Invulnerability Tanker - Unstoppable question

[PeacekeeperKara]

What is the actual crash at the end of Unstoppable? I seem to remember having it on live but don't recall ever dying because I used it. are the effects being dramatized or is it really that bad? I'm pretty well built already so I've been considering turning up the level at the analyst and this might be a good panic button. Just curious about the downtime since it seems to be much worse than something like Light Form. 

[PeacekeeperKara]

I went ahead and took the power since I couldn't find an immediate answer. The power lasts for 3 minutes which is an eternity in the game. It's a panic button so if you're overwhelmed and the team is failing, you can pop it along with haste and possibly turn the tide. That said, after the three minutes is up, my hit points go from 1656ish to 252ish at level 35 and my endurance goes even lower. That's significant and requires some self-awareness to make sure you're not standing at ground zero when everything goes thud. My other thought is, if 3 minutes later you're still overwhelmed - well, you were asking for it. Hit Dull Pain and throw an AOE and try to turtle until your endurance catches up. Overall, it's still pretty easy...in theory.

 

I think at level 35 and not having infinite access to sets, this is a cool power. 3 minutes is a long time to be nigh invulnerable and if you've posted some good psionic resists, you're good to go in any situation. Will I respec out? We'll see. It's a rough crash though. Let's see how it plays out. 

Edited October 8, 2021 by PeacekeeperKara

[PLVRIZR]

I use it as a mule (five slotted Impervium Armor, including the non-unique psi resist), but don't even have it in my tray.  This goes for all my Inv tanks.

[ZemX]

Sometimes jokingly referred to as the "Stoppable" button because of that crash. 🤪

 

For future reference, City of Data is a great resource for things like this:

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=tanker_defense.invulnerability.unstoppable&at=tanker

 

Look in the effects list for those that say "after 180s".  That's the crash.  In this case it can be a little confusing.  There's a Global Chance thing in there that involves using Unrelenting together with powers that crash.  But the other stuff mainly says you lose all endurance and nearly all health.  The health part is odd to look at in CoD because "-100% max health" sounds like it ought to kill you but obviously doesn't.

 

But the main thing is what you already saw when you tried it.  That crash makes you super vulnerable if you are still fighting.  The idea is to use it to carry you through the end of the fight.  But that's also the problem with it.  Few fights last that long.  Maybe if you're trying to solo an AV yourself.  Otherwise, using it means you survive the fight you're in but then have to watch that icon like a hawk for the next several fights until it starts blinking to tell you "You'd better not be in the middle of a fight when this stops blinking".  Or else just be ready to pound a few inspirations, I guess.

 

I agree, it's probably more use earlier or just as a mule later.

[Supertanker]

Pre-tricked out build/Incarnate powers, Unstoppable is a good power for fights where you're getting End drained and could lose your toggles. But mostly I just use it to slot the Gladiator's Armor +Def enhancement.

[PLVRIZR]

1 hour ago, Supertanker said:

Pre-tricked out build/Incarnate powers, Unstoppable is a good power for fights where you're getting End drained and could lose your toggles. But mostly I just use it to slot the Gladiator's Armor +Def enhancement.

And I put GA +def, Steadfast +def and a Impervium psi resist in a three slotted Resist Physical Damage. 

 

To each their own!

[PeacekeeperKara]

1 hour ago, Supertanker said:

Pre-tricked out build/Incarnate powers, Unstoppable is a good power for fights where you're getting End drained and could lose your toggles. But mostly I just use it to slot the Gladiator's Armor +Def enhancement.

 

I went ahead and took my difficulty levels up a notch since Unstoppable has a really potent benefit. Between bosses and +1 level, I'm actually taking damage again and Elite Bosses can actually go toe-to-toe with me and have me wondering "am I going to win?". I was fighting one of the Elite Boss Talons leaders and she was actually getting through my tank a little so I popped unstoppable and breezed through her. When I did Defend the Midnight Mansion - the final fight was two Elite Bosses, two Bosses and a bunch of annoying spells whittling away at me. I was down to 500 or so health pretty fast and hitting Unstoppable, Hasten, and Buildup pushed me through the fight. It was really a lot of fun to have the difficulty up that high. 

 

I have the 6% Psionic Resist enhancement in Unstoppable for now. I'm trying to decide if I want to get a set in there or slot it like I do Resist Physical Damage which is just a series of bonus enhancements. 

[Cakes]

Power creep has gotten so high that most  t9 powers arnt in tune with set bonuses/incarnates anymore, but good on you for making it work for your play through!

 

Most players avoid or mule those powers, but in the early days they might have seen some use

[PeacekeeperKara]

On 10/8/2021 at 5:17 PM, Supertanker said:

Pre-tricked out build/Incarnate powers, Unstoppable is a good power for fights where you're getting End drained and could lose your toggles. But mostly I just use it to slot the Gladiator's Armor +Def enhancement.

 

Absolutely! I've hit the Cimerora arcs and Ghost Widow alone makes a wicked Elite Boss and she had me on the ropes enough I had to pop Unstoppable to get through the rest of the fight - right after her there was the Jansen part of the arc where he rolls in with two sapper buddies making sure I have zero endurance. The Unstoppable boost to Endurance really got me through it and all the way to the end of that mission. 

[Hyperstrike]

On 10/8/2021 at 5:17 PM, Supertanker said:

Pre-tricked out build/Incarnate powers, Unstoppable is a good power for fights where you're getting End drained and could lose your toggles. But mostly I just use it to slot the Gladiator's Armor +Def enhancement.

I'm going to just disagree with you.

