Never Tanked (except with a Brute)

[WuTang]

I'm kicking around the idea of rolling a Tanker. I don't have any power sets in mind and I'm not exactly partial to any one in particular, except I don't really like Stone, offense is fine but not defense. I'm looking for any recommendations, anything is fine as I don't really have a theme or name in mind. I'm just looking to jump into a decent set that's easy to level up and good post 50. 

 

I've rolled several Brutes and dearly love the AT but when it comes to main tanking I've noticed if my Brute is the only tank on the team, big pulls can get messy. And I've also noticed, from a DPS or support roll, that it's smoother with a Tanker on board...from my perspective.

 

So...
 

What are some hard and fast rules about a Tanker build?

I'm familiar with many of the sets but not with how they change for Tankers, which powers play well with each other?

I'd like it to be easy on endurance from the get-go and I'd like it to expemp down easily. An all-content sort of tank.

 

My goals...kill'em all and let some other God sort'em out. Oh and not eat floor.

 

THANKS!

-WT

[Mopery]

Shield on a Tanker should be easy to soft-cap positional defenses along with some DDR, making you avoid almost all damage. It also has resistances, bonus health, and a t9 aoe teleport attack in Shield Charge. Not toggle heavy, should be good out the door at level 1 all the way to 50. Pair it with Dark or Rad melee and you can pick up a heal, too.

[Doc Spectre]

My first thought was also Shield, I think one of the martial arts kicks also buffs defence so maybe Shield/Martial Arts.

lf you wanted to have more AoE then Shield/War Mace is pretty good.

[SeraphimKensai]

@WuTang make literally any tank combo, and come to Tanker Tuesday tonight. You'll see lots of tanks and get a feel for what they can handle and the fun shenanigans they can have. You can ask people questions and learn a lot.

 

Note: if you're on @Spaghetti Betty's team you will die, but it will be fun.

[WuTang]

I found @Infinitum post where he laid out a crap load of Tanker builds. I was just looking through some of those.

 

And...

 

I've seen vids of what Betty gets up to....lol I'm not at her level fo-sho

[PLVRIZR]

Unfortunately, won't make TTT, tonight (H.S. soccer season is underway) but the classic "superhero" tank is Inv/SS.  Nigh unkillable and Foot Stomp is just so "superhero-y".  Want to melt the world and still survive?  Fire/Fire/Pyre is my go-to.  You said you didn't want a stoner, but boy they are badass, even without (especially without) Granite armor.  Bio/anything is great and there are so many different benefits (+Res, +Def, mitigation) from various attack choices, you can't go wrong.  Shield/Dark Melee (for the heal) is my most durable Shield tanker, but my Shield/War Mace is right up there and dishes out more mayhem.  Ice/Stone Melee is also an aggro magnet of pulverizing doom.  Roll what fits your concept and you can't go wrong (see sig).

Edited December 3 by PLVRIZR
reworded

[Psyonico]

3 hours ago, Mopery said:

Shield on a Tanker should be easy to soft-cap positional defenses along with some DDR, making you avoid almost all damage. It also has resistances, bonus health, and a t9 aoe teleport attack in Shield Charge. Not toggle heavy, should be good out the door at level 1 all the way to 50. Pair it with Dark or Rad melee and you can pick up a heal, too.

I would personally avoid shield/rad.  It's a great combo, sure, but it is also very endurance heavy.  Mine didn't get endurance under control until incarnates.

 

As for my recommendations, I want to say Super Strength. Rage (especially if you double stack) brings damage to really good levels, however, Foot Stomp doesn't benefit from Gauntlet's AOE increase, and I personally don't like the rage crash.

 

A couple of my favorite tanks are Bio/Energy and Bio/Spines.  Spines is better for AoE damage while EM is better for ST damage.

 

I've got an Electric/Electric that is a lot of fun, but the Toxic hole is painful on Apex.

 

Battle Axe is a good set, especially with Axe Cyclone.  however, it is also endurance heavy, so I'd pair it with something that has some endurance management.

