MORE TANKS

[Aeroprism]

My new baby, Rad/Claw is almost 41 and will surely be 50 soon.  My very first 50, most like.

 

I'm having way too much fun with tanks. I want more tanks. I thought brutes were my thing but, the target cap and wide radius/angles is what does it for me.

 

I have:

 

42 Ice/Ice, almost as fun.

15 SR/SM, I'm not sold yet but hey, only level 15

22 Elec/Staff, promising

 

What other combos would you guys suggest?

 

I might try Bio/TW, I'm interested in dark armor, shield looks fun too.  As for secondaries, I'm pretty opened but ideally, not claws or ice since I already have that covered.

 

MORE TANKS.

 

Which will lead to MORE THANKS.

 

[Bill Z Bubba]

Shield/Nrg.

[Obsinious]

Since you say you like the big AOEs:

 

A Fire/any tank.  Burn is awesome, I'd recommend finding Sovera's Brunker thread and pick what sounds good.

 

An Inv/SS tank.  Foot stomp radius is huge, rage is unique, the combination is iconic, and Inv can deal with the crash.

 

An Inv/Rad or Shield/Rad tank. Rad is one of the better AOE sets, it has some slow animations but is thematically and visually satisfying.  Built in heal mechanic makes it pair well with armors that lack one.  Inv or Shield are top tier with it.

 

An any/Mace tank.  Mace is a strong secondary with 2 cones and an aoe.  Shield is thematically appropriate, but most anything works.

[UltraAlt]

2 hours ago, Aeroprism said:

What other combos would you guys suggest?

 

Whatever matches your character conception <--- would always be my first pick.

I like Dark/Dark, Dark/Titan Weapon, Fire/Staff, Electric/Street Justice, Shield/Mace, etc. <-- I'm an alt-jumper so I'm making them by character suggestion, but I have made all these and they are fun to play when I play them.

[Carnifax]

Fire is fun. Fire with something that can trigger Forced Feedbacks regularly is silly.

 

Fire/Mace for example would (eventually) be fun. Downside is your AoE in Mace comes a little later. Crowd Control is love. 

 

Or staff if you can get past the redraw (which allegedly has no in-game effect but seems to delay when the 'hit' occurs to me).

 

Fire/Stone was the very 1st CoH char I ever made back in i4. Didn't make it to 50. With the upcoming Stone changes that might be worth a look. 

 

 

 

[Parabola]

Anything/dark melee. Dark melee on tanks is my favourite thing in coh right now and I'm starting to run out of armour sets to run it with.

 

Claws is great on tanks too, and rad melee is interesting.

 

Also looking forward to the stone melee changes to run a fire/stone. I'm planning a kind of 'anti-tank' that takes, slots and intends to use rise of the phoenix...

[Without_Pause]

5 hours ago, Obsinious said:

An Inv/Rad or Shield/Rad tank. Rad is one of the better AOE sets, it has some slow animations but is thematically and visually satisfying.  Built in heal mechanic makes it pair well with armors that lack one.  Inv or Shield are top tier with it.

+1. The animation times on the ST attacks are not kind, but Rad is top tier for AoE. Shield/rad would be my pick for a min/max Tank. I would lean more towards doing one, but I have the Scrapper version, and I'm kind of done with Rad's animations in terms of wanting to level another one.  

 

Options not mentioned, Shield with Elec or Savage as both give you tele nukes although both are lacking in ST damage. I still think Savage is what Claws should have been. I made a Rad/bio Brute and that certainly makes me wonder what a Tank version would be like because it is going to pump out a lot of orange numbers. Any tank with two damage auras is going to wreck things. Balanced versus AoE heavy, but the smoothest set due to animation times unless I missed something is StJ. The more I play other sets the more I want to play StJ instead. I find EM more on the good side than fun, but Dark/em would be great for stacked stuns. Don't get me wrong, EM's ST damage is incredibly good maybe too good, but any time you have to deal with TF's animation time it raises an issue for me in the fun factor.

[Aeroprism]

So many answers, thanks!!

 

I levelled a Rad Melee scrapper to 30-ish but the animation times were killing me, but I can see it work on a tank, I guess.

