Returning Home! Help me with a Tanker.

[One IV All]

Hey all, returning home after being away for a while.

 

Looking to invest in a Tanker on the Homecoming server. Full disclosure: I’m a father of 4, ages 8 and under (I’m a masochist). So I only have a bit of time to play on some evenings. I know there is 1k character slots and you can make as many as you want, but I know I’ll probably only have the time to invest in 1-2 heroes.

 

I don’t solo much and primarily team. I’d love to have a tanker that can fit into most teams AND be able to run this new 4* content stuff. Out of the combos I’m listing below, which would you recommend? What has the best synergy/strongest across the board/Jack of all trades?

Electric Armor/Katana: Kind of cool Jedi theme for them. Electric Armor I hear is great for leveling, and capping most resists on it is pretty easy. Has endurance drain protection which is nice. Since it caps resists pretty easy, I could probably proc out Katana attacks, which seem to have a nice flow and are chunky when they land.

 

Electric Armor/Fiery Melee: Have this “Shadowstorm” theme where re-coloring some powers looks cool. Elec Armor is strong for the same reasons stated above. Fiery Melee was updated on HC and seems to be top tier now, a nice mix of ST and AOE damage. 
 

Rad Armor/Martial Arts: Kind of a Saiyan type theme. Rad Armor seems to have a lot of tools. MA brings nice ST damage and Rad has some AOE nukes to help there. The +def MA brings is nice as well. Good flow to the attacks, can mix it up with punches and kicks now.

 

Fire Armor/Super Strength: Similar Saiyan type theme I guess. I could see this combo doing almost Scrapper levels of damage. Burn + Footstomp seems like it’ll clear a TON of baddies. Fire Armor seems to have a bit more holes than the other two, but this combo seems like it can bring the pain.

 

Would love to hear the thoughts/suggestions from my fellow heroes!

[PLVRIZR]

6 hours ago, One IV All said:

Fire Armor/Super Strength: Similar Saiyan type theme I guess. I could see this combo doing almost Scrapper levels of damage. Burn + Footstomp seems like it’ll clear a TON of baddies. Fire Armor seems to have a bit more holes than the other two, but this combo seems like it can bring the pain.

 

First off, welcome Home!

 

This combo was just discussed and a murder machine was born and absolutely maximized:

 

Here's another excellent thread, even though Stone Armor wasn't on your list.  Whether you take Granite or not (my titular toon mules it but rarely, if ever, jumps into Granite form).  If you take it, just morphing into a giant rock monster is good for occasional giggles (especially for teammates).

 

 

 

Whatever you pick, have fun and tank on!  If you want to bring your tanker to a teaming event...of all and ONLY tanks, check this thread out (start on last page):

 

 

 

 

 

[Warboss]

Welcome back! Rad/Axe. Start there, learn how to use Axe Cyclone. If you ever get bored with it switch to Rad/Fire. My totally "non-biased" suggestions... But, of what you've listed, maybe Electric/Axe would be the pick.

[ZemX]

10 hours ago, One IV All said:

Electric Armor/Katana: Kind of cool Jedi theme for them. Electric Armor I hear is great for leveling, and capping most resists on it is pretty easy. Has endurance drain protection which is nice.

 

To note: Rad Armor also has endurance drain protection and added recovery built-in.  You can also proc +end into the heal it has for additional endurance recovery.  Endurance is basically never an issue and it means less reliance on extra slots in Health/Stamina and/or pool picks like Conserve Power or Physical Perfection.

 

I've more or less not played Electric Armor yet because I'm not sure it does anything much/at-all better than Rad if I am going with a primarily resist based armor set.  You probably can't go wrong either way but I made the "mistake" of going Rad Armor first.

[One IV All]

4 hours ago, PLVRIZR said:

First off, welcome Home!

 

This combo was just discussed and a murder machine was born and absolutely maximized:

 

Here's another excellent thread, even though Stone Armor wasn't on your list.  Whether you take Granite or not (my titular toon mules it but rarely, if ever, jumps into Granite form).  If you take it, just morphing into a giant rock monster is good for occasional giggles (especially for teammates).

 

 

 

Whatever you pick, have fun and tank on!  If you want to bring your tanker to a teaming event...of all and ONLY tanks, check this thread out (start on last page):

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you! It’s good to be back. Looks like Stone has had some updates since I last played.

 

and man, what a thread on Fire/SS. Talk about some great minds coming together with @Spaghetti Betty @Sovera and @Zect.

