Farming build for Invuln/Axe tanker - is such a thing realistically possible?

[Icono04]

Whenever there is a farming-related thread, there are usually a few people posting that they do their farming on some offbeat AT or powerset combo, as opposed to the Fire-, Spines- or Rad brutes/tankers that most people usually think of as farming builds. 

So, since I have a lvl 50 invuln/BA tanker sitting unused and forgotten on my alt account, I wonder if this character can be repurposed (and very much rebuilt) for a bit of farming. Am I crazy for even thinking of this, or have others done this before - and if so, perhaps I can see your build? Heck, even if +4/x8 is too ambitious, perhaps something like +2/x8? 

 

If this idea makes no sense whatsoever, feel free to tell me so with creative use of verbal abuse - I can take some heat, and trash talk is entertaining for all the other readers of this forum 😜

 

Thanks in advance.

[Grimm2]

I do s/l farms with my spine/stone brute, rad/savage tank, and my bio/ tanks. Is it optimal, will it be as fast as a tuned fire farmer? No way, not by a lot. Usually clear an asteroid in 8-10 minutes. But I still enjoy it sometimes. 

 

Your invuln/ tank will survive a s/l farm just fine, I reckon. You might get good use out of dark obliteration, or the Mu AoEs.

[Psyonico]

A S/L farm would be the way to go.  I can't recommend one, however, as both of my farming toons are fire armor.

 

You'll be able to solo +4x8, sure, it'll be slower, but you'll be safe.

 

I'll second the idea of Mu Mastery, it's got 3 AoEs to add to your arsenal.

[Nightmare Shaman]

There's an easy answer to your question, but there's several things to cover.  Namely:

1) Fire/cold are arguably the easiest res to top off outside of s/l due to the abundance of +6 res i/o bonuses available.  Almost all purple i/o's and all the winter i/o's increase this.  So, you can add +30 fire/cold res to any build easily just by using these.
2) Although inv is known for the s/l res, the real strength of the set is the potential for softcapping def to everything while surrounded by at least 10 enemies.  (Something you'll do constantly in farms)  It's quite easy to have fire/cold softcapped.  And, as a very important bonus outside of farms, you have ddr of 50%.  This is extremely important in high end content like ITF and DA missions.
3) If you add #1 and #2 together, you can see how you can just as easily do fire farms as you can s/l farms because you can be softcapped and res capped to both s/l and fire.
4) Once you get your alpha slot to the third tier, you get a level boost for regular content.  This makes things substantially easier in farms as you effectively fight one level higher.  (If doing incarnate content, you can eventually be +3.)  
5) Incarnates also allow you to increase either def or res depending on what your build needs.  My last inv build had 88.3% res, and 64.5% def to fire, and 90% res, and 53.2% def to s/l with 10 enemies present.

Invulnerable is a beast.  On top of those numbers, you also have the aforementioned 50% ddr, along with 25% end/rec debuff resist.  In my opinion, it's one of the most durable and efficient tanks available.  HOWEVER...

Farming isn't about survivability.  Survival in a farm is binary.  You either survive or you don't - the enemies are exactly the same depending on the farm you choose.  People mistakenly think people use fire tanks on fire farms because of the fire res.  That's not true.  It's because of the immense damage potential of fire tanks on top of the easily attained 90% fire res.  (You also quickly find out that 90% res isn't enough - you absolutely need 45% def to survive)

SO TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION - Without a doubt you can survive s/l farms on +4/8 without missing a beat.  But, you can also survive any farm with inv.  You'll just do it slower than a fire tank and many other more optimal farming builds.  You may do it once or twice, but you'll probably get annoyed because it takes so long.  

Hope this helps.  Good luck.

[Ringo]

In the past Fire farms were also favored because there were no -def attacks, making it safer than Lethal

 

I am curious about Cold farming.  Presumably -recharge and slows make it take too long?

 

Added: in regards to battle axe, the lethal -def should technically make farms with harder targets, bosses/ebs, go faster by stacking -def on the high hp targets

Edited October 7, 2023 by Ringo

[Spaghetti Betty]

24 minutes ago, Ringo said:

I am curious about Cold farming.  Presumably -recharge and slows make it take too long?

Well, you could bypass the need for Slow RES by using Ice Armor for a Cold farm, but the battle there would be finding Cold DEF without trading a ton of kill power for it, since there aren't many ways to build for it outside of 6 piece Winters.

[Nightmare Shaman]

1 hour ago, Ringo said:

In the past Fire farms were also favored because there were no -def attacks, making it safer than Lethal

 

I am curious about Cold farming.  Presumably -recharge and slows make it take too long?

 

Added: in regards to battle axe, the lethal -def should technically make farms with harder targets, bosses/ebs, go faster by stacking -def on the high hp targets

I forgot about that - you're right.  (no -def)

Truth be told, fire is simply the easiest.  Too much to fiddle with to make cold feasible.  Although I'm sure someone else has tried it.  Hell, just search "cold farm" in the AE.  I'm sure there's something there.  

[Ringo]

Well Fire has -def now, so it's easiest to build for but with a complete build it shouldn't be any safer than a S/L farm.

 

Basically, armor-wise, S/L and Fire should all be equally viable with the right build

 

Hmmm... Energy doesn't have an extra effect besides Knockback, right? Wonder if Energy farming could be a thing