 

I have a 48 EM scrapper and I really love her but she's very, very ST based. As @Obsinious said, I like me some AOE.

 

Speaking of AoE, I had this build for a Fire/Staff but compared to my Rad tank, it looks ridiculously squishy, I'm very afraid of being disappointed.

 

Spoiler

This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.0.6.0
https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Fiery Aura
Secondary Power Set: Staff Fighting
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Blazing Aura -- SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg(A), SprGntFis-Rchg/+Absorb(3), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), SprGntFis-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), SprGntFis-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5)
Level 1: Mercurial Blow -- AchHee-ResDeb%(A), TchofLadG-%Dam(7), TchofDth-Dam%(7), GldStr-%Dam(9), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(9), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(11)
Level 2: Fire Shield -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), UnbGrd-ResDam(13), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(13), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(15), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(15)
Level 4: Guarded Spin -- SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(19), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(21), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(23), SprMghoft-Rchg/Res%(23)
Level 6: Hover -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-ResDam%(25), Krm-ResKB(25)
Level 8: Consume -- SynSck-EndMod/+RunSpeed(A), SynSck-Dam/Rech/Acc(27), SynSck-EndMod/Rech(27), SynSck-Dam/Rech(29), SynSck-EndMod(29), SynSck-Dam/Acc/End(31)
Level 10: Healing Flames -- Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(A), Prv-Heal/Rchg(31), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(31), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(33), Prv-Heal(33), Prv-Absorb%(33)
Level 12: Plasma Shield -- UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(A), UnbGrd-ResDam(34), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(34), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(34), UnbGrd-EndRdx/Rchg(36)
Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(36)
Level 16: Eye of the Storm -- Obl-%Dam(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(36), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(37), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), FrcFdb-Rechg%(39)
Level 18: Burn -- Obl-Acc/Rchg(A), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(39), Obl-%Dam(39), FuroftheG-ResDeb%(40), Erd-%Dam(40), Arm-Dam%(40)
Level 20: Staff Mastery 
Level 22: Fly -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A), WntGif-ResSlow(42)
Level 24: Evasive Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A)
Level 26: Fiery Embrace -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 28: Serpent's Reach -- SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg(A), SprMghoft-Dmg/Rchg(42), SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), SprMghoft-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43), SprMghoft-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43), FrcFdb-Rechg%(45)
Level 30: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(45)
Level 32: Boxing -- SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(A), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45)
Level 35: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(A)
Level 38: Sky Splitter -- Hct-Dam%(A), Hct-Dmg/Rchg(46), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), Hct-Acc/Rchg(46), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(48), FrcFdb-Rechg%(48)
Level 41: Focused Accuracy -- AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(A), AdjTrg-EndRdx/Rchg(48), AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx(50)
Level 44: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(50), LucoftheG-Def(50)
Level 47: Physical Perfection -- PrfShf-End%(A)
Level 49: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet 
Level 1: Brawl -- SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(A), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(11)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), Mrc-Rcvry+(17), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(17)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(19)
Level 1: Combo Level 1 
Level 1: Combo Level 2 
Level 1: Combo Level 3 
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run 
Level 50: Musculature Core Paragon 
Level 50: Pyronic Core Final Judgement 
Level 50: Reactive Radial Flawless Interface 
Level 50: Banished Pantheon Radial Superior Ally 
Level 50: Barrier Core Epiphany 
Level 50: Assault Core Embodiment 
Level 50: Portal Jockey 
Level 50: Task Force Commander 
Level 50: The Atlas Medallion 
Level 50: Freedom Phalanx Reserve 
Level 20: Form of the Body 
Level 20: Form of the Mind 
Level 20: Form of the Soul 
Level 22: Afterburner 
------------

 

I'll have to check SS too since everyone praises it. Can't say I'm a big fan of the animation style though.

 

As promised in my initial post:  MANY THANKS!  (Keep those suggestions coming!)

