New to tankers. Can I skip taunt?

[subbacultchas]

Just personal preference, but I take it on all my tanks. Do I need it for the taunt component usually, not really. But the -range it applies and being able to pull in another group or runners really works for me. YMMV.

[Hyperstrike]

DocDitko pretty much sums it up.

CAN you?  Yes.
SHOULD you?  Debatable.
Will you wind up in Tanker Hell if you don't?
*BLEEP!* AROUND AND FIND OUT!

[Sovera]

Definitely skip. The real power of Taunt is not actually taunting but rather the -100% range debuff. This acts like a sort of mini Fold Space in that ranged mobs will come running to melee. But even this is of dubious utility IMO since just breaking line of sight achieves the same or people will just kill all mobs regardless.

 

In a different CoH version where we got all mobs in a spawn replaced by bosses then yes, I might advocate towards Taunt more since these would be a lot more dangerous and more control would be good. But. In the current CoH? One or two bosses, two or three lieutenants, the rest minions? Are these dangerous? Not really, not in my opinion. Just hitting things or standing close to them will automatically agro them as a Tanker.

 

Taunt does not even out-agro other Tankers or Brutes simple hitting an AV. I had Taunt to peel Battle Maiden off people so I could force her out of the blue zones and A) she ignored the -100% range debuff (either by simply being immune or having such crazy range that -100% wasn't enough), and B) she kept plinking other Tankers or Brutes who didn't even have Taunt. I would use Taunt and she would ignore me and keep on hitting others. Which finishes nullifying the point of Taunt.

 

This IMO, of course.

 

 

Now after all of this said if you are a new player you should definitely take it and try it. Then you decide if you feel it is compatible with your playstyle or not. Just remember you don't need to fall into the class trope/trap of the happy Tanker who jumps into a group and then immediately uses Taunt. Taunt is a kill used where/when needed. If mobs are far away, if they are spread out, if they are ranged -and- spread out, if one of the squishies is losing HP and we see someone hitting them. Then use Taunt. But if they are either clustered or mobs that run into melee (Council, for example, are all ostentatiously ranged waving those machine guns, but with one rare exception in the Snipers they will fire one or two rounds and then run into melee) then no need.

 

Most builds have a more pressing need for slots than they do for powers, this means at some point you will have used all your slots and still have 'free' powers to take. I take one slot wonders things like Assault to buff mine and my team's damage, or take Vengeance to have a mule for a LotG, but someone who likes Taunt will definitely have room to take it if they want to.

[nihilii]

17 hours ago, DoctorDitko said:

Every time a Tank skips Taunt, the archetypal Tanks sheds a tear...

Half of my active roster is Tankers.

 

I think I last picked Taunt in 2010 or so.

 

I'm... I'm sorry, ok? I just really need that 15% damage buff from Assault.

 

 

[Bill Z Bubba]

On 6/17/2021 at 2:18 PM, nihilii said:

Half of my active roster is Tankers.

 

I think I last picked Taunt in 2010 or so.

 

I'm... I'm sorry, ok? I just really need that 15% damage buff from Assault.

 

HUA. But a counter question... how do you fit in the leadership pool? They only give us 4 + Epic and I've already got Fly, Fighting, Hasten and Combat Jumping!
Edit: Welllll... guess I could drop CJ for Maneuvers... tweak out some end from somewhere to cover it.

Edit2: Damnit, Nihilii, now I HAVE to respec my shield/em tank.

Edited June 20, 2021 by Bill Z Bubba

[nihilii]

My greatest Mids trick is to be content as a ground-bound peasant. There's always jetpacks to visit the sky!

Edited June 20, 2021 by nihilii

[Bill Z Bubba]

2 minutes ago, nihilii said:

My greatest Mids trick is to be content as a ground-bound peasant. There's always jetpacks to visit the sky!

 

As any ostrich or penguin will tell you, having wings without the ability to fly suuuuuuucks.

 

Actually looking at the build now. I could go ageless instead of rebirth to cover the end costs but that loss of regen and the occasional heal may get messy when doing stupid tanker tricks. But the extra 15% damage.... mmmmm. Wondering just how many seconds that would take off my pylon time.

[Werner]

2 hours ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

 

As any ostrich or penguin will tell you, having wings without the ability to fly suuuuuuucks.

 

Actually looking at the build now. I could go ageless instead of rebirth to cover the end costs but that loss of regen and the occasional heal may get messy when doing stupid tanker tricks. But the extra 15% damage.... mmmmm. Wondering just how many seconds that would take off my pylon time.

Do eeeet! I did. I found that in the nastiest content, if my basic regeneration couldn’t keep me standing, even Rebirth often wasn’t enough, because I’d been debuffed into the ground in some way. Ageless worked better in practice, much to my surprise. And closing the Hasten gap plus affording the endurance for Assault gave me a mild but noticeable DPS bump.

 

I’m a no travel power guy too, surviving on jetpacks. But a winged demon’s gotta fly. Bringing it back around to something closer to the original topic, that can be a way to get an extra power pick to take Taunt.

Edited June 20, 2021 by Werner

[Bill Z Bubba]

1 hour ago, Werner said:

And closing the Hasten gap

 

How much recharge does T4 ageless core provide at its lowest value?

[Werner]

30 minutes ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

 

How much recharge does T4 ageless core provide at its lowest value?