[One IV All]

1 hour ago, Warboss said:

Welcome back! Rad/Axe. Start there, learn how to use Axe Cyclone. If you ever get bored with it switch to Rad/Fire. My totally "non-biased" suggestions... But, of what you've listed, maybe Electric/Axe would be the pick.

Hey Warboss, and thanks! So the OTHER hero I'm running is actually a Battle Axe Scrapper! Are there any other sets you feel go well with Rad Armor? I listed MA, but I had Fiery mixed with Elec Armor. Perhaps mix and match them with Rad and Fiery, if that'd be a better fit than MA.

[One IV All]

1 hour ago, ZemX said:

 

To note: Rad Armor also has endurance drain protection and added recovery built-in.  You can also proc +end into the heal it has for additional endurance recovery.  Endurance is basically never an issue and it means less reliance on extra slots in Health/Stamina and/or pool picks like Conserve Power or Physical Perfection.

 

I've more or less not played Electric Armor yet because I'm not sure it does anything much/at-all better than Rad if I am going with a primarily resist based armor set.  You probably can't go wrong either way but I made the "mistake" of going Rad Armor first.

Those are good call outs on Rad Armor. So you feel Rad is kind of "Elec Armor 2.0" for the most part?

[ZemX]

20 minutes ago, One IV All said:

Those are good call outs on Rad Armor. So you feel Rad is kind of "Elec Armor 2.0" for the most part?

 

I can't really fairly comment on Elec Armor, not having played it at all.  On paper, it does not look to do much that Rad Armor doesn't unless I am missing something.  Some people do not like the visual FX of Rad Armor and I tend to try to minimize them myself by coloring armor effects on the dark end of the "bright radiation" palette.  But otherwise yes, haven't worked up a concept for Elec Armor that I haven't felt worked better on Rad Armor.

 

Elec Armor is Resists + Heal.  Rad is Resists + Heal + Absorb.  So while Elec Armor may have slightly higher starting resists, I don't feel it outweighs Rad having that wonderful absorb shield.  It's sort of like Rad has two self-heals if you want to think of the absorb shield that way.  You don't even really need to heavily slot the heal power, Rad Therapy. I slot 2 from the Preventive Medicine set (heal and heal/recharge I think), then the +end proc, then three more damage procs.  So it kind of does a lot of things.  I could see slotting it more heavily for recharge and heal on an endgame build where I wanted to focus on ultimate survival though.  But it is damned tough even without that.

 

Ground Zero is a large radius (22.5ft on a Tanker) AoE that is kind of strange.  It hits both allies and enemies.  Minor heal and heal-over-time to allies.  Damage and DoT enemies.  But the exciting parts are: (1) It can hit a total of up to 30 allies+enemies and (2) It can slot a bunch of damage procs turning it into another nuke for you.  Long base recharge means the procs all have a very good chance to fire every time.

 

I should probably make myself play Elec Armor sometime just to see what I maybe am missing, if anything.

[Spaghetti Betty]

Hullo! Any Tank is able to run 4* stuff with the right support backing it, so I wouldn't sweat it too much. What makes you excel at 4* is practicing strats and situational knowledge. But let me talk about some of your choices!

 

14 hours ago, One IV All said:

Electric Armor/Katana: Kind of cool Jedi theme for them. Electric Armor I hear is great for leveling, and capping most resists on it is pretty easy. Has endurance drain protection which is nice. Since it caps resists pretty easy, I could probably proc out Katana attacks, which seem to have a nice flow and are chunky when they land.

 

This will probably be the 2nd easiest set to level up on your list. Elec Armor does have a few problems until it gets to Energize and Power Sink, but having a little extra DEF from Parry will help ablate damage just a bit. Katana is also very quick so you can buzzsaw mobs down pretty reliably. The damage will start to taper off in the mid-20s as everyone and their grandma start having Lethal RES, but Katana is so proc friendly that once you start taking that route, you won't notice it.

 

14 hours ago, One IV All said:

Electric Armor/Fiery Melee: Have this “Shadowstorm” theme where re-coloring some powers looks cool. Elec Armor is strong for the same reasons stated above. Fiery Melee was updated on HC and seems to be top tier now, a nice mix of ST and AOE damage. 

