So, Ms. Liberty Task Force

[Heraclea]

Was reminded that this game was not free from standard MMO drama yesterday.

 

Managed to fail this on the final mission yesterday.  Nobody was buffing me as I attempted to tank Recluse with all his towers. Instead, the team expected me to fly around (using the Synapse jet pack), taunt Recluse and then fly behind a flag on a tower.  Insps were not enough, and gone by the first try. Had no significant issues with the Patrons.

 

If this is a workable strategy I entirely failed to execute it.  Is it a flaw in my build, for maybe not enough range in Taunt? Or was the team's strategy a scatterbrained thing that was doomed to fail? 

[Redlynne]

I'd say Door #3 ...

[Justaris]

Agreed, that doesn't sound like a viable strategy for even the sturdiest tank.  I believe it used to be possible to glitch Recluse so that he got stuck in a certain spot - if that still works, that's about the only way I can see this being viable as you might be able to keep aggro with taunt but keep far enough back to avoind taking much damage. 

 

It's too bad, because with even minimal support from a good team, it should be possible to burst down the towers in short order.  Once you have one or two towers down (typically red first, though the blue tower's buffs are deadly to tank relying on Defense), tanking Recluse becomes a much more typical AV tanking affair as you probably already know.

 

[LorannaPyrel]

Query: Is that not the old "hover-tanking" strategy - minus the bit with the hiding behind a flagpole? I thought that was one of the time-tested ways to keep Recluse occupied - or have his ranged attacks become too powerful for even this idea to work?

 

- Loranna

[Heraclea]

I think the basic point of failure was that no one was buffing me during the fight, and insps plus my native defenses were just not enough.  Ran it again with a different team this evening and got the Master badge.  No flying around, no flagpoles, just buffs and spot heals for the tank.  This probably is one of the few instances of content in this game where a specific team makeup is needful. 

[Profit]

It's a valid strategy that I have used in the past, depending on insp count and available buffers etc. if I don't have the insps or we don't have the right buffs (revenge aura and adrenaline boost mostly although a dedicated kin with transfusion and speed boost, or a dark dark fender can work to) then I will hover tank. I have never heard of hiding behind a flag though. Usually you just make him continually jump the light pole. Hit me up when you see me on and I'll be glad to show you.

[MasterTang]

On a recent Liberty TF our tank managed to solo hold Recluse aggro by taunting and running around madly with superspeed. It worked surprisingly well and I don't think he had any support.

[nihilii]

On a recent Liberty TF our tank managed to solo hold Recluse aggro by taunting and running around madly with superspeed. It worked surprisingly well and I don't think he had any support.

 

Yep, generally speaking just about any tank primary can keep aggro on Recluse without help, through judicious kiting and Taunt. It's all about exploiting the duration of your Taunt to stay out of range.

 

But, given the step-up from the skill level most of the game requires... Anyone who berates a player for not instantly "getting it" is kind of a pompous jerk.

 

There's nothing wrong with a tank who cannot do it that way, and it's more reasonable for the team to step up and provide support. Really, if having 6 players instead of 7 on the towers is a problem, that means 6 out of those 7 players weren't pulling their weight.

[Call Me Awesome]

I've tanked that many times in the past using several different methods.  If I'm on a sturdy enough tank I can carry an insp loadout good enough to last the time for the team to kill the red tower.  The red is the one that buffs his damage, and I think the yellow one buffs his to hit if I recall.  Anyway, on an Invuln once the red tower's down tanking him is no big problem as his damage goes way down.  On a more defense reliant tank I want that yellow to hit tower down ASAP as well.

 

Flying is a valid method to tank him as well, just hover over him about 30' or so and taunt while attacking with a ranged power to keep him interested.  Yes, he'll jump up and hit you occasionally but you'll be avoiding a large percentage of his damage that way, and definitely avoiding his "oh crap" massive attack.  Again, I carry an insp load out to handle the situation because unless I'm running with a team I trust I figure I'm on my own to survive.

 

By the way, here's my basic STF load out for an Invuln tank:

6 large purple

6 large orange

2-3 large green

1-2 large blue (he occasionally uses an end drain attack)

 

That lets me tank him for 4-5 minutes with the towers up, once the red is down I can generally stop worrying about him, and once the to hit tower dies I can tank him all day without any real issues.

 

When I've tanked with a Stone tank I use large purples until the red tower dies then I don't need anything else.  Heck, unless the RNG decides to really hate me I can handle it with Granite + Rooted without any candy so it's insurance more than anything else.  For a defense based tanker like Shield I carry more oranges and that's when I try to use the hover tanking method.

 

I've no idea what your team was thinking about the flag, I do take him to the back of the platform to avoid the Flyer; it respawns at the 20 minute mark from the first player entering the mission.  And the 40 minute mark, and the 60 minute mark if you're having problems.  Again, you can use different techniques depending on how sturdy your tank is.  If you're hard capped at 90% resistance S/L/E and have good defense then use the easy method of getting into his face and telling him his mother dresses him funny.  If you're not that tough then use either movement or altitude to avoid the majority of his attacks while asking him if his mother and father ever met.

 

I'd suggest a little practice on other mobs to refine the hover tanking method but it's not that hard, you just need to pay attention.  Also, if you consistently stay out of his range you can loose aggro so be aware of that.  I've only seen it happen twice but it can get ugly.

 

Personally I've tanked that TF with Invuln, Stone, Shield & Fire tanks.  Also with a Broadsword/Shield scrapper and a permanent-PA Ill/Rad troller and Phantom Army for that matter.  Heck, once I "tanked" him with a blaster (Fire/Energy with Boost Range hovering about 100' over his head) and it worked as long as I kept him on the opposite side of the platform from the team.  Since I almost never hit him until his defense/SB tower went down I didn't have solid aggro so I had to keep him from noticing the rest of the team.  There's ways to handle him no matter what your team configuration may be.

 

The key to that TF is to have a decent team.  I had the "Master of the Statesman's Task Force" badge on 10 characters at shutdown so it's certainly doable.  (In case you were wondering, that was completing the TF with the settings for no temp powers and no deaths.  I recommend competent teammates who are familiar with the TF for that.  The last several years we usually went for that badge on our runs if someone on the team didn't have the badge and more often than not got it.)