honoroitisfantastic Have a bunch of enh...def set prolly

[honoroit]

Tanks!

 

I've a warshade tri, a shield/ stone melee tank and corruptor I don't use. Across these I've a decent collection of sets of winters, pvps and things...

 

I'm considering making a new tank.

 

My choices are:

 

- radiation armor / staff: 'king the fairy king'

  - the attacks on the armor are ok

  - staff is nice because you can throw it and do cool moves that animate differently if you're flying

 

- dark/dark: 'percy the cultist'

  - I dunno, seems gimmicky

  - looks nice / dark fluffball

 

 - fire / claws: 'rot prince Figs'

  - claws has range

  - fire aura Phoenix as nuke 

 

I want to pick the very best!

 

So I can be strong AND tough.  Wade into groups all solo like, tank for days and aggro grab all the gang stars.

 

Are any of these that?

 

Am I neglecting battle-axe?

 

Or super strength (it doesn't look cool though, it's like an extended fighting power pool)?

 

 

 

[Sovera]

My opinion on the three would be:

 

Rad/Staff: pretty sturdy, weak AoE propped by Rad Armor if you proc bomb Rad Therapy and Ground Zero, weak ST. If you like the theme it works just fine though but temper your expectations of whittling bosses at a fast clip because it won't happen. The FF procs Staff can slot will help Rad's recharge to have thos mini proc bombs come back sooner.

 

Dark/Dark: sturdy as well from a combination of Dark Regeneration, high resistances, and layering -toHit. Usually I wouldn't praise the -tohit but it will be supported by at least one aura (no more than one IMO) and the defense from the stealth. The AoE will be weak and the ST mediocre, with Soul Drain being a nuisance since we need to decide whether to use it and help finish killing half a spawn when it runs its course or save it to use it on a full spawn.

 

Fire/Claws: Effective, brutal, simple. Still Tanker ST damage but helped by Fiery Embrace, but strong AoE between Spin (who is above average), Burn, and Shockwave if deciding to take it. I prefer nt to to since it is easier to just sit in the middle of a group and spam PbaoEs while focusing on the boss(es) but Shockwave does prop up Fire Armor with soft mitigation as one of the less sturdy armor and it IS an extra AoE. As a bonus both Focus and Shockwave take Forcefeedback procs that accelerate Fire Armor's clickies like the heal and the endurance, as well as the second Build-up effect.

[ZemX]

39 minutes ago, honoroit said:

Wade into groups all solo like, tank for days and aggro grab all the gang stars.

 

A little confused what you mean here.  Are you soloing or are you just "going solo" into the group of enemies before the rest of the team?  If the latter, then grabbing and keeping aggro on a team is best done with lots of big AoEs.  Rad/Staff has that.  A lot of it.  Both in primary and secondary.  Staff's AoEs are faster/lighter so they are available often.  On the ground, the PBAoE Eye of the Storm looks like break-dancing.  In the air it looks less ridiculous and more spinny.  Either way it's up often and hits around you in a 15ft radius, so that's nice.

 

But yeah, it's not the best offensive set.   You might indeed want to look at Rad/Axe instead.   Since its rework, Axe is a beast.  It has the unique Axe Cyclone that sucks enemies towards you before delivering a crunching blow.   This can be hilarious if you're flying above them (though a bit more scattering).   Pendulum, which used to be a cone, is now a targeted AoE at melee range, so it kind of still feels like a cone, but a super wide cone since what's really happening is it's hitting everything in a 10.5ft radius around your chosen target.   In other words, you can almost treat it like another PBAoE that's just offset from you by a few feet.  No positioning necessary.

 

That said, the whole set feels slower and more deliberate than Staff so keep in mind whether that fits your desired aesthetic here or not.  It swings slower and hits harder.  Overall, much better damage.  It pairs absurdly well with Rad Armor because every attack in Battle Axe can slot FF:Rech if you really want to juice your recharge.  And you really want to to that with Rad Armor because the faster your absorb shield and self heal refreshes, the more immortal you are.  And Rad Armor has the endurance to fuel all that speed.  Just completely ignore defense.  Laugh at seeing -50% defense in the combat monitor against defense debuffing enemies because they STILL can't hurt you through that much resist, absorb, and healing.

[honoroit]

Hm... I need to find an axe that can pass as a spear...

 

 

 

 

[ZemX]

1 hour ago, honoroit said:

Hm... I need to find an axe that can pass as a spear...

 

I'm afraid they are all very.. axey looking.   You might get away with calling the Rularuu one a "scepter" though:

 

Still, they are all held one handed and all animations are swings.  No stabby, stabby like Staff's Serpent Strike or Innocuous Strikes.   Not going to convincingly look like a spear/staff.

 

I have used the Naginata on a Staff Ninja Stalker and it looks great.  You also have a trident and some glowy-tipped Carnival of Light/Shadows options.   I think you'll be hard pressed to find anything in Axe that fits as well as those.

 

[honoroit]

ya, and I've got the character sitting at lvl 27 as rad/staff - so I'll do that!

