Beginner friendly (near) immortal Tanker good for leveling and end-game: Stone/Fire Melee.

[DaddyLee]

1 hour ago, Sovera said:

 

For that Stone/MA?

Yes sir. 

[Sovera]

3 hours ago, DaddyLee said:

Yes sir. 

 

I've got three but I think this one is the most balanced. The AoE of MA is weak so I took Psionic Tornado to help it since I had free powers to waste on the pre-requisites. There's a case to be said to go for Fireball instead (same waste of pre-requisites but Fire damage is better than Psi damage) but Harmonic Mind adds another extra to help with the blue bar that Stone Armor kinda needs: Tanker (Stone Armor - MA) Final build.mbd

 

There's a version with Focused accuracy as I usually go for and one with Fireball. Fireball is the simplest since the slotting is the same but Psionic Mastery is replaced by Fire Mastery, and the Focused Accuracy simply dumps the slots around. Since having the extra powers and extra slots there's no special reason to go the Focussed Accuracy route considering the build is at minimum 94% to hit +3 enemies. There's always the danger of fighting accuracy debuffing enemies which makes me leery of leaving home without FA but it's a case of respeccing if it becomes a nuisance.

 

Either way the build ends with 55% defense, 60% with Weave toggled on, 65% with Barrier, and 76%-ish resistances with two stacks of the ATO, 81%ish with Barrier. F/C is capped at 90% even without Barrier since it's the only one without defenses. Psi is 'only' at 45%, 51%  with Weave, and 56% with Barrier, but psi does not debuff defense so 45% is all it requires.

[DaddyLee]

5 hours ago, Sovera said:

 

I've got three but I think this one is the most balanced. The AoE of MA is weak so I took Psionic Tornado to help it since I had free powers to waste on the pre-requisites. There's a case to be said to go for Fireball instead (same waste of pre-requisites but Fire damage is better than Psi damage) but Harmonic Mind adds another extra to help with the blue bar that Stone Armor kinda needs: Tanker (Stone Armor - MA) Final build.mbd

 

There's a version with Focused accuracy as I usually go for and one with Fireball. Fireball is the simplest since the slotting is the same but Psionic Mastery is replaced by Fire Mastery, and the Focused Accuracy simply dumps the slots around. Since having the extra powers and extra slots there's no special reason to go the Focussed Accuracy route considering the build is at minimum 94% to hit +3 enemies. There's always the danger of fighting accuracy debuffing enemies which makes me leery of leaving home without FA but it's a case of respeccing if it becomes a nuisance.

 

Either way the build ends with 55% defense, 60% with Weave toggled on, 65% with Barrier, and 76%-ish resistances with two stacks of the ATO, 81%ish with Barrier. F/C is capped at 90% even without Barrier since it's the only one without defenses. Psi is 'only' at 45%, 51%  with Weave, and 56% with Barrier, but psi does not debuff defense so 45% is all it requires.

I appreciate this. While I value the build, the knowledge you're sharing is invaluable. Thank you very much!

[BurtHutt]

What is the viability of Stone/Staff? Staff is a big unknown as I've never really leveled a staff toon. If it's a good combo, do you have a build for it?

[Without_Pause]

17 minutes ago, BurtHutt said:

What is the viability of Stone/Staff? Staff is a big unknown as I've never really leveled a staff toon. If it's a good combo, do you have a build for it?

Weaker damage but better utility. 

[Psyonico]

31 minutes ago, BurtHutt said:

What is the viability of Stone/Staff? Staff is a big unknown as I've never really leveled a staff toon. If it's a good combo, do you have a build for it?

Staff is considered low damage, but it does bring in things like the +resist in Sky Splitter, which, depending on your build, could be useful.

 

Also, Staff in Granite form is just about as funny as some of the MA attacks in Granite.

[Maelwys]

28 minutes ago, BurtHutt said:

What is the viability of Stone/Staff? Staff is a big unknown as I've never really leveled a staff toon. If it's a good combo, do you have a build for it?