[Glowworm]

Whatever you roll, get the Might of the Tanker ATO +Res proc in a damage aura or an attack you use pretty often. It makes a big difference. It's got high enough PPM that even if it's in an attack that isn't ideal for procs it's still useful.

 

I've got a bio/rad tank that's fun and easy (end management, proc potential, heals, some debuffs - lots of toys). SR also makes for a very tough tank but you don't have a damage aura. It's hard to really go wrong but I guess broad sword and kinetic melee are probably at the bottom of the list for offense.

[Erratic1]

1 hour ago, Psyonico said:

I would personally avoid shield/rad.  It's a great combo, sure, but it is also very endurance heavy.  Mine didn't get endurance under control until incarnates.

 

Had a Rad/Shield scraper and endurance was always a struggle. Heck, it was a struggle on my Elec/Rad Tanker and Elec has tools to help (solved with Alpha choice). Rad hit hard but it drinks much too.

 

But if you like suffering you could go Dark/Rad. 

[WuTang]

4 minutes ago, Erratic1 said:

 

Had a Rad/Shield scraper and endurance was always a struggle. Heck, it was a struggle on my Elec/Rad Tanker and Elec has tools to help (solved with Alpha choice). Rad hit hard but it drinks much too.

 

But if you like suffering you could go Dark/Rad. 

Nah I need it to be easy on the endurance. I do like Bio but wasn't sure how it played on a Tank.  I also like Electric but again not sure how it plays out on a Tank.

[Sovera]

Pity you don't like Stone Armor since Stone/Fire is still what I consider the most balanced in terms of offence and defence.

 

But I am re-leveling a Fire/Fire Tanker and let me tell you few things beat the dopamine of putting the difficulty at 0x8 at level 10 and then go to town on Posi 1 and forward.

 

Most tough? Heck no, died a few times both on Posi 1 and 2 where the Stone Armor would just cruise. But by Synapse I was dumping three PbAoEs and it is glorious to be surrounded by mobs covered in napalm. A perfect palate rinse after my previous Scrapper who neither was damagey nor could increase the difficulty so much so early.

[WuTang]

12 minutes ago, Sovera said:

Pity you don't like Stone Armor

I dislike the movement restrictions, and then there are the aesthetics. My boy made a Spine/Stone Scrapper that looked really cool.

 

Edit: Also, from my limited exposer, Stone is endurance heavy.

Edited December 3 by WuTang

[Erratic1]

1 hour ago, WuTang said:

Nah I need it to be easy on the endurance. I do like Bio but wasn't sure how it played on a Tank.  I also like Electric but again not sure how it plays out on a Tank.

 

If you want to go Shield, let me suggest Energy or Stone, both of which hit hard but are not endurance hogs. For a slight bit more endurance work but easily managed, Battle Axe.

[biostem]

7 hours ago, WuTang said:

My goals...kill'em all and let some other God sort'em out. Oh and not eat floor.

IMHO, my first thought is to go with one of my favorite combos - radiation armor & savage melee.  You will not regret it, and it is extremely survivable.  On top of that, end won't be an issue, and you'll have tons of +recharge.  You also gain some added mobility and even a combo PBAoE, debuff AND ally-only heal!

[Sanguinesun]

 

 

 

20 minutes ago, biostem said:

IMHO, my first thought is to go with one of my favorite combos - radiation armor & savage melee.  You will not regret it, and it is extremely survivable.  On top of that, end won't be an issue, and you'll have tons of +recharge.  You also gain some added mobility and even a combo PBAoE, debuff AND ally-only heal!

 

Biostem beat me to it.  This too is one of my fav combos.

 

 

2 hours ago, WuTang said:

Nah I need it to be easy on the endurance. I do like Bio but wasn't sure how it played on a Tank.  I also like Electric but again not sure how it plays out on a Tank.

 

Rad/savage is going to be pretty easy on endurance due to both the endurance helping powers in the primary and secondary(savage gets an end discount and +recharge with many of its attacks) as bio said.  Rad/ Is also able to eventually cap all res to 90% or close except for cold.  Due to the utility in the set combo, its a relatively smooth progress to 50 while leveling compared with other combos that can have challenging segments of levels due to end issues or other issues.

