New to tankers. Can I skip taunt?

[Dahkness]

Making my first tank with a lot of aoes. Can I skip taunt with my inherit power? Will I be able to hold a AV’s agro with just punches? 

[Gobbledigook]

Yes you can. Though you may get flack from some players who do not understand that and aggro caps etc. They die and you or the healer will get the blame lol.

 

It is nice to have don't get me wrong but it isn't necessary imo, especially if you have plenty of AoE. Just don't be one of them Tankers that just stands there Taunting, boring as hell lol.

[Oysterhead]

There was a similar question on this over on the Brute forum, from the perspective of Taunt vs Taunt Aura, I'll copy my response from that to here as its relevant for tankers too, and matches what Gobbledegook said:

"I mostly play tankers, and nearly always take taunt, so my thought is... Skip Taunt. 

 

Taunt even on a tanker has a very narrow use. Auras do the majority of the heavy lifting, taunt for me is primarily a way to force ranged enemies into melee (taunts have a -range effect on them!) without having to run after them, or get a second group to begin running towards you without actually going over there, but if you're in massive groups of enemies the aggro cap is limiting that anyhow. That cap limit can be worked around by standing with others (preferably melee characters with taunt auras), so taunt is oddly best used when you have a lot of tanks/brutes already. Taunt does last a lot longer though, Aura taunt runs out after ~14s (if you've stepped out of range...), Taunt lasts 40s. I struggle to think of many situations where things live that long that you aren't already going to be standing toe to toe with, or you aren't in situation where you are so far over the aggro cap that this is all out the window anyhow.

 

Nearly all of what you can do with taunt you can do by merely hopping over to the other group, letting your aura pulse once, and then jumping back. So its whether you can spare a power slot to save you and your team the occasional confusion/chaos of enemies running around a bit is the issue (And lets face it, someone has probably area immobilized them already anyhow). 

 

I think there's this expectation that taunt saves squishy characters, but, taunt only hits 5 things. If a blaster has jumped into a x8 sized crowd and you aren't already in the middle of it, taunt won't save them. Taunt will make 5 things turn to you while the other 10 continue to kill the blaster. Jumping into them and the aura pulsing will work faster.

 

The only other thing I could think of in favor of a brute taking it is that the auras have a target cap of 10, so when you jump into a pack you won't on the first pulse get everythings attention. Likely have a few pulses everything will have been hit once. But even with taunt, you'd have to make a split second decision on which ones already got hit and which closest 5 didn't and try to hit them with taunt to get yourself up to the aggro cap.. without overlap. Not realistic.

 

So taunt has its uses, I'll probably keep picking it up on my tankers, I don't think anyone brute or tanker should hesitate to ditch it if you can't fit it."
 

[SwitchFade]

Sure, but you'll lose aggro more often to other ATs.

 

Taunt mag and duration is formidable.

 

Try with and without to see how you like it.

[Oysterhead]

Just now, SwitchFade said:

Taunt mag and duration is formidable.

Just duration these days. When the taunt auras were normalized for tankers back in i26 page 4, the taunt aura magnitude was bumped up to 4 across the board, identical to Taunt the skill. Likewise all attacks and gauntlet apply a mag 4 taunt as well. Taunt does last nearly 3x what the auras do though.

[Apparition]

Not only that, but Taunt also makes it much easier to bring mobs in melee range and keep them there.  I would always take Taunt on a Tanker, even if it means skipping some other valuable power like Hasten.

[Gobbledigook]

It looks like it is gonna be a split decision. Neither is wrong. So i would choose it depending on your build as @oysterhead said.

 

Nice to have but easy to skip. I think there are a few Tanker with a view to skipping it like @Infinitum

 

More than once a player has been abusive because one of my many Tankers didn't have taunt and they died because they strayed off aggroing 20+ mobs lol. Luckily we Tankers have thick skins. 😛

Edited June 16, 2021 by Gobbledegook

[PLVRIZR]

Plusses:  Auto hit, no endurance required to cast and you just look like a tanker, when using it, especially if you pause a second and let everyone watch you pound your fist into your palm....

 

I always take it and drop in a Perfect Zinger - chance for Psi damage, so it "hurts when it hits", as well.  

[Onlyasandwich]

It's also a great way to pick up some S/L and/or recharge bonuses - strong sets all around.

[Werner]

42 minutes ago, Gobbledegook said:

More than once a player has been abusive because one of my many Tankers didn't have taunt and they died because they strayed off aggroing 20+ mobs lol

I generally skip Taunt, then get friendly abuse from my friends for sucking at tanking. I may be ridiculously hard to kill, but I'm not so good at keeping them alive. Particularly Pete, but he's exceptionally skilled at dying. I don't know if this is actually true, but I feel like enemies hate debuffers, so I use Darkest Night instead of Taunt on my main. But I think my advice for someone new to Tankers would be to level up with Taunt, get a good feel for it, and then when and if you make an endgame build, decide if it's something you can drop.

Edited June 16, 2021 by Werner

[Dahkness]

Thanks for all the info!

