Invul Tanker help needed with a weapon set for secondary

[CaptainFantastic]

As title is stating, looking to start my first real try and an Invul tanker, and wanting to pair it with a weapon set that has the option to actually display on character, just for some extra flavor.  I'd also like to use fly/hover as travel/combat defense power choice.  I'm seeing lots of mentions of Hyperstrike builds but haven't been able to find any that list weapon powersets for secondary and/or have Fly.  In the past I've done a few tankers and enjoyed them but feel it's time for the original tanky tanker with Invul.

 

Thanks in advance for any help, advice, suggestions, etc that are given, they are much appreciated!

[IronJuke]

Invulnerability is a really great set.  If you want a weapon that displays then Katana, Battle Axe and War Mace are really solid choices that I play.

 

You should probably check out a powerset Tier list.  There is currently an active post on "what's the most damaging Tanker?"  Katana gets mentioned there.

 

Katana works well with Invulnerability because Divine Avalanche gives you a defensive parry.  Staff and Broadsword also have it.  Lethal damage inflicts a defensive debuff and if you can start losing Defense quickly.  But, going Snicksnack with Divine Avalanche a couple times helps a lot.

 

Battle Axe will be the biggest damage and recently got a nice rework. 

 

Claws is decent damage and AOE's, if that's your thing, but does it count?  Not sure. 

Dual Blades has a complex mechanic and doesn't get played a lot (not sure why). 

Staff has great defense with a bit lower damage.  Some people love the play style.

Broadsword has issues.  Attacks are slow.  Damage is meh.

Titan Weapons, I used to play it on my Brute as my main, but TW has had a significant nerf.  It has very long animations, that are terrible while you are leveling.  I rebuilt the character as War Mace/Radiation and it's totally awesome now. 

 

Hope this helps.   I've attached my Inv/Katana Build.  Suggest you install MIDs Reborn and get started.  

 

You will have other questions I'm sure. 

 

 

Silverblade Tanker w Weave.mbd

Edited January 21 by IronJuke

[Psyonico]

I've got an inv/titan tank that is a beast.

 

Really, pick a set that sounds fun and run with it.

[CaptainFantastic]

Appreciate the replies, and yeah, I'd seen that tier list and that it included a few weapon sets.  I was sorta leaning towards Katana just for Divine Avalanche alone helping to shore up some defense as well, so I really appreciate the build.  With Dual Blades, I've always sorta loved it but I know it's more nuanced with recharge anymore and people don't even suggest following the combos and just doing the feint, ablating, sweep, ablating, repeat combo, but I would think having Sweep on a Tanker for bonus cone size would be pretty amazing.  I'd really love to see some builds for that as well if anyone has any!  I'm an absolute novice when it comes to making builds in Mids, I don't know near enough sets, when to slot procs, etc.  Titan Weapons is one I've tried a handful of times but just can't get past the teens with it dealing with the super slow animations even though it does nice things.

[ZemX]

15 hours ago, CaptainFantastic said:

I was sorta leaning towards Katana just for Divine Avalanche alone helping to shore up some defense as well

 

Don't take Katana for DA.  The 15% non-stackable melee/lethal defense buff doesn't make up for this being a T5 attack that does, literally, T1 damage.  It is Gambler's Cut with a defense buff.  It would be fine if DA *was* the Tier 1 attack in Katana.  But it isn't, sadly.  You could take GC and then just not slot it, replacing it with DA at level 16 but that costs you a power slot you're now not using.   Or you could try using both SotW and DA in your attack chains, but you really don't need *two* fast-charging minor damage attacks.

 

Katana is otherwise a fun set and has some nice IOing capabilities that push it into surprising damage territory if you want to go that way.  Invuln is also fine without DA's defense buff, really.

 

But if top damage isn't a priority, consider Staff Fighting.  Two cone attacks, both of which are larger than Katana's Flashing Steel, and one of which also carries the same defense buff as DA but is capable of self-stacking.  Guarded Spin also comes to you at level 4, not level 16.   The PBAoE is also larger and, while hovering, has a much better animation than while on the ground (where it looks more like you're break-dancing).  It has longish animations overall though and that tends to limit its damage output.  But if you like big AoEs (and I cannot lie) it can be fun and is much faster than Titan Weapons.  