10% for Core or Radial. I like Radial for the debuff resistance. But in terms of closing the Hasten gap, all the shorter time ranges with higher buffs do still help. I'm sure I calculated the average contribution, but I forget and I'm feeling lazy this morning. Upper teens as I recall.

 

I checked my own flying demon - I took Hover, Fly, and Afterburner. They're all serving as set mules, which was enough of an min/max excuse for me to take them, though I'd have taken them regardless. Just easier to justify with an excuse.

 

Spoiler

 

Edited June 20, 2021 by Werner

[Shred Monkey]

I'm always surprised by the people who take dying seriously in this game.  The worst part of the penalty is having to muddle through without hasten until it comes off cooldown.  

 

 

[Heraclea]

14 minutes ago, Shred Monkey said:

I'm always surprised by the people who take dying seriously in this game.  The worst part of the penalty is having to muddle through without hasten until it comes off cooldown.  

 

 

The worst part of dying on a tanker is needing to restart anywhere from five to nine toggles. 

[Werner]

7 minutes ago, Shred Monkey said:

I'm always surprised by the people who take dying seriously in this game.  The worst part of the penalty is having to muddle through without hasten until it comes off cooldown.  

I'm not death = delete serious, but taking death seriously gives me extra satisfaction when I survive, and is part of my enjoyment of the game.

[Bill Z Bubba]

20 minutes ago, Shred Monkey said:

I'm always surprised by the people who take dying seriously in this game.  The worst part of the penalty is having to muddle through without hasten until it comes off cooldown. 

 

For me, just waiting for the cooldowns is enough of a reason not to die. And yea... all those toggles as@Heracleanotes.

Edited June 20, 2021 by Bill Z Bubba

[nihilii]

My rule of thumb re: Hasten and how much Ageless helps is, if your Hasten recharge shows 132s or lower in Mids, it will basically be close enough to perma with Ageless. i.e. the moment Hasten runs out, you have one cycle of your already fully recharged attack chain to go, and then you click Hasten.

[PLVRIZR]

On 6/20/2021 at 11:20 AM, Werner said:

I'm not death = delete serious, but taking death seriously gives me extra satisfaction when I survive, and is part of my enjoyment of the game.

 

This...and, I can't help tank for the team, faceplanted in the middle of the scrum...so I need to be upright, for as long as possible, to hold aggro (with taunt :-)).

 

[RageusQuitus2]

On 6/16/2021 at 3:59 PM, Heraclea said:

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.) 

I am the same.  Even started taking provoke on my mms.  Ill never understand not taking taunt.  Only skipped on 2 brutes and 2 tankers.  My solo afk farmers.

[UltraAlt]

On 6/16/2021 at 10:07 PM, DoctorDitko said:

Every time a Tank skips Taunt, the archetypal Tanks sheds a tear...

 

"Only you, ....

 

 

can prevent every other character on the team from pulling any agro."

 

Edited June 22, 2021 by UltraAlt

[Onlyasandwich]

I like Taunt! I usually take it, but it's skippable enough.

 

Here's why I like it:

• Great way to grab peripheral aggro at lower levels when you don't have extra aoes.
• Quickly ping group number 2 nearby for lazily sucking in more adds as you like.
• Really solid set bonuses for taunt sets, even with only a few IOs invested.
• Lazy way to pull in those stubborn ranged mobs, though not 100% effective.

 

 

[bobdicator]

I'm late to the fun, here. My $0.02: it is another tool in the tool box, and, I think, a pretty good tool at that. Do you need it? No. You can work around not having it and still keep a team safe, or maybe you just want to play an immortal scrapper, which I can totally respect. Maybe your concept doesn't involve the animations or whatever. YMMV. Myself, I always take it, right after I get status protection, and I frequently six slot it.

[Unthing]

I would always take it. It allows you to deal with aggro at range, it also forces ranged enemies into Melee. I have in the past taken both Taunt and Provoke on a tank. I wouldn't recommend that though.

Perhaps if I had a ranged attack I could use it instead.

 

[Yellowjacket]

It's good for leveling and for the -range to pull the AVs in BAF or other annoying enemies that like to stay at range. Outside of that, it's situationally useful, but never necessary, or more useful for certain power combos lacking in aggro management like SR/MA. My main is a Dark/Stone/Earth Tank. With 3 taunt auras, an autohit slow patch, 2 mag 5 holds, 2 AoE knockdowns, 2 click AoE Disorient powers, etc., I've never been like "damn, if only I had taunted. . ."

 

But what if I told you that you can eat your cake and have it too? Multiple builds exist for a reason. I suggest having one of your builds be your "tanker's tank" build with maxed out HP/resists and taunt, one utility/niche "fun" build, and one damage build.

Edited June 24, 2021 by Yellowjacket

[GhostDawg]

On 6/16/2021 at 10:36 AM, 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? 

Depends on your build. When I tank I take it, but these days spawns die so quickly it isn't needed as much.

 

[MrAxe]

You can skip it. Just be sure to make good use of your taunt aura. Although as a recent mental ITF filled with suicidal squishies taught me, it pays to have a taunt with range. There may be situations where you wish you had it but in general you'll be fine.

Edited June 26, 2021 by MrAxe

[Haijinx]

AOE autohit range debuff?  What's not to like