"Three minutes is a long time".

Start listing off TF fights that're NORMALLY 3 minutes or less without a tricked build.

It's a suicide button with a three minute delay.

And even if you're loading up on Psi-Resist bumps, you have 7 normal Resist powers (3 active, 3 passive and Tough, which on an end-stage build should just be turned OFF).  So you don't need that slot.

In short.  Unstop is a waste of a power pick and any extra slots devoted to it may as well have been flushed down an outhouse.

[Supertanker]

1 hour ago, Hyperstrike said:

And even if you're loading up on Psi-Resist bumps, you have 7 normal Resist powers (3 active, 3 passive and Tough, which on an end-stage build should just be turned OFF).  So you don't need that slot.

In short.  Unstop is a waste of a power pick and any extra slots devoted to it may as well have been flushed down an outhouse.

 

It's a free slot. If I don't take Unstoppable, I have to use up a slot from somewhere else for the +Def IO. On my builds, I'm squeezed for slots but not powers, so it's an easy choice.

[PLVRIZR]

11 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

In short.  Unstop is a waste of a power pick and any extra slots devoted to it may as well have been flushed down an outhouse.

 

Don't disagree, at all, but I take it and use it as a mule (five slot Impervium armor, which includes the psi-non unique)...don't even put it in my tray for usage...

[Hyperstrike]

14 hours ago, Supertanker said:

 

It's a free slot. If I don't take Unstoppable, I have to use up a slot from somewhere else for the +Def IO. On my builds, I'm squeezed for slots but not powers, so it's an easy choice.

That's like saying unemployment checks are "free money".  This is factually incorrect.

No.  You had to invest in the power to get that slot.  That's the very opposite of "free".

 

[Supertanker]

3 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

No.  You had to invest in the power to get that slot.  That's the very opposite of "free".

 

 

LIke I said, I'm not squeezed for powers. I'd trade power picks for more enhancement slots if that were an option.

[Maelwys]

On 10/18/2021 at 4:20 AM, Hyperstrike said:

It's a suicide button with a three minute delay.

Meh. It's a Big Red Button.
I like Big Red Buttons.

More seriously: back when I actually played my INV tanker, I had a costume change ready for triggering Unstoppable. So whenever I had to press it, everyone on the team KNEW that I'd just had to press it... because my normally Blue Big Spandex-Clad idiot became a Yellow Big Spandex-Clad idiot with a little red and white mulletcape.
I didn't use it every fight, I used it to stay upright in certain AV fights whenever my healthbar was depleting too quickly to remain viable; or I was in danger of being mezzed beyond what Unyielding could handle.
I also got very good at anticipating when the crash was about to happen - it got to the point that I could reliably activate "Dull Pain" immediately before the crash, and have its Health Bar refill kick in immediately after the crash (The +MaxHP and +MaxEndurance Accolades also helped to give a lot of breathing room). It was fun to do this in the middle of tanking multiple AVs such as on the STF. Fond memories of back when player reaction times and skill actually occasionally had an impact on regular teams!

These days with incarnates? There's very little need for the level of extreme +resistance buffing granted by Unstoppable. So I'd certainly get behind removing/reducing the crash (at least the -HP and -Endurance portion of it; let it do -Recovery and possibly -Regen instead!)
 

Edited October 19, 2021 by Maelwys

[USCI]

On 10/17/2021 at 11:20 PM, Hyperstrike said:

In short.  Unstop is a waste of a power pick and any extra slots devoted to it may as well have been flushed down an outhouse.

 

Yep, I agree.   I've only got one Invul tank and after a little education and the EM rework a while back, it became a lot easier to drop Unstoppable even as a mule.

[PeacekeeperKara]

Alot of strong statements so far in the thread and I like it. Keeps me examining what actually happens in the game. I went through a bout of Alt-itus and returned to my Invuln taker and I'm now 50 vet level 9. First, just like the pre-50 levels, I've reached a point with my powers and enhancements that I'm nigh-invulnerable to most enemies. Debuffs can become a problem when enough of them hit though and it's worth examining. I tried to solo a large group of bosses and ended up debuffed and on the losing end of the damage vs regen scale. I hit Dull Pain and ate my Greens and was still heading for a dirt nap. I popped unstoppable and resumed dealing damage while my health and endurance max'd out. I won the fight. Encounter 2 was a task force Arch-Villain - I taunted him enough that he was plenty miffed and I was starting to take damage faster than any healing and buffs could keep up with, Unstoppable kept me in the fight and got me back to 100%. As others have mentioned, many incarnate level battles last longer than 3 minutes. I ended up retreating and taking a knee, retoggling and heading back in. This took between one and two minutes. 

 

Unstoppable kept me from face planting twice. I still have some big moves I can make in my enhancement slotting and I'm not yet Hybrid in Incarnate so it is still possible that I'll consider spec'ing out of Unstoppable but still...it's useful. Maybe if I didn't hop into groups of bosses solo I wouldn't need it. I'm not really playing it safe. Maybe you are. 

[Snarky]

I can build a Dark/Invul Brute or Invul/Dark Tank to ride out the crash.  This involves a high Recharge build and very conscious management of Dull Pain and Dark Consumption as well as inspirations.  However, as pointed out by builders much better than me…. It is not worth it.  Even though my non Unstoppable build is extremely close to my Unstoppable build the benefits of adding Unstoppable (there are truly few times Invulnerability will benefit from this power) versus adding any other power (always in short supply of another power pick) do not make good sense.  Sigh, and I do love tier 9 uber powers.  Anyways, good luck

Edited December 9, 2021 by Snarky