 

[arcane]

Staff Fighting pretty much ensures you’re a pure meat shield with no damage contribution btw. Radiation Armor proc bomb AoE’s will offset that a bit on the AoE side, but just FYI. It’s a dreadful secondary for damage.

[honoroit]

1 hour ago, arcane said:

Staff Fighting pretty much ensures you’re a pure meat shield with no damage contribution btw. Radiation Armor proc bomb AoE’s will offset that a bit on the AoE side, but just FYI. It’s a dreadful secondary for damage.

Hmm... Think that's why I stopped him a while back.. 

 

Is it super strength or nothing on tanks?

 

Savage seems it'd be better on a brute, but they've been in a bad spot vs tanks for everything outside farm?

 

Hmmm....

[arcane]

1 minute ago, honoroit said:

Hmm... Think that's why I stopped him a while back.. 

 

Is it super strength or nothing on tanks?

 

Savage seems it'd be better on a brute, but they've been in a bad spot vs tanks for everything outside farm?

 

Hmmm....

Lots of sets can be viable, but damage-wise, Staff and KM are at the bottom of the barrel.

 

Rad/Savage would be an AoE monster but would still struggle to take down hard targets. 
 

If it were me, I’d pair Rad/ with something that doesn’t have bottom tier single target damage, specifically.

[Psyonico]

56 minutes ago, honoroit said:

Is it super strength or nothing on tanks?

 

There are viable sets other than Super Strength.  I play a bunch of tanks and SS is my least favorite set because I hate the Rage crash but feel impotent without Rage.

 

There was someone who did a comparison of the secondaries a while back. It wasn't a perfect test, but it did a good job sussing out the good from the not-so-good.

[ZemX]

It really depends what you plan to do.  Tanking, the team role, doesn't need you to be at the top of a pylon rankings chart.   Soloing, it makes a big difference obviously.  And damage seems to be wanted for everyone on a Hard Mode.  Other than that.... I'd say pick whatever strikes your fancy.  I took a Rad/Staff to 50 and got nothing but praise on random teams for my tanking.  

 

Worth remembering that no matter what you pick, *any* Stalker, even one with a staff, will still eat your lunch on ST damage.  On a team, the difference between the best and worst ST damage tanker matters a whole lot less when you have real damage dealers in the mix.  It makes *a* difference, to be sure, but nothing like the dramatic difference you see in pylon times for the tanker.   And another thing to remember is that picking the "top tier" secondary is only step one.  If you really want to chase that top time, you'd need also probably mix in patron and pool attacks like Gloom and Cross-punch that may not match your concept, that's a concern for you.  And also probably go to town on damage procs, skipping out on set bonuses that would have boosted your survival capability.

[honoroit]

Definitely best tank!

 

My last one I incarnated up 'faerie guidebrother', is shield/earth.

 

I took spring attack, for another tp/move, and earth epic pool, for stalagmites.

 

He's relatively crunchy, and doesn't die a lot.

 

Something like that, I suppose.

 

I like how the Rikti blade looks on blaster ninja training.

 

Are katana or titan weapons more brute tho?

 

I'd do scrapper / stalker but you can't taunt properly.

[twozerofoxtrot]

If you want a Tanker that will absolutely bust sh*t up and not break a sweat doing it, and you're not tied to theme, then I would suggest either of these two:

 

Stone/Fire

Elec/Fire

 

I'm also partial to Bio/Dark but acknowledge the damage is merely adequate conpared to the above two.

[honoroit]

I'm going for either isikai fantasy, or cloud strife wannabe!

 

 

 

 

Edited August 11 by honoroit

[ninja surprise]

On 8/9/2024 at 7:48 AM, honoroit said:

So I can be strong AND tough.  Wade into groups all solo like, tank for days and aggro grab all the gang stars.

 

 

Honestly, out of all the options you listed, your Shield/Stone tank will do this best. 

You can easily get defense above soft-cap and get resists well over 50%. Shield has a big aggro aura that also buffs your damage.

Stone Melee has two AoEs and a ranged attack and so much knockdown and stun that badguys forget they are attacking you.

23 hours ago, honoroit said:

I took spring attack, for another tp/move, and earth epic pool, for stalagmites.

 

He's relatively crunchy, and doesn't die a lot.

 

If this is your Shield/Stone tank, post your build for feedback. He shouldn't ever die unless things are really weird.

[honoroit]

I'll post build later, been meaning to respec to get rid of leap attack (the tp one in jump power pool, it's cool tho and I have procs in it)... Just because it's a lot of power choices to get it. 

 

Anyways, stuff being packed by movers right now and I'm in darkness laying out on the floor typing this to a 📱 phone...

 

 

...but I'll fetch out the laptop later and Mids.

 

-- Figs, breakfast prince in transit

 

Edited August 12 by honoroit

[honoroit]

i dont wanna type it all into mids.  off screen is hasten, 2 slotted stamina and whatever unique(s) i put into health.

 

as you can see he's not quite finished yet - but so far so good.  very hardy and can move around a lot between shield charge, spring attack, and combat tp.

 

 

 

-- faerie guidebrother, jump prince

Edited August 13 by honoroit