[IronJuke]

3 hours ago, ZemX said:

 

Don't take Katana for DA.  The 15% non-stackable melee/lethal defense buff doesn't make up for this being a T5 attack that does, literally, T1 damage.  It is Gambler's Cut with a defense buff.  It would be fine if DA *was* the Tier 1 attack in Katana.  But it isn't, sadly.  You could take GC and then just not slot it, replacing it with DA at level 16 but that costs you a power slot you're now not using.   Or you could try using both SotW and DA in your attack chains, but you really don't need *two* fast-charging minor damage attacks.

 

Katana is otherwise a fun set and has some nice IOing capabilities that push it into surprising damage territory if you want to go that way.  Invuln is also fine without DA's defense buff, really.

 

But if top damage isn't a priority, consider Staff Fighting.  Two cone attacks, both of which are larger than Katana's Flashing Steel, and one of which also carries the same defense buff as DA but is capable of self-stacking.  Guarded Spin also comes to you at level 4, not level 16.   The PBAoE is also larger and, while hovering, has a much better animation than while on the ground (where it looks more like you're break-dancing).  It has longish animations overall though and that tends to limit its damage output.  But if you like big AoEs (and I cannot lie) it can be fun and is much faster than Titan Weapons.  

 

I agree with what you are saying largely.  Invulnerability is fine without a Parry/DA. 

 

I tested DA by doing S/L Farms in AE, and I found it useful when getting hit by lots of lethal damage, it seemed to stop Defense drops pretty quickly.  But is that a valid test, or will it be useful outside of AE? 

 

I also like War Mace and it has no Parry.  It does have some cool Weapon options. 

 

[ZemX]

23 minutes ago, IronJuke said:

I tested DA by doing S/L Farms in AE, and I found it useful when getting hit by lots of lethal damage, it seemed to stop Defense drops pretty quickly.  But is that a valid test, or will it be useful outside of AE? 

 

I have no experience with farming but I thought they specifically excluded powers (from the enemies that is) that can deal -DEF debuffs.   I see in some S/L guides that enemies are selected to use things like Stone Melee and Dual Blades (and for DB, they exclude Ablating Strike).  If you were running a farm that included -DEF debuffs then it might not be a bad test.   Cimerora, if you've high enough level to go there, would be another.  Just run any random door mission there or start a solo ITF at +4/x8 and see how you fare against a pack of angry sword-wielding Cimeoran Traitors.

 

I can see how DA could be useful in that specific case.  If you soft-cap lethal with just Invuln and then add Divine Avalanche on top with even just one slot of LOTG (the DEF/global recharge IO is typical) you can be far enough over the soft-cap that together with Invuln's moderate level of DDR you are safer from Cascade Defense Failure than without it.  Still, the cost is taking two low-damage ST attacks when you only need one for your ST rotation.

[CaptainFantastic]

I didn't really mean that DA was the ONLY thing leaning me towards Katana, but I didn't really say it well, ha.  I knew it was a good reason for it but that Katana also has a lot of other good attacks, it's quick and can lead to some pretty decent damage and proc loading from what I've read.  I've also heard good things about the newly changed Battle Axe and it having a unique ability to actually pull in mobs with it's aoe.  That'd have to be a new consideration too I suppose. And I'd still also sort of like to see how Dual Blades could play out on a Tanker with it's much wider cones inherent, but I don't know enough about Dual Blades to know what is actually needed and not as a Tanker compared to the speed demon setups of every other class with it.

 

Still though, appreciate the feedback and advice from you all!

[ZemX]

22 minutes ago, CaptainFantastic said:

I've also heard good things about the newly changed Battle Axe and it having a unique ability to actually pull in mobs with it's aoe.

 

Axe Cyclone, yeah.  15ft Radius AoE, so it's as big as Foot Stomp in Super Strength.   It uses a Repel effect (which despite the name actually sucks mobs inward towards the Tanker).  This helps set up Pendulum to hit more enemies.   

 

Pendulum is also sort of a strange AoE.  It's not a Cone like Crowd Control in War Mace.  Actually Battle Axe and War Mace used to pretty much be clones of one another.  Now Battle Axe is different.  Pendulum is a targeted AoE, meaning you target an enemy in melee range and the area of effect for the damage is actually around THEM, not you.  Upshot is you don't have to worry about positioning yourself to hit multiple enemies like you do with a typical melee cone.  It's going to hit everybody around your intended target, and thanks to the Tanker Gauntlet buff, it's not 7ft radius like it is for everyone else, but 10.5ft radius.  That's why it works so well as a followup to Axe Cyclone.  Suck em in, and you're basically increasing the odds you hit the target cap on Pendulum.

