Tanker secondary's quesiton

[Neiska]

Hello forums, happy Friday!

 

Am tinkering with a pet project - a new Tanker. I am going to go Bio Armor, but am sort of stuck on which Primary to pair with it. I would like to go Titan Weapons, Super Strength, or maybe Claws if any of those 3 make an exceptional pairing with Bio Armor for Tankers, but am open to suggestions.

 

I know Titan Weapons/Bio used to be a great pairing, but I am unsure how TW performs now after the change, I haven't played a TW in almost two years. Is TW pretty decent on a Tanker, or is it kind of bad now? I "rarely" see TW anymore, so that makes me wonder. Was it "over-nerfed" or is it in a "decent place" now, or is it just "bad?" 

 

Super Strength also looks like it might be good, but I have never played SS before and not sure how to manage the rage crash. As I understand it, Rage is like a Buildup or Aim that boosts damage, but after its done for 10 seconds you do little damage, and take a penalty to defense. Apparently this can be built around, but I am not sure if Rage should be used in a rotation like an attack, or even double stacked, or should it be saved for the alpha hit like Aim sometimes is. I have read lots of posts elsewhere about Super Strength, but it never goes into detail on the best use/timing for Rage. The only "guide" I saw about it was not to keep rage on Auto cast, and that Super Strength is a little weak in the AoE, at least until you get the Goomba Stompy.

 

I see lots of comments pairing Bio Armor with Claws, but I think that is more of a scrapper build more than tanker? I know claws has good AoE with the spin2win, but not sure if the single target damage works decent on tankers or not.

 

I know Energy Melee hits quite hard, but I already have an Energy Melee/Bio Armor character, and would prefer to do something else. I also already have Dual Blades, Radiation Melee, and Katana characters as well.

 

I also would like to avoid the 1 handed weapons, as it just looks off or funky to me. Sets like Axe, Mace, Broadsword, having a weapon in one hand and an empty other hand always looked awkward and I could never get into it. 

 

I also have zero experience with like, Fire Melee, Ice Melee, Dark Melee, and Stone Melee.

 

I know Savage/Bio is pretty good on a brute because Fury affects the bleeds, but I think that might be weak in comparison on a tanker.

 

So I guess the question is, which would be best for a Bio Tanker - Titan Weapons, Super Strength, or Claws? Or any secondary's that SHINE on a tanker that I haven't considered yet?

 

Thanks bunches!

[ZemX]

4 hours ago, Neiska said:

I know Titan Weapons/Bio used to be a great pairing, but I am unsure how TW performs now after the change, I haven't played a TW in almost two years. Is TW pretty decent on a Tanker, or is it kind of bad now? I "rarely" see TW anymore, so that makes me wonder. Was it "over-nerfed" or is it in a "decent place" now, or is it just "bad?" 

 

There isn't anything particularly synergistic between TW and Bio other than TW used to be top dog damage and Bio added moar damage bonus.  TW does has a +def move but it's melee/lethal defense neither of which Bio has by default.  Though you're likely to be building pool and set def bonuses up to add to Bio's existing typed defenses anyway so Guarded Spin's +def(melee, lethal) might end up helping you get to or over the melee soft-cap.  Between that and capped s/l resist, it's very tough.

 

I'm working on a Bio/Staff myself since I'm a fan of Staff fighting.  It's not great single-target but it's very good and very quick AoE on a Tanker.  So good against crowds of weaker enemies solo and great at punch-voking lots of enemies on teams.  Having 3 modes of operation in the primary AND secondary is also kind of fun to play mix and match with.

 

SS I am less far along with.  I opted to try Rad/SS because it should largely ignore the crashes as it doesn't rely on defense and has gobs of endurance recovery tools.  Bio does rely on typed defense for some things and S/L resist for others, so that will hurt a little more but... it also has a great heal and absorb shield and you're going to be capped to S/L resist.  So I imagine it doesn't hurt Bio all that much either.  Since I level normally, SS is more of a grind for me having no good AoE damage until 38.  Hand Clap (with knockdown converter) is a nice mitigation move though and doubles as another big area punch-voke on teams.  Frowned upon by the more damage-oriented Tankers though.

 

Haven't any experience with Claws but I think it's good with anything.

[Gobbledigook]

You could make them for free on the test server and let the game just random slot them. Then you can decide which you prefer. SS is good but a lot of players don't like the crash, you will have to decide on that.

 

Bio armor works well with a secondary that has some good CC though, like knockdowns etc. Bio also likes +recharge, so being able to slot a Force feedback proc is nice. SS and Claws have that, staff also.

[Sovera]

If you feel like stepping outside of your first picks then Martial Arts is a pretty combo with Bio as per @Gobbledegook's suggestion. You get to semi easily cap S/L thanks to the extra 10% defence it brings and the built in soft CC and two good places for FF procs will speed the defensive cooldowns that Bio survives on.

[Parabola]

On 8/13/2022 at 12:27 PM, Gobbledegook said:

Bio armor works well with a secondary that has some good CC though, like knockdowns etc. Bio also likes +recharge, so being able to slot a Force feedback proc is nice. SS and Claws have that, staff also.

This. Stone is another fabulous partner for bio and my bio/stone is now my favourite character. No less than 4 ff+rech procs, 2 in almost guaranteed to fire aoes. Bio feeds stone with end management and supplies a supplemental aoe in the form of DNA siphon procced out. Stone feeds bio with recharge and boat loads of control. Most of your mitigation is active which makes for really engaging gameplay.

[Xandyr]

I really enjoyed my Bio/Rad. Having 2 damage toggles in nice. Plus another heal. 

[Aathas]

I've been running Bio/SS and it's really been the most fun I've had as a melee. Tough as nails and decent damage. The crash that comes after Rage ends is pretty easy to manage imo and it's never been the reason I've face-planted. And, as others have said,  slotting Force Feedback in SS main attacks helps keep Bio's heal and absorb shields coming back in plenty of time.

[PLVRIZR]

10 hours ago, Aathas said:

I've been running Bio/SS and it's really been the most fun I've had as a melee. Tough as nails and decent damage. The crash that comes after Rage ends is pretty easy to manage imo and it's never been the reason I've face-planted. And, as others have said,  slotting Force Feedback in SS main attacks helps keep Bio's heal and absorb shields coming back in plenty of time.

...and procs are unaffected by the crash.  My SS tanks have Hecatomb in Foot Stomp, for just that reason.