Opinions wanted! Dark Melee, Stone Melee, or SS to pair with themed Bio Armor Tanker?

[Fomsie]

Hello again folks!

I am facing a conundrum. I have a Bio Armor/SS Tanker named Shambling Mound, that is based upon the old D&D monster of the same name. Essentially he is a Swamp Thing/ Man Thing type of characters, a walking mass of coherent plant matter. The problem I am facing is that I am not sure that Super Strength looks right for the character...

I have gone through all of the other Secondary power sets for a Tanker, and the only others that seem to work visually, would be Dark Melee, as when it is colored to match it has a lovely spore burst like effect and the Midnight Grasp looks like roots or vines, or Stone Melee, using the Lava style matches the plant and root coloration of the character's body and bio armor as well as having a sort of lumbering feel to it. The rest of the options were either unable to be colored properly (like Ice), were lacking in weapon choices (Battle Axe and Claws), were far too agile and active (Savage Melee, Staff), or something I am already playing (Titan Weapons). And while Spines could certainly fit the bill appearance wise, I just found it to be so underwhelming performance wise in regular content.

 

All that said, I have experience with DM on several characters, Tanker, Brute and Scrappers, including a DM/Bio scrapper, so I know what to expect from it. However, I have never played Stone Melee, and I have no idea how it performs on a Tanker, save that it has a very slow, very lackluster AOE. So I ask, what would you suggest? Should I go with my tried and true DM for fun loving tentacle/vine action? Should I go with Stone Melee for the natural earth/plant theme? Or should I just stick with Super Strength and Foot Stomp my way to success?

 

Thanks.

 

[Warboss]

In a word "Yes", stay with DM. If you want to give SM a try I'd suggest either Electric Armor or Radiation for a little more zip in the Recharge and some damage or debuffing from the aura, depending on which set you go with.  SS goes with anything, so save it for another toon. An optional paring I'd go with for SM, and not related to your toon's concept, would be Invuln. Slow at leveling (solo) but solid as heck on a team and near unkillable at 50+ (actually I think it's closer to 40+ depending on if you take Fault and how you slot it). I think DM's powers also match the character concept. No need to improve on perfection.

[nihilii]

I have a Bio/SM Tanker and am very very very (very) happy with her performance.

 

SM brings the mitigation Bio needs, through knockdowns and boss level hold. Plus ridiculous single target damage.

Bio brings exceptional endurance tools to sustain SM. The auras and Offensive Adaptation shore up the otherwise lackluster Tremor to "acceptable" levels of AoE damage.

 

It's a match made in heaven.

[Fomsie]

Thank you for replying folks.

[nihonsean]

Been running up a DM/Bio Armor scrapper and it is pretty fun. The self heal is pretty helpful for regenerating back health, but the surprise star has been touch of fear. It was changed to an AoE and it is stellar. The damage is so-so, but the to-hit debuff is 10%? and lasts 20 seconds. Recharge is low enough that you can keep this up full time. I've pushed S/L defense on him, so with a combination of reduced accuracy and defense mobs seldom get hits in. Best way to win? Don't die.

 

Also, love the idea of recoloring midnight grasp green so that it looks like vines entangling the bad guys 😄 

Edited July 18, 2021 by nihonsean

[Fomsie]

1 hour ago, nihonsean said:

Been running up a DM/Bio Armor scrapper and it is pretty fun. The self heal is pretty helpful for regenerating back health, but the surprise star has been touch of fear. It was changed to an AoE and it is stellar. The damage is so-so, but the to-hit debuff is 10%? and lasts 20 seconds. Recharge is low enough that you can keep this up full time. I've pushed S/L defense on him, so with a combination of reduced accuracy and defense mobs seldom get hits in. Best way to win? Don't die.

 

Also, love the idea of recoloring midnight grasp green so that it looks like vines entangling the bad guys 😄 

Oh yeah, I have been playing a DM/Bio scrapper for a while now, and it is absolutely monstrous in capabilities.