 

IMO Staff is a decent mixture of AOE damage and additional mitigation (+13.3% Damage Resistance from Form of the Body + Sky Splitter, plus 15% base +Melee/Lethal Defense from Guarded Spin that is enhanceable and can stack with itself). Whilst the DPA isn't quite top tier, its animations *feel* satisfying; and Gauntlet's Radius and Target Cap buffs end up working overtime on Guarded Spin, Innocuous Strikes and Eye of the Storm, meaning that on a Tanker the set can become a total woodchipper if it's procced out.

 

However it also has a smidge of utility in the form of -Res debuffs (Form of the Body + Eye of the Storm, an Achilles Heel Proc in Mercurial Blow and a Fury of the Gladiator Proc in Eye of the Storm) and a Ranged attack (Serpent's Reach) plus lots of opportunities for Force Feedback +Recharge procs.

 

Personally I find Staff to mesh best with Bio Armor, but I'm sure a Willpower or non-Granite Stone Tanker might also appreciate the mix of +Res and specific Defense buffs too...

[BurtHutt]

19 minutes ago, Maelwys said:

 

IMO Staff is a decent mixture of AOE damage and additional mitigation (+13.3% Damage Resistance from Form of the Body + Sky Splitter, plus 15% base +Melee/Lethal Defense from Guarded Spin that is enhanceable and can stack with itself). Whilst the DPA isn't quite top tier, its animations *feel* satisfying; and Gauntlet's Radius and Target Cap buffs end up working overtime on Guarded Spin, Innocuous Strikes and Eye of the Storm, meaning that on a Tanker the set can become a total woodchipper if it's procced out.

 

However it also has a smidge of utility in the form of -Res debuffs (Form of the Body + Eye of the Storm, an Achilles Heel Proc in Mercurial Blow and a Fury of the Gladiator Proc in Eye of the Storm) and a Ranged attack (Serpent's Reach) plus lots of opportunities for Force Feedback +Recharge procs.

 

Personally I find Staff to mesh best with Bio Armor, but I'm sure a Willpower or non-Granite Stone Tanker might also appreciate the mix of +Res and specific Defense buffs too...

 

I hesitate on BIO tanks due to the DDR issue. There is mitigation but I tend not to go DEF on tanks - some exceptions here, of course.

 

Do you, by chance, have a build for a stone/staff tank? Does anyone? I am looking for softcap RES to most, if not atll, and whatever else...

[Maelwys]

2 hours ago, BurtHutt said:

 

I hesitate on BIO tanks due to the DDR issue. There is mitigation but I tend not to go DEF on tanks - some exceptions here, of course.

 

Do you, by chance, have a build for a stone/staff tank? Does anyone? I am looking for softcap RES to most, if not atll, and whatever else...

IceSphere's Dropbox has one sitting in it - Tanker (Stone Armor - Staff Fighting).mbd



The closest I have personally played is a Bio Armor/Staff Tanker and a Rad Melee/Stone Armor Brute.

That said, I've found that DDR very much tends not to an issue for my Bio/Staff Tanker given that they can "turtle up" and keep Guarded Spin double-stacked indefinitely.
(admittedly it helps that the vast majority of -Defence inflicting attacks are either Lethal typed or Melee positional or both)
I've posted their full in-game stats before here; but they tend to sit in Offensive Adaptation + Form of the Body Stances and use Guarded Spin in both their AoE and ST attack chain; keeping at least one stack up at all times. That puts them at the regular content Defense softcap to F/C/E/N and Melee, and not far off it to Lethal.
In "Turtle Mode" with two stacks up they end up with a very comfortable Defense buffer before incarnates.


Resistancewise they're hardcapped to S/L and not far off Toxic; plus about 50-55% to F/C/E/N/P with the ST chain going. Ablative Carapace is up every <30s granting ~1874 Absorb; Max HP sits at ~3220 and it's common to see HP regen well into the 200's (~230ish if I'm paying attention even in Offensive stance). So they're a pretty chonky brick.
I wouldn't say it's a beginner-friendly build exactly; but it's not hugely expensive - mine's only got one HO and no Winter Sets (albeit 7 Purple IOs and the same number of ATOs).
Tanker (Bio Armor - Staff) (CT + Taunt + SS).mbd

 

Edited November 10 by Maelwys