[SeraphimKensai]

• Shield/Stone Melee - lots of damage and knockdowns
• Rad/Dark Melee - proc bombs and tohit Debuff to support a resistance set
• Ice Armor/Mace - slows and satisfying wallops
• Dark Armor/SS - resistance, stacked stuns, knockdown, and good damage
• Willpower/EM - layered defenses and pom poms of doom
• SR/Rad Melee - great mitigation, aoe and -res via procs
• Invuln/MA - pretty close to immortal
• Elec/TW - extra defense from secondary to compliment resistance based primary. I use a proc'd out whirlwind for more knockdown and recharge.
• Bio/Staff - 6 forms, layered defenses, more damage.

Its early morning and I'm still waking up so I might of forgot a couple but I have incarnate experience with all these and they all work well. I tend to play the DA/SS and SR/Rad more than the others, but maybe that's due to the concept I came up with.

[PLVRIZR]

9 hours ago, Obsinious said:

An Inv/SS tank.  Foot stomp radius is huge, rage is unique, the combination is iconic, and Inv can deal with the crash.

 

 

Second this.  So durable, so satisfying.  Incarnated = immortal (for now).

[Aeroprism]

I have a silly question and feel free to call me an innocent, sweet summer child but, concerning Inv/SS, I can see the insane ST damage but Inv has zero damage tools whatsoever and SS has no cone and just one PBAOE timed on a 20 second cooldown.

 

Doesn't it take weeks and months to clear a map with that?

 

I may be spoiled with my Rad/Claw that dishes indiscriminate mass murder arrests every two clicks.

[Senbonbanana]

I've read dark/dark is super fun and resilient once your endurance problems are under control through IO sets and incarnates.  

 

I have an Inv/SS that's got mostly IOs.  Not much hits, and what does get through the defense only tickles.  The rage crash is almost unnoticeable, biggest problem is the end crash as Inv.  The -dam is annoying, but your inherent still works even if you're only doing 1 damage.  The -def doesn't even phase me anymore, and if it does I've got a couple of purples and greens on standby in my tray. 

 

So yeah, +1 to Inv/SS

[Senbonbanana]

6 minutes ago, Aeroprism said:

I have a silly question and feel free to call me an innocent, sweet summer child but, concerning Inv/SS, I can see the insane ST damage but Inv has zero damage tools whatsoever and SS has no cone and just one PBAOE timed on a 20 second cooldown.

 

Doesn't it take weeks and months to clear a map with that?

 

I may be spoiled with my Rad/Claw that dishes indiscriminate mass murder arrests every two clicks.

 

I exclusively team on my tanker, but while rage is up I feel like I'm doing good damage.  My PBAOE recharges in ~6 seconds while hasten is running.  Getting rage to stack is awesome, even if it only lasts a few seconds.  The worst part is FS doesn't come until level 38.  That's a looooong time to go without any sort of AoE outside of pool powers.

[jagermiester]

8 hours ago, Parabola said:

Anything/dark melee. Dark melee on tanks is my favourite thing in coh right now and I'm starting to run out of armour sets to run it with.

 

Claws is great on tanks too, and rad melee is interesting.

 

Also looking forward to the stone melee changes to run a fire/stone. I'm planning a kind of 'anti-tank' that takes, slots and intends to use rise of the phoenix...

i like fire/dark ice/dark wp/dark  rad/dark  i like to farm with dark/fire brute fun as heck 

 

[Aeroprism]

12 hours ago, Obsinious said:

A Fire/any tank.  Burn is awesome, I'd recommend finding Sovera's Brunker thread and pick what sounds good.

 

Sovera's builds are lovely. I always recommend, myself.

[Aeroprism]

I will admit, Dark/Dark sounds ridiculously fun.

 

I have a scrapper like that, in her late 20s,  Perhaps a tanker would be better.

 

Edit: Anyone has a solid Dark/Dark tank build?  I suck at builds.

 

Edit 2: It's insane what a little search can do in these fantastic forums.  Look what I found!

 

 

Lots of juicy things there!

Edited November 17, 2021 by Aeroprism

[Warboss]

Rad/Fire/Energy Mastery or Mu Mastery.

Rad/SS/*

 

[PLVRIZR]

22 hours ago, Senbonbanana said:

 

I exclusively team on my tanker, but while rage is up I feel like I'm doing good damage.  My PBAOE recharges in ~6 seconds while hasten is running.  Getting rage to stack is awesome, even if it only lasts a few seconds.  The worst part is FS doesn't come until level 38.  That's a looooong time to go without any sort of AoE outside of pool powers.

