First Time Tanker Taunt Advice

[NetWraith]

Hey guys,

  I'm Tanking for a once a week group and we're going to be doing story progression through as much of the story arcs as we can. This is the first time I have tried tanking and I am looking for the best/easiest taunter. That has always been something I've tripped up on in other games. I know Tankers get taunt added to most of their attacks, but I am looking for as much easy mode as possible (at least at the beginning, I might respec for more of a challenge later on, but I need to learn and get some tank confidence first)

 

So I was looking at a Fire/Rad, a Rad/Rad, and lastly a DA/RadM I am leaning towards the DA/RadM (None of these have been specced, I'm just looking for power synergy and AoE taunts) because I really would like multiple AoE taunts going to help me as much as possible. And I am ASSUMING (lol) that the radiation -ToHit and Darkness -ToHit debuffs stack. (Please tell me if they don't!)

 

So that in a nutshell is the idea. Until I can get some experience as a tanker I am looking for a big AoE taunt I can WASD into a pack of critters and keep their attention whilst my Elec/Elec Blaster, Pistols Blaster, and Empath/Fire Defender can drop them all. We will be starting out at 2nd level, we aren't investing a bunch of influence, and as I said it will be once a week so leveling will be slow so as much front-loaded taunt as possible is hopeful.

 

If you have any other suggestions, especially how to have a fast taunter/AoE taunter at low/starting level they would be greatly appreciated.

Edited May 2, 2021 by NetWraith
Typo

[NetWraith]

Hmm, I just read Gauntlet and I think it means all my attacks are AoE taunts. At least that's my interpretation. Again, correction would be welcome. Perhaps I am worrying too much.

[tidge]

24 minutes ago, NetWraith said:

If you have any other suggestions, especially how to have a fast taunter/AoE taunter at low/starting level they would be greatly appreciated.

 

For what you ask: Nothing is better for Tankers than taking your Taunt ASAP (level 12) and putting a Taunt duration enhancement in it. You can collect aggro by doing more, but the aggro cap limits mean that you won't ever be able to protect everyone if the spawn size exceeds the cap.

 

After taking the Taunt, you should focus on your own survivibility, which means different things for different primaries. In my experience the early slotting for survivibility means Endurance reduction for toggles, and 'just enough' Defense or Resistance to buff what your primary gave you. With INF you can invest in some of the Globals to boost those things. Some Tankers will rely on their attacks to survive, so don't short change those.

[NetWraith]

Thanks, I did not know about the aggro cap. That will make a big difference. I did a test run from 1-18 with a brute that was specced for survivability and the test tanker I ran that was just like him was much more survivable. So I think I am 'OK' in that area. It's just the same old worry I have with other tank jobs. Keeping my herd of cats from making their mice all mad at once and one of my team dies. I do have a dedicated healer defender, so not super worried, but I also don't want the enemies running around with impunity.

[ChocolateMercenary]

As mentioned earlier, make sure you take Taunt.

 -100.00%% strength to range for 20.00s on target Ignores buffs and enhancements.

That range penalty forces the enemies to leave other targets alone and close on you. That helps a lot with aggro control.

[Psyonico]

In addition to taunt, might I suggest a Bio/Spines tank? You get 3 taunt auras with that.

 

As for gauntlet, yes, every ST attack taunts 5 enemies.

[NetWraith]

5 minutes ago, Psyonico said:

In addition to taunt, might I suggest a Bio/Spines tank? You get 3 taunt auras with that.

 

As for gauntlet, yes, every ST attack taunts 5 enemies.

 

Bio/Spines, huh? Ok I will take a look at that. How's his END management?

[hakurr]

Bio/Spines would be a good place to start. Bio performs very well at the lower levels also at higher levels but some primaries are late bloomers and you can switch between defensive stance and efficiency stance if needed to help with endurance. you will eventually have 3 auras going so that will help to maintain aggro on top of your taunt witch can be used more for pulling a stray off the squishy guy. 

[ninja surprise]

1 hour ago, NetWraith said:

 

Bio/Spines, huh? Ok I will take a look at that. How's his END management?

Endurance is fine, you have two clickies that boost recovery plus a "stance" that makes you more endurance efficient.  Bio can be really strong until you get hit with slows.

 

If you really want easy mode though, go Ice Armor. It has two taunt auras (Icicles and Chilling Embrace), endurance recovery, heal+max HP, and it is simple and fairly cheap to soft-cap to S/L/E/N in the twenties. Then you're on cruise control 'till incarnates.

Shield Defense and Invulnerability also get really strong taunt auras. Invuln's taunt aura increases your defense the more enemies you have in range.

 

The resistance armors are much more expensive to max out and until you're almost there you're fairly squishy. Defense armors leave you squishy until capped too, but you can soft-cap defense earlier and cheaper.

 

If you do Ice/Dark Melee you get two AoE attacks really early to spam your Gauntlet attack-taunt, plus real taunt.

 

But if your team or toon have a theme or concept already, you'll do fine with Rad Melee and whatever primary you pick.

[StriderIV]

31 minutes ago, ninja surprise said:

Endurance is fine, you have two clickies that boost recovery plus a "stance" that makes you more endurance efficient.  Bio can be really strong until you get hit with slows.

 

If you really want easy mode though, go Ice Armor. It has two taunt auras (Icicles and Chilling Embrace), endurance recovery, heal+max HP, and it is simple and fairly cheap to soft-cap to S/L/E/N in the twenties. Then you're on cruise control 'till incarnates.

Shield Defense and Invulnerability also get really strong taunt auras. Invuln's taunt aura increases your defense the more enemies you have in range.

 

The resistance armors are much more expensive to max out and until you're almost there you're fairly squishy. Defense armors leave you squishy until capped too, but you can soft-cap defense earlier and cheaper.

 

If you do Ice/Dark Melee you get two AoE attacks really early to spam your Gauntlet attack-taunt, plus real taunt.

 

But if your team or toon have a theme or concept already, you'll do fine with Rad Melee and whatever primary you pick.

Ice/Spines or Ice/Rad sound like they’d be the ultimate aggro tank haha

[Psyonico]

3 hours ago, StriderIV said:

Ice/Spines or Ice/Rad sound like they’d be the ultimate aggro tank haha

I've got an Ice/Spines and a Bio/Spines both incarnated... they aggro about equally and survive about equally.

 

TBH, I haven't found a tank combo yet that really struggles too much with Aggro and/or survivability, though I'm always up for a challenge if someone says "this combo is garbage!"

[Haijinx]

Potential Non noob friendly armors would be more like ..

 

Dark, due to End cost and lack of KB prot.

 

Fire, due to its survival being based on a heal and lack of KB prot.

 

Willpower, since you need Fighting and/or IOs to really absorb alphas well.

 

All great sets.  And Willpower is pretty good as an armor for a semi noob.  But they do have some challenges.  

 

As to needing multiple taunt auras to hold aggro? You don't. One Aura, the power Taunt, and Guantlet are an insane amount of aggro control