Sword and Board! But which AT?

[One IV All]

I recently ran a Brute, so I’m looking at either:

 

Stalker

Scrapper

Tanker

 

Which would you recommend running Broad Sword + Shield on?

[Uun]

I haven't tried it on a stalker or tank, but I quite enjoyed it on a scrapper.

[ZemX]

If you've done it on Brute then I'd say Tanker will probably feel too similar.  You'll be tougher and your AoEs will have a bit more reach, but that's it.

 

Stalker would be my suggestion, but keep in mind you lose Whirling Sword to gain Assassin Strike.  Basically, Broadsword will perform better against single targets on a Stalker and better against crowds on a Scrapper.  Shield is good on either since both ATs tend to fare better with defense-based armors than with anything else.   It's a little weird on Stalkers in that Grant Cover actually adds some stealth to allies within 15 feet of you.  Keep that in mind on hostage missions.  Though it is nice to help cloak the team when you enter a mission and there's a group near the door.

 

Overall, the way Stalkers and Stalker ATOs work will be a much different experience than the Brute.  You might enjoy it.

[Thraxen]

Tanker. Mine is a ff paladin homage but it’s crazy fun. Bigger aoes are nice. 

[Gobbledigook]

Scrapper would look cool with that combo.

[SeraphimKensai]

I have the stalker and it works extremely well. I use it for all Shield Defense ITFs, and it has a Roman costume and all.

[One IV All]

12 hours ago, ZemX said:

If you've done it on Brute then I'd say Tanker will probably feel too similar.  You'll be tougher and your AoEs will have a bit more reach, but that's it.

 

Stalker would be my suggestion, but keep in mind you lose Whirling Sword to gain Assassin Strike.  Basically, Broadsword will perform better against single targets on a Stalker and better against crowds on a Scrapper.  Shield is good on either since both ATs tend to fare better with defense-based armors than with anything else.   It's a little weird on Stalkers in that Grant Cover actually adds some stealth to allies within 15 feet of you.  Keep that in mind on hostage missions.  Though it is nice to help cloak the team when you enter a mission and there's a group near the door.

 

Overall, the way Stalkers and Stalker ATOs work will be a much different experience than the Brute.  You might enjoy it.

 

3 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

I have the stalker and it works extremely well. I use it for all Shield Defense ITFs, and it has a Roman costume and all.

I feel like this might be the min/max choice. I’m not sure where a Scrapper would pass up a Stalker with this combo.

 

Tanker is obviously the route to go for pure sturdiness, like @Thraxen did.

[MizuUeumatsu]

You said you did a brute so I wouldn't suggest that and I believe in controlling your damage output as much as possible so not scrapper that leaves stalker. Hope that helps!

 

Have fun out there...

[Zect]

This being coh, the default answer is probably "well, why not all of them?" But stalkers and tanks have their own appeal on different ends of the scale.

 

Stalkers are nice, because shield charge makes up for the loss of whirling sword. It is a big, hard hitting aoe attack on an AT that historically does not get access to a lot of big, hard hitting aoe attacks. Enjoy.

 

Tanker shields are the ultimate stonewall, broadly comparable to stones and to SRs playing around their scaling res mechanic. Tanks are good enough at building for res that they can perma-90% resistances by running a 5 min cycle of otws > rune > melee core (even just owts > melee core > (gap) is pretty good, since rune has no minfx option so many people dislike it). Melee core is the weakest click in this triad, at 17% res all with 1 foe in range, so you're capped if you can get to 72-73% res in mids. And unlike brutes and scraps, tanker SD has around 88% -def resistance with 2x active defense, so they can opt not to take ageless radial and take barrier core instead, which further lowers the res requirement to just 68% - extremely achievable even without going out of your way to build for it.

Edited April 28 by Zect

[One IV All]

5 minutes ago, Zect said:

This being coh, the default answer is probably "well, why not all of them?" But stalkers and tanks have their own appeal on different ends of the scale.

 

Stalkers are nice, because shield charge makes up for the loss of whirling sword. It is a big, hard hitting aoe attack on an AT that historically does not get access to a lot of big, hard hitting aoe attacks. Enjoy.

 

Tanker shields are the ultimate stonewall, broadly comparable to stones and to SRs playing around their scaling res mechanic. Tanks are good enough at building for res that they can perma-90% resistances by running a 5 min cycle of otws > rune > melee core (even just owts > melee core > (gap) is pretty good, since rune has no minfx option so many people dislike it). Melee core is the weakest click in this triad, at 17% res all with 1 foe in range, so you're capped if you can get to 72-73% res in mids. And unlike brutes and scraps, tanker SD has around 88% -def resistance with 2x active defense, so they can opt not to take ageless radial and take barrier core instead, which further lowers the res requirement to just 68% - extremely achievable even without going out of your way to build for it.

This was really insightful, thank you! I like the idea of at least running OWTS and Melee Core, as needed.

 

I do like the idea of sword and shield together. I was ALSO looking at a Shield/Fiery Melee tanker. How do you think Shield/Fiery would stack up to Shield/BS?

[Uun]

5 hours ago, One IV All said:

I was ALSO looking at a Shield/Fiery Melee tanker. How do you think Shield/Fiery would stack up to Shield/BS?

You lose the +def of Parry (which you don't need with Shield) and gain more AoE and a less resisted damage type. Tank Fiery Melee is all about the AoE - it has 2 PBAoEs plus a cone, and with tanks' radius and target cap buffs, stuff just melts. If you skip Scorch, it's lacking in ST damage until Incinerate and Greater Fire Sword come along.