 

^---this x100

 

Hasten is one of the keys, for sure.  Rage and double Rage make up some of the difference, as well.  Invincibility takes to-hit enhancements, so the Gaussian build up proc goes off constantly and automatically.  6-7 seconds between stomps isn't that bad...they're just getting up when being put down, again 😆  Once incarnated, you get to pick another great AOE.  I choose Mighty, to go along (thematically) with Stomp, but take Ion, if you want max damage.  I also use all six Armageddon's in Stomp (fire damage proc makes a big difference) and liberally use Melt Armor for debuffing.  Sure I get blinded by Arachnos (no Focused Accuracy), but also get Char to hold Sappers.  Even blinded, your AOEs still cause damage. 

 

Agree that waiting until 38 for Stomp takes patience, but even at the lower levels (especially once you get Invincibility), you can tank pretty much anything and teaming is the key.  SS isn't ever the greatest pick for speedy map clearing, for sure, but it teams so perfectly with Inv, that it makes up for it in safety.

 

Here's my favorite tank and my go-to for just a silly fun time, at any level, in any content, even fire farming hitter support.  Numbers are with one stack of each AT special, 5 mobs for Invinc, Hasten, one stack of Rage, Resilient Core and Melee Core (Tough toggled off, lol).  Add in Dull Pain and Ageless and it's really ridiculous.

 

NUTCRCKR

https://www.midsreborn.com/builds/download.php?uc=1562&c=764&a=1528&f=HEX&dc=78DA65945B53126118C7DF8545012141445014150F80CA0A6A331DA70B4BC7038DA3D62D83B52113830CA09333D54C33D9E1AEACC6CFD04D1FA0ACABFA029D3CD457F05069DA153DECFF1961869D81DFB3FF7DDEE7F4BEBBD13B972D6F461F5C1292653815CFE562B3F1F46D356B8C2EE6E3F9E4425AD065BD7A6D76787A78623AB6745A095793E28557ECB27A4B4DE754652CBDB4984AABD9F85C3295CC2F7BF871544DA9AA32B398217B269F55D389FCBCB04C2D2CA49449359E49A61356ED66249998CFD39D59BB9BC9A8EA4DBB6652DC642E89A0F62B99E40D656A39ABC6A2F15C5ECD2EBBA99210FD3E9BE84F2A565AD08920197E59E85CC41659C8037A2122B2E8330BBE0A06F154D634DB13D0FB18EC7C04F6AC301F825F28BE84F8B274A847FCBFA07C04561D83967FE0575AA3473E9D7E42D2E21827C1E628F88D7C0C1CD73004AD6A10340F807D1166187C1714A21A6BF4D587E8CD78049A8F41CB01D84F3D9B508330E5749AE6A2EDAB8126D5FC84E6F5C07F839CAD1CDBEAC51C4FB5327D60A81D5428762DCFB3F607D6DBB6C1862DD0BD098636B89EEFE026E5B14B06AD6FFB1F687523985BDD38D83E0676BE468D11CAE7E07C8E57D897FA97CC1760C32AE87ECEFBF98C75EAD9C97D392790AF690C6C1F073B46411DF9BAE02B5C2BC8BD45F536F23E35FE465D4DBFC0E67DAE770FECDF0507A85E8F76680AC2D34B70C8424FB15B78F62D7C4EBD7E709B72B4E299DCCACFDABA98ECD3D609F6074099E2F9B82F9F13E7A3C3C6AC07FD0E7088EAE982AFA1EB22FAEA3EC33C0B06CF31CF833D17401FE50960AD1428F612318AA046590C52DC5E3EE7BD77096E3AABF7C0D07DB0780C14EE5BF9883D897C020F2C4284797D785DA7CD29F29EF9010CCA27EF77A1593E798F314C8A3159AE55A1E6299997902679E0B7633E798F851482B65BAE05A0ED95349D741DF3EB1EC7CCFD3B3827FB251F495A434EFF2ACFADBC9E025D225CA1442A94C10A65A84231D94EBE2A85047D09223C158BAB64AF3B4A769DB364AF15755EFBD657D2E3E6923D5766FF075A61F010

 

Hasten on autocast. Level 50 content attack chain:  Taunt (with psi damage)/Herd/Stack, Mighty, Melt Armor, Rage, Stomp, Jab, Haymaker, KoB, lather, rinse, repeat.

