frost works well, but I recommend the cheap dam/range HO to extend range, and a turtle proc to add to the -recharge of it), and blazing aura  ... Its very nice!

 

Freezing touch (mag 2 hold), plus an epic hold, you can hold bosses (plus, both take hold procs).   I've been able to hold boss/elite bosses constantly (tank-troller).  While this is small fries compared to an actual controller, but you have MUCH more survivability, and damage.

 

for a pure defensive build, you can get 45% melee defense, but I just find it more fun using resists (90% SLF, 66% EN dam res), ice patch, healing flames, and hold any pesky boss, and LOTS of damage (wheeee!)

 

I have a fire/axe and a fire/ice, and I have much more fun with fire/ice.

 

Though, against GM's and AV's, you only have resistance and healing flames to keep you alive.

 

 

[tellania]

Wanted to add:

Fire/ice tank-troller plays differently, and uses knockdown for primary mitigation, as well as resists and heals.   This is important to me, as it can be boring playing the same tank style over and over.

[ninja surprise]

On 3/3/2021 at 2:53 AM, MrAxe said:

Shield/Energy. Aside from EM being terrible back then the one thing that killed it for me? The energy clipping through the shield. It was so damn ugly. Drove my ocd mad! Worse still if I used my blue shield my red EM would come out pink. There goes my patriotic colour scheme! I got my dream secondary in Psionic so this is no longer an issue. Really should have gone electric. Always regretted that I didn't.

I've long wished for some sort of ultra-minimal shield. Or better, a "no" shield where my costume's armor is the shield. Either like the Winter Soldier using his metal arm as a shield, Cap's two minimal punchy-shields, or like a forcefield shield using an Aura FX. 

Lots of concepts where I want to use the Shield powerset but not have a shield.

Edited March 13, 2021 by ninja surprise

[Marshal_General]

16 hours ago, ninja surprise said:

I've long wished for some sort of ultra-minimal shield. Or better, a "no" shield where my costume's armor is the shield. Either like the Winter Soldier using his metal arm as a shield, Cap's two minimal punchy-shields, or like a forcefield shield using an Aura FX. 

Lots of concepts where I want to use the Shield powerset but not have a shield.

I would be happy if they could make it only show up in combat unless you wanted it to.

[ninja surprise]

Just now, Marshal_General said:

I would be happy if they could make it only show up in combat unless you wanted it to.

 

Yes, another benefit being that Shield does weird stuff with Beast Run. I had to change Stances because it was so weird.

[MrAxe]

4 hours ago, Marshal_General said:

I would be happy if they could make it only show up in combat unless you wanted it to.

I'd love that, too.

[insome1]

On 2/28/2021 at 12:55 PM, Supertanker said:

I suppose my first tank because I had no status protection, Unyielding Stance meant you couldn't move when it was running so I skipped it. But I was still having fun.

Oh I had forgotten about unyielding stance was immovable.

[Max Firepower]

Dark Armor, with any secondary I tried.

 

I am not dissing what it can become.  The pain of running and trying to level up the end hog that isn’t really tough enough before becoming a fully slotted, IO’d, incarnate build is a sense of masochism that I do not ascribe to.  
 

I am trying to get a 50 with all Tanker primaries, and I have duplicates of several.  Dark is the only one I dread running.

 

I don’t get it.  Most likely a failure to understand on my part.

[Perfect Weapon]

On 3/19/2021 at 8:57 PM, Max Firepower said:

I am trying to get a 50 with all Tanker primaries, and I have duplicates of several.  Dark is the only one I dread running.

 

 

I do have every primary tank and Dark was not as fun to level. Went with Dark/Savage just because I didn't have any Savage toons.  If I had to do over again I'd go Dark/EM or even Ice from what I hear.

[GhostDawg]

Basically... (Prepares to be taunted) All Tankers. (At first).

They just didn't do it for me. I couldn't force myself to play one past level 16 or so. My first tank like toon to get to 50 was a SS/EA brute. EA sucked back then but I liked the Fury mechanic. I was leveling a WP/SS Tanker when the live servers came down. Got him to level 41 largely because I liked SS. Now I have a 50+17 Elec/Elec/MU Tanker that I enjoy immensely and a LV 20 Fire/Fire Tanker that I'm considering taking into the late game. A few other sets intrigue me, and I'd like to do something with SS. Maybe shield or willpower again. The 3 sets I'll never play? ICE, Dark, Stone. Don't care for the grafx on ICE and Dark. And Stone... Grafx and movement penalties are a problem. But I might look into taking speed of sound from experimentation and paring it with Stone. Maybe.