[SwitchFade]

Also consider the threat generation that taunt affords.

[Marshal_General]

Plus you can put the Perfect Zinger proc in it and hurt 5 people's feelings.

[star_fury_lives]

25 minutes ago, Marshal_General said:

Plus you can put the Perfect Zinger proc in it and hurt 5 people's feelings.

Or....1 person's feelings, and 4 people just run up to punch you. Was excited to try it but found it disappointing 😕

[UltraAlt]

2 hours ago, Dahkness said:

Making my first tank with a lot of aoes. Can I skip taunt with my inherit power? Will I be able to hold a AV’s agro with just punches? 

 

If you solo, there is no need for it for sure.

 

Taunt has range. Most tanker sets only have on other ranged power and it is only single target.

So if you want to grab agro at a distance or if you want to grab some enemy that has run away to fight your allies, then taunt is very useful.

 

And, no, your punches won't be enough to keep all the agro as you aren't going to be able to hit all the enemies in a spread out mob unless you are running around to corral them.

 

If you feel Taunt is worthless because it does not do damage then slot it with Perfect Zinger : chance for PSI damage. Taunt is an AoE and you will have a chance to do minor PSI damage when it goes of. Taunt cost no end. It isn't much, but you can decrease your the recharge time of Taunt and do it more often.

 

Taunt is the Tank Archetype's signature move.

I get it on every tank as soon as it unlocks or soon as possible after that. Sometimes I feel I don't have enough defense/resistance slotted up to handle all the agro when it first unlocks.

 

But play how you like and you'll figure out what works for you and that  character.

[Heraclea]

I have many tankers without Hasten, but none without Taunt.  (I also don't have any 50 brutes without Taunt, but many took it quite late in the build.  Tanker is always Taunt at 10.) 

 

It simply is the best power for doing what it does, and what it does is the reason why you rolled a tanker.  It also needs no slots if you don't wanna, and since tanker builds tend to be slot eaters, it helps there too. 

[Dark Dove]

I like taunt.  It makes things easier.  The range and -range is a dream!

 

I hate taunt.  It makes builds harder.  I need that spot for Fly!

 

So... take it or don't take it, it'll work out fine either way, you should probably play with it for a while first before you decide you don't want it though because you might love what it does.

[lemming]

Your choice, but I like the ability of the -range on targets to bring them in.

[FUBARczar]

5 hours ago, Dahkness said:

Making my first tank with a lot of aoes. Can I skip taunt with my inherit power? Will I be able to hold a AV’s agro with just punches? 

You can punchvoke, it can be enough especially with our typical playstyle.  

[Bill Z Bubba]

5 hours ago, Gobbledegook said:

They die and you or the healer will get the blame lol.

 

This has rapidly become more apparent to me as I've played more tanks.

[Bill Z Bubba]

4 hours ago, Werner said:

Particularly Pete, but he's exceptionally skilled at dying.

 

Every SG has one. Ours not only loves dying but takes vengeance on practically everything and wants us to constantly die as well!

[Bill Z Bubba]

4 hours ago, PLVRIZR said:

especially if you pause a second and let everyone watch you pound your fist into your palm....

 

Shield/Mace has my favorite taunt animation.

[ninja surprise]

7 hours ago, Dahkness said:

Making my first tank with a lot of aoes. Can I skip taunt with my inherit power? Will I be able to hold a AV’s agro with just punches? 

 

Just confirming you can do whatever you want!

Then if you don't like it you can respec and pick it up.

Some AVs just ignore taunt and do whatever they want. Or maybe it's that some ATs' attacks cause Terrify and AVs go running for the sunset and totally ignore you no matter what you do.

[DoctorDitko]

Short answer: Yes

 

Long Answer: Yes, but...

(This is all IMHO)

• Autohit powers are rare and precious, take them whenever one is offered.
• It's a one-slot wonder, drop a Range, Recharge, or (my fave) Perfect Zinger in and you are golden. (PVPers should start with Accuracy.)
• If you do slot it, it can mule some nice bonuses.
• It IS the Tank signature power, do you want some Brute or Blaster getting all the bad guys' attention?
• Check the power customizations, depending on powerset you may have some fairly humorous options.
• Every time a Tank skips Taunt, the archetypal Tank sheds a tear...

 

 

Edited June 22, 2021 by DoctorDitko
number agreement

[Perfect Weapon]

As others have said play what you want.  I have every primary tank and I have taken taunt on all but the Rad/Rad since I wanted/needed an extra power slot.  He usually has no issue maintaining aggro until you get into multiple groups (plus his powers have auto taunts in them).  I am thinking about getting rid of it on the Elec/TW tank as her only real gap is accuracy against Arachnos so taking tactics over taunt will help.  Then again so will a yellow.  I team with mostly my SG and they are all great players who know what they are doing so I find myself taunting more out of reflex than necessity.  Take for example the KHANNNN TF I did yesterday.  My SG mate did not taunt with his Stone tank and I did with my Elec and was able to get aggro away from him maybe 50% of the time so instead of taunting I envenomed daggered.