Solo Recommendations?

[Zulgeek]

Hello!! I'm just recently coming back and like the sound of all the Tanker changes. I almost exclusively solo. Any recommended primaries and secondaries? Or specific primary/secondary combos? I currently have a claws/bio Scrapper I'm really enjoying, but that means I'd like to avoid overlapping with those powers. Thanks in advance!

[Spaghetti Betty]

There's a lot of combinations that do well solo without feeling like a slog.

 

If you're not too familiar with IOs (or minimal knowledge/not a lot of resources), some combos I'd recommend would be SR/Dark, Stone/Staff, or Invuln/MA (this one will bloom way later). I picked these because they all offer great safety with minimal investment and play to a Tanker's strengths well.

 

If you are familiar with IOs, Rad/anything would be my go to pick. Honestly, just pick your favorite melee. Some of my recommendations would be Energy Melee (insane Single Target damage), Titan Weapons (amazing AoE damage with knockdown spam for soft control), and Stone Melee (somewhere in the middle).

 

 

But, my ultimate recommendation is to just pick what sounds the most fun for you. Tankers solo exceptionally well, and you have to go out of your way to make a bad Tank.

Edited August 30, 2022 by Spaghetti Betty
change a recommendation

[Sovera]

Fire/Ice Melee is a good easy and simple out-of-the-box experience in my book. By level 20 you can drop napalm patches on the ground and then make mobs breakdance on it with Ice Patch. So it's safe and simple without complex IOs.

 

Fire/Martial Arts takes longer to blossom (first AoE at level 18 *groan*) but gets a 'turbo charged blowtorch' experience by level 20 (or exemped down to 15, so good for even Posi 1). It's also the sturdiest Fire Tanker that I have thanks to having 45% defense to melee, range and AoE as well as 90% resistances to the important stuff. It is a castle of cards regarding IOs though.

[biostem]

On 8/29/2022 at 8:16 PM, Zulgeek said:

Hello!! I'm just recently coming back and like the sound of all the Tanker changes. I almost exclusively solo. Any recommended primaries and secondaries? Or specific primary/secondary combos? I currently have a claws/bio Scrapper I'm really enjoying, but that means I'd like to avoid overlapping with those powers. Thanks in advance!

I have had fantastic results with a radiation armor/savage melee tanker.  There are 2 key things I've found with this combination:  1. Do NOT use savage melee attacks that consume your stacks of "blood frenzy", as they apply a recharge and end cost reduction bonus to you.  I usually take fighting on these builds, and will mix in an attack with boxing or kick so I lose 1 stack, then use the other powers that consume blood frenzy when it is at 5 stacks, so I keep them instead.  2. Particle Shielding is your bread-and-butter, here.  Besides the nice boost to absorb and regen, it also grants a significant recovery boost.  While said buff can't be enhanced, if you combine it with stamina, gamma boost, and perhaps a couple of the unique IOs that also grant +end or +recovery, not to mention the aforementioned end cost discount from savage melee's blood frenzy, you are NOT going to tire EVER!!!

 

 

A few final notes:

 

I usually skip maiming strike and hemorrhage.  I just don't find that they add enough to my attack chain, and my builds are pretty tight as-is.

 

I like slotting a fury of the gladiator, chance for -RES in one of the AoE attacks.

 

Beta Decay, since it applies a def debuff, can accept an achilles' heel, chance for -res as well.  Also, while it does not deal any damage itself, can be slotted with something like the perfect

zinger, chance for psionic damage proc.

 

[FUBARczar]

If you will be soloing then you want you'll want to be able to take a hit, to heal and not blossom too late offensively.  

 

If you want to play a Defense based set like Super Reflexes, Shield Defenses, Invulnerability or Ice the Dark Melee is a solid set that provides a heal and eventually +endurance as well.

 

Dark Melee also goes well with Willpower and Electricity.

 

Having an article set that helps relieve endurance woes greatly improves your quality of life/gameplay.  For that, consider Bio, Radiation, Fire, Willpower and Electricity.

 

Radiation also had a heal but it's end heavy so it matches will with these 4 sets just mentioned above.  It also process a useful damage aura.

 

Also a helpful possibility is matching one of these Resist/Heal armors with a Weapon that offers +Defense like Katana, or Staff.  

 

Personally I would go big or go home so I would want to solo with something like...

 

Bio, Fire or Radiation paired with Energy Melee.

[Zulgeek]

Thank you all for the replies! Some great info here for me to start playing with different things.

[C U R S E]

If I was to give my pick it would have to be Shield/Dark. I have one and the pure joy of having everything and being a tank is just pure joy. The first and foremost selling point is the damage this build puts out. The combination of Against all Odds and Soul Drain is just astonishing. It is also very proc focused and on top of that you get all the other goodies a tank brings. Oh and take gloom as well because it hits like a truck, just icing on the 🎂 

[Crowcus Pocus]

You really cant go wrong here. Any combo you pick will be able to solo very comfortably.

 

I would even suggest using a primary/secondary randomizer to make things even more interesting. That's what I've been doing with my tanks and it's been a lotta fun.

 

The only thing I absolutely stay away from is Kinetic Melee. I just cant stand it. But it's a personal thing - some players love it.

 

Let us know what you end up going with and enjoy!

Edited September 16, 2022 by Falsey

[Xandyr]

Staff can add Defense AND some resistance (when you use Sky Splitter at combo 3 while in form of the body). I love my WP/Staff tank.

[Zulgeek]

I’ve been having an absolute blast with shield/dark. I want to make a super reflexes too but I’m not sure which primary. And fire armor keeps popping up obviously. 

[twozerofoxtrot]

SR does good with just about anything.  I've even built an SR/SS tank.. which should be folly but you can build SR to be +20 over softcap without hamstringing your build.

 

Normally I'd suggest SR/DM but you're running DM already.

 

SR/Claws has its fans.

 

SR/Kat, WM, and BA should all present really good options for solid damage and proc employment. 

 

But yeah, pretty much anything goes with SR because of how easy it is to reach softcap with the set and 50~ish SL resist with bonuses. Provides lots of flexibility for slotting and high recharge.