 

It might even help you a little bit with Invincibility at times by getting a few more enemies into range.

 

You can also try some silly tricks with Axe Cyclone's Repel feature.  I do it with Combat Jumping, but you might see how well it works with Hover.  The idea is to begin moving in a direction the instant before you press the key for Cyclone.  Your momentum will actually drag the enemies along with you.  Like I said, works well with CJ.  If I have a group that's a bit more spread out than Cyclone can handle typically, I can land on one side of it, begin a short hop over to the other side and at the same time hit Cyclone.  If done right, I end up dragging those enemies over to the other side of the group.  Call it a Cyclone Jump. 🤪  It's a little dumb fun.  I sometimes try to use it to air drop a group of Rikti into the bowl on a Mothership raid.

 

Battle Axe feels a little slow and deliberate but not nearly as bad as Titan Weapons when you run into a slow animation.  It's not the wood chipper that Staff Fighting is, but boy does it feel solid.  Very "crunchy".

[CaptainFantastic]

For a more casual play at it atm, what would a good cheaper IO build look like for Invul/Battle Axe?  I'm brand new to both sets, and I know pretty much all of Invul is taken except maybe the T9 I see left off some.  I plan on taking fly/hover, combat jumping for cheap defense and Defense slot, and taking the Taunt for group play ease.  Got the character to 10-11 last night in a couple quick DFB's to try out how I like it so far and it doesn't feel too bad and I know it'll get better as I get more attacks and things from Invul.  So far I have the T1 and 3 from BA, all but the health clicky from Invul so far, and no other pool powers yet.  Appreciate all the advice you all have been giving me, as I'm fairly new to most powersets, to tanking and even though I had a good amount of time in Live before servers all went down, spent most of it on just a couple characters and that was a very very long time ago. I don't have a lot of time back on Homecoming yet.

[IronJuke]

On 1/22/2024 at 12:20 PM, ZemX said:

 

I have no experience with farming but I thought they specifically excluded powers (from the enemies that is) that can deal -DEF debuffs.   I see in some S/L guides that enemies are selected to use things like Stone Melee and Dual Blades (and for DB, they exclude Ablating Strike).  If you were running a farm that included -DEF debuffs then it might not be a bad test.   Cimerora, if you've high enough level to go there, would be another.  Just run any random door mission there or start a solo ITF at +4/x8 and see how you fare against a pack of angry sword-wielding Cimeoran Traitors.

 

I can see how DA could be useful in that specific case.  If you soft-cap lethal with just Invuln and then add Divine Avalanche on top with even just one slot of LOTG (the DEF/global recharge IO is typical) you can be far enough over the soft-cap that together with Invuln's moderate level of DDR you are safer from Cascade Defense Failure than without it.  Still, the cost is taking two low-damage ST attacks when you only need one for your ST rotation.

 

Yes, I built the farm myself.  One of the low-level skills is Throwing "Stuff" Darts and whatnot, and it does minor -DEF.  It got pretty annoying lol.  

But. I got a lot of practice with DA there. 

 

I've revamped the farm and taken that out, however.  Was testing my Psionic Dart Brute this week on the S/L farm and no -DEF happening anymore. 

If you look up "Droogs" in AE you will see my farms on 2 accounts.  Also Fire Sword now does -DEF, which can be bad for some folks. I never used that skill in my Custom Enemies. 

Edited January 26 by IronJuke

[lemming]

One of my favorite tanks is an Inv/Battle Ax.     I teleport though a flying version would work

[IronJuke]

12 hours ago, lemming said:

One of my favorite tanks is an Inv/Battle Ax.     I teleport though a flying version would work

 

Inv/Axe was my main for years when the original game went live back in 2004.  

Edited January 26 by IronJuke

[CaptainFantastic]

I haven't had much opportunity to play the last few days, so I'm still only level 14 or so, but would either of you mind showing a build example? I don't know what's skippable and what isn't for Battle Axe. I think I took the T1 and does seem most suggest the T2 over it instead?  Only level 14 but the little bit of group stuff I've done I've already felt fairly sturdy.  Looking forward to getting the aoe's and the pull in with Axe Cyclone or whatever it's called!