 

This is a great combo that will surpass Katana in damage pretty easily, but it'll take awhile to get there. A lot of the strong Fiery Melee attacks come very late, so it might feel like a slog from 1-26. Definitely a combo that would require a respec later if you want low levels to be as smooth as possible and then transition into something that dump trucks in endgame.

 

14 hours ago, One IV All said:

Rad Armor/Martial Arts: Kind of a Saiyan type theme. Rad Armor seems to have a lot of tools. MA brings nice ST damage and Rad has some AOE nukes to help there. The +def MA brings is nice as well. Good flow to the attacks, can mix it up with punches and kicks now.

 

This is the combo that will be the smoothest ride to 50 IMO. You no longer have endurance problems as soon as you can slot the Theft of Essence proc into Radiation Therapy. Storm Kick also makes building for a decent amount of DEF a viable option for ablation (+10 DEF to all). The potential for growth is also staggering for this combo. MA is more of a proc monster than it lets on and you'll have pretty devastating AoE if you proc out Dragons Tail, Rad Therapy, and Ground Zero.

 

14 hours ago, One IV All said:

Fire Armor/Super Strength: Similar Saiyan type theme I guess. I could see this combo doing almost Scrapper levels of damage. Burn + Footstomp seems like it’ll clear a TON of baddies. Fire Armor seems to have a bit more holes than the other two, but this combo seems like it can bring the pain.

 

This is my most recent project (as others have said, thanks!) and it is absolutely a damage machine. At 50. This would easily be the most difficult combo to run from 1-50, gaining no worthwhile damage until the mid 20s, and not really becoming viable enough to outweigh it's low armor until you get it fully geared up. Definitely a combo of high highs and low lows.

 

 

Whatever your choice may be, don't forget you can instantly boost to 50 and slot freely in Brainstorm, so don't be afraid to give any combo a whirl before you commit!

[One IV All]

1 hour ago, Spaghetti Betty said:

Hullo! Any Tank is able to run 4* stuff with the right support backing it, so I wouldn't sweat it too much. What makes you excel at 4* is practicing strats and situational knowledge. But let me talk about some of your choices!

 

 

This will probably be the 2nd easiest set to level up on your list. Elec Armor does have a few problems until it gets to Energize and Power Sink, but having a little extra DEF from Parry will help ablate damage just a bit. Katana is also very quick so you can buzzsaw mobs down pretty reliably. The damage will start to taper off in the mid-20s as everyone and their grandma start having Lethal RES, but Katana is so proc friendly that once you start taking that route, you won't notice it.

 

 

This is a great combo that will surpass Katana in damage pretty easily, but it'll take awhile to get there. A lot of the strong Fiery Melee attacks come very late, so it might feel like a slog from 1-26. Definitely a combo that would require a respec later if you want low levels to be as smooth as possible and then transition into something that dump trucks in endgame.

 

 

This is the combo that will be the smoothest ride to 50 IMO. You no longer have endurance problems as soon as you can slot the Theft of Essence proc into Radiation Therapy. Storm Kick also makes building for a decent amount of DEF a viable option for ablation (+10 DEF to all). The potential for growth is also staggering for this combo. MA is more of a proc monster than it lets on and you'll have pretty devastating AoE if you proc out Dragons Tail, Rad Therapy, and Ground Zero.

 

 

This is my most recent project (as others have said, thanks!) and it is absolutely a damage machine. At 50. This would easily be the most difficult combo to run from 1-50, gaining no worthwhile damage until the mid 20s, and not really becoming viable enough to outweigh it's low armor until you get it fully geared up. Definitely a combo of high highs and low lows.

 

 

Whatever your choice may be, don't forget you can instantly boost to 50 and slot freely in Brainstorm, so don't be afraid to give any combo a whirl before you commit!

Thanks for this! From what I'm gathering, Rad/MA is kind of the the absolute min/max choice. All of them seem like they can do well though. 

[Sovera]

47 minutes ago, One IV All said:

Thanks for this! From what I'm gathering, Rad/MA is kind of the the absolute min/max choice. All of them seem like they can do well though. 

 

I happen to have a Rad/MA that has both 45% to all positional defenses AND 90% resists to most (and no, this is not a normal thing to achieve 😄 )

[Warboss]

Imo, everything goes well with Rad! That said, it depends on what you're looking to do. Axe Cyclone now gives the ability to gather mobs and when you practice jumping with it (Combat Jumping) you can move the mobs around (I've actually pulled them through windows and on to ledges etc..). 

 

I had this ready, and failed to hit submit, but here's may take on it.