 

Usual props to Hyperstrike and Infinitum for build advice, as all my Inv builds have copied/borrowed/stolen from them 😁

[KaoticKarl]

Have a Shield/EM, would recommend for overall toughness and monstrous ST damage. However, since you want to focus more on AoE...

 

My current leveling projects:

WP/Ice - Frost is an early and surprisingly good cone power. Frozen aura is as satisfying as footstomp (no rage though). Can softcap def, build good resists, and the regen is insane. Grab ageless radial for the DDR and -End holes. Added bonus of ice slick - easy to perma, watch everything close by play slip and slide games for hours! NEVER-GETS-OLD 🙂

Dark/Staff - early cone as well, which also buffs defense. Dark will help with PBAoE damage aura and OG. Staff helps dark's endurance issues early. These synch well together.

Rad/SS - don't need to say much here, well documented.

SR/Claws - Ask the one and only original, Bill, for good builds. Tons of fun while leveling up from 1-45 so far.

Bio/Psi (disclaimer: concept only right now, may be terrible) - I'm hoping that Bio Off mode helps out with any Psi-resistant mobs. Sweep at 16 is one of the best animations in the game to me. Mass levitate should be fun. Can't hurt to try, no?

 

Just some fun combos that have worked for me. YMMV of course. 

[Erratic1]

35 minutes ago, KaoticKarl said:

Bio/Psi (disclaimer: concept only right now, may be terrible) - I'm hoping that Bio Off mode helps out with any Psi-resistant mobs. Sweep at 16 is one of the best animations in the game to me. Mass levitate should be fun. Can't hurt to try, no?

 

Mass Levitate is indeed fun. Have it on my Rad/Psi.

[Bill Z Bubba]

10 minutes ago, Erratic1 said:

Mass Levitate is indeed fun. Have it on my Rad/Psi.

 

Maybe now that I can silence all Psi Melee's sound FX thanks to Solarverse, I can revisit it.

[PeregrineFalcon]

10 minutes ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

Maybe now that I can silence all Psi Melee's sound FX thanks to Solarverse, I can revisit it.

Personally I learned to really dislike Psi Melee. The animations are slow and clunky and the damage just wasn't great. I suspect that, once you try it, you'll find that the sound FX isn't actually the worst part of the set.

 

I'm thinking about trying a SD/SS Tank. Shield Charge + Hand Clap (with a KB>KD IO) + Foot Stomp just sounds like a ton of fun.

[Warboss]

50 minutes ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

I'm thinking about trying a SD/SS Tank. Shield Charge + Hand Clap (with a KB>KD IO) + Foot Stomp just sounds like a ton of fun.

It is, try it. Also you can pair it with Torrent from Energy Master and "knock the bowling pins down", run them over, FS them, then knock them down again (rinse repeat or fire off whatever has recharged. It's all fun from there). Almost as fun as "Axe Juggling" mobs with Knock Up.

[mcdoogss]

Fire/Ice is dope.  Frost is probably the best melee cone in the game right now, and it comes in at lvl 4.

[KaoticKarl]

3 hours ago, PeregrineFalcon said:

Personally I learned to really dislike Psi Melee. The animations are slow and clunky and the damage just wasn't great. I suspect that, once you try it, you'll find that the sound FX isn't actually the worst part of the set.

 

I'm thinking about trying a SD/SS Tank. Shield Charge + Hand Clap (with a KB>KD IO) + Foot Stomp just sounds like a ton of fun.

That's funny to me, because I actually like the Psi animations from my limited testing on Brainstorm, while I have to force myself to level up the Rad/SS cause of the power animations. Only level 20 so far, but the plodding thump-thump-thump of the punches for so-so damage sounds just like a metronome to me and drives me bonkers. I'm sure FS and KOB will help alleviate it somewhat, but until I get there, the powerset has been causing me to have sudden bouts of narcolepsy. 😄