Dark/SS Rageless Tank

[Lusiphur Malache]

Been teaming with various Super Strength tanks lately and have read and heard some unkind things said about Rage crash.  So far things are going good with some bad.  Thankful for Death Shroud after learning Hand Clap does no damage.  I didn't realise how little damage SS does until someone pointed it out to me, I know not taking Rage is going to make that more apparent as I'm level 19 now and Rage unlocks at 24.  Eager to get past skipping Rage and see what is on the other side.

 

tl;dr Have you skipped Rage, tell me about it and leave some advice if you have any.  Including stop, turn back, it isn't worth it.

[Psyonico]

If you only team on larger teams, or if you have a pocket Kin, you can skip rage without hurting too much.  You will feel the pain of low damage though.

 

I don't like Rage, myself, but I have long since realized that SS is balanced around Rage.  I've got a couple SS toons (and have even been playing them a bit the last couple days) but I generally don't play it much because the rage crash annoys me but no rage makes me feel gimped.

[Thraxen]

I hate the word proc now cause it’s all everyone ever does with anything, but proc out ko blow. Slot rest as normal. If rage crashes it still does a little damage. My tank doesn’t have perma double I don’t think. Energy melee might be what you’re looking for though. Big hits. No crash. No footstomp though. 

[evetsleep]

On 9/3/2024 at 7:36 PM, Thraxen said:

I hate the word proc now cause it’s all everyone ever does with anything, but proc out ko blow. Slot rest as normal. If rage crashes it still does a little damage. My tank doesn’t have perma double I don’t think. Energy melee might be what you’re looking for though. Big hits. No crash. No footstomp though. 

If footstomp scratches a particular itch, Frozen Aura from Ice Melee is very similar without needing Rage... It's also a pretty fun/safe/effective set IMHO.

[Sovera]

The set is built around Rage. It's not like other sets where we get 80% for 10 seconds every 30 seconds. Rage is meant to be up 100% of the time, so all the damage is balanced around Rage. You CAN play without it and the world will not end and mobs will be defeated, but you might as well consider something like Fire Melee and have two PBAoEs instead of just one (and have it at level 6 instead of 30).

[SeraphimKensai]

I have a DA/SS tanker. And I will never skip rage on an SS toon. You can use temps during rage crash or dark Regen. Stack handclap with oppressive gloom for stun locking tons of incoming damage.

[ZemX]

23 hours ago, Sovera said:

The set is built around Rage. It's not like other sets where we get 80% for 10 seconds every 30 seconds. Rage is meant to be up 100% of the time, so all the damage is balanced around Rage. You CAN play without it and the world will not end and mobs will be defeated, but you might as well consider something like Fire Melee and have two PBAoEs instead of just one (and have it at level 6 instead of 30).

 

Not exactly, but I'm probably splitting hairs here.  SS suffers poor DPA because of the general problem of powers not being balanced around animation times.  Rage, however, is better than Build Up at adding damage, especially double-stacked, so in that way SS can solve some of that "original sin" problem of poor DPA by itself... but only if you take Rage and really only if you double-stack it (or get close enough to it).