Inv/EM Hard Mode Build

[Admiral Amaze]

Heya folks. Don't ask for help too often on builds, as I like to try to work things out myself, or by searching through things.

 

Recently took AA through 2* ITF, while she was OK-Ish with minimal heal support (Rad Def/Kin Control) I felt her current build lacking.

 

Spent a while reading forums and trying to translate other powersets into my play style and this is what I came up with. Any feedback is appreciated.

 

Amaze Experiment.mxd

Edited September 21, 2022 by Admiral Amaze

[PLVRIZR]

Hard Mode ITF (even 2*) will do that to you.  Inv's 50% DDR is usually golden for 99.999% of content, but the cascading debuffs will overcome it.  The devs did a great job in pushing teamwork and the need for various ATs and support (or rotating Incarnate powers), so nothing's really lacking.  NUT's footstomp helps mitigate, but even the strongest Inv tank in my stable can't handle 2* on their own.  The build you posted is great (as usual).

 

HM ITF doesn't even really need a tank, now.

[Linea]

That really looks pretty good.

 

It'll be great till you run up against an EB or AV, or pull an extra group.   I would expect it to hold pretty close to indefinitely vs 1 standard spawn, NO Ebs.

 

But Tactics Stacking and Adds are the problem for all tanks.  You pull a 4-star Leroy and you can be facing a defense soft-cap of 200 defense, at which point your 75 defense without team support is useless and everything then falls on your resistance and ability to heal.  75 defense vs 200 defense cap, multiplied by 4-star, translates to something like 250% chance to hit, capped at 95%.

 

Add Darkest Night, it can be pretty helpful.

Add Vengeance, then you only have to live longer than the first squishy ...

Ageless Radial +DDR ... if you can get a second Ageless +DDR copy from the team you should be golden.  Then stack team Barriers, or team defense buffs on top of that.

find a way to push resists more... *shrug* good luck with that.  You can, but it will cost you defense.  Double-edged sword.

 

I personally went heavier on resists, lower defense, add Darkest Night and Vengeance.  But there is no 'right' answer here.  Every team is different, and at this level you have no choice but to have to rely on the team for at least some kind of minimal support.

 

Edited September 20, 2022 by Linea

[Hyperstrike]

Note: Your build is coming through damaged.

Also, you seem to have forgotten the Shield Wall +Resist unique.

[Hyperstrike]

Cardiac Core
Diamagnetic Core
Ageless Core
Melee Core

Toggle Rune, and you're basically a Granite tank.
And your resting End consumption is ridiculously low.

[Admiral Amaze]

4 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

Note: Your build is coming through damaged.

Also, you seem to have forgotten the Shield Wall +Resist unique.

Fixed that.

 

I was going to play around with incarnates, Cardiac Vs. Resilient Vs. Agility, again trying to balance resist vs. def

 

I normally run ageless, however I was running barrier due to lack of t4 barriers on the last team I was on, can swap if needed.

[Jacke]

On 9/20/2022 at 8:00 PM, Hyperstrike said:

Cardiac Core
Diamagnetic Core
Ageless Core
Melee Core

Toggle Rune, and you're basically a Granite tank.
And your resting End consumption is ridiculously low.

 

Shouldn't that be Ageless Radial for the DDR?

[Hyperstrike]

2 hours ago, Jacke said:

 

Shouldn't that be Ageless Radial for the DDR?

Correct.
I don't always dig into the values.  Mainly because the Debuff  language in the description is WRONG.

*Grumble*

[Jacke]

1 hour ago, Hyperstrike said:

I don't always dig into the values.  Mainly because the Debuff  language in the description is WRONG.

*Grumble*

 

I have issues with that too.

 

I have another question.  A number of Tanker builds I've seen include Pyre Mastery's Char, I think mostly to slot the Superior Entomb in a 5 or 6-set for the IO bonuses.

 

Why not Arctic Mastery's Block of Ice?  It does have a longer cast time, Arcanatime 2.112s vs. 1.32s,, but it also has a 60ft range instead of Char's 50ft.  Besides these and Cold Damage versus Fire Damage, they're very much the same.

[Hyperstrike]

1: #ItsATank  Most of the time, I'm not standing back.  I'm up in their face, shaking hands with said face.  Ze extra range!  It does nuzzink!

2: I could do either.  Basically it's a mule.

[PLVRIZR]

On 9/23/2022 at 9:35 PM, Jacke said:

 

I have issues with that too.

 

I have another question.  A number of Tanker builds I've seen include Pyre Mastery's Char, I think mostly to slot the Superior Entomb in a 5 or 6-set for the IO bonuses.

 

Why not Arctic Mastery's Block of Ice?  It does have a longer cast time, Arcanatime 2.112s vs. 1.32s,, but it also has a 60ft range instead of Char's 50ft.  Besides these and Cold Damage versus Fire Damage, they're very much the same.

Because S.Entomb includes the chance for +absorb proc...

[Jacke]

On 9/25/2022 at 4:18 PM, PLVRIZR said:

Because S.Entomb includes the chance for +absorb proc...

 

Arctic Mastery's Block of Ice is also a hold and can be slotted in the same way as Pyre Mastery's Char, so it could have the Chance for +Absorb proc too.  However, as @Hyperstrike pointed out above, the greater range of Block of Ice isn't likely to matter for a Tanker.  And Char does cast faster than Block of Ice.

[PLVRIZR]

36 minutes ago, Jacke said:

 

Arctic Mastery's Block of Ice is also a hold and can be slotted in the same way as Pyre Mastery's Char, so it could have the Chance for +Absorb proc too.  

 

Pyre Mastery also includes Melt Armor, which is a great -Res/-Def AOE debuff, for any archetype.  Arctic Mastery does give -rech/-spd, but I'll take Melt Armor, every time.

[BurningDezire]

On 9/19/2022 at 3:29 PM, PLVRIZR said:

Hard Mode ITF (even 2*) will do that to you.  Inv's 50% DDR is usually golden for 99.999% of content, but the cascading debuffs will overcome it.  The devs did a great job in pushing teamwork and the need for various ATs and support (or rotating Incarnate powers), so nothing's really lacking.  NUT's footstomp helps mitigate, but even the strongest Inv tank in my stable can't handle 2* on their own.  The build you posted is great (as usual).

 

HM ITF doesn't even really need a tank, now.

Devs did a good job of pushing teamwork, but not the need of various ATs.  As you mentioned, I've been in HM teams where I have tanked and wasn't needed. What has resulted is certain ATs and powersets being prominent over others when it comes to HM...such as defenders, corruptors and cold domination, nature and elec powersets. Controllers, Scrappers, and even Tanks have a hard time joining HM teams.

Edited October 1, 2022 by BurningDezire