 

In general too though, you can build fairly easily many different combos with Rad/ on a tank.

 

Edited December 3 by Sanguinesun

[Without_Pause]

I have a Shield/fire at 50. I'm close to having it T4ed. I 4-slot Health and 3-slot Stamina with one being Chance to Heal. What are End issues? I have a hard time thinking of rolling another Tanker when I would just want to play the one I have. Shield is silly good on a Tanker. Fire has the best clear times. It's the only Tanker I have tolerated soloing to 50. I did grab BoF early only to drop it later as I skipped Scorch all together.  I need to level Invul at some point, but Stone and SR are the only other armors I would seriously consider.

 

Note: Rad hasn't clicked for me, and I prefer a less click heavy secondary anyway. I want to run with my Rad Brute post respec to see if it works well enough. 

[biostem]

2 minutes ago, Sanguinesun said:

Rad/savage is going to be pretty easy on endurance

And don't sleep on particle shielding - not only does it give you absorption, but it has a sizable, (though not enhanceable), +recovery buff, and is easy to make permanent...

[Sanguinesun]

1 minute ago, biostem said:

And don't sleep on particle shielding - not only does it give you absorption, but it has a sizable, (though not enhanceable), +recovery buff, and is easy to make permanent...

 

And of course  Rad giving 2 aoes on a tank that hits 16 targets in a fairly wide AoE either.   

 

Rad/Ice is my second fav of the rad/ combos due to its slows -recharge, decent damage.  

[Sovera]

2 hours ago, WuTang said:

I dislike the movement restrictions, and then there are the aesthetics. My boy made a Spine/Stone Scrapper that looked really cool.

 

Edit: Also, from my limited exposer, Stone is endurance heavy.

 

There are no movement penalties with Stone Armor. Granite is a thing of the past, almost a filler power. But not liking the aesthetics is understandable, and yes, it's a bit endurance heavy, but it only means starting endurance early like adding two slots to Crystal Armor and Health/Stamina, or relying on Recovery Serums once in a while.

 

It starts by having 40% defence by level 13 and ends with 45% without Weave, 50% with Weave. 55% with Barrier (all of this psi defence too which is rare for armors to have) , and 76% to all resistances with two ATO stacks, 81% with Barrier. Then Crystal Armor does endurance recovery, Mineral Armor gives recharge, and Brimstone gives a damage boost with a fire proc to all attacks.

 

 

Not trying to change your mind though, just a bit of 'splainin'.

[WuTang]

4 minutes ago, Sovera said:

There are no movement penalties with Stone Armor.

Rooted does impede movement and de-toggle travel powers?

[Spaghetti Betty]

9 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

Note: if you're on @Spaghetti Betty's team you will die, but it will be fun.

Hey! I just think it's neat giving the uneducated a little anxiety sometimes! It builds character!

 

As for the OP, I do think there aren't very many terrible Tanker combos (YMMV on this), but there are absolutely some that require next to no input from the driver! Here are a few unique combos you could try:

 

Rad/MA (Possibly the strongest all-rounder; goes even further beyond with advanced building)

SR/Dark (Immortal in +4x8 by level 30; very straightforward)

Bio/Stone (Hits like a truck and has spectacular CC in Fault; struggles a bit in early levels)

Stone/EM (Slightly more advanced; good understanding of IOs turns this into a Scrapper)

Edited December 4 by Spaghetti Betty

[Glacier Peak]

I've found layered mitigation to amplify my playstyle and enjoyment level when I play my Shield/MA Tanker. Base and S.T.A.R.T. Temps, Inspirations, Rune of Protection, Incarnates, it's wild how far you can go and how much fun you can have!

 

It gives me the opportunity to focus on other things like setting the league right, moving players around when the league gets shuffled, and keep a more trained eye on chat. Great build for leading stuff!

Edited December 4 by Glacier Peak

[Sovera]

2 hours ago, WuTang said:

Rooted does impede movement and de-toggle travel powers?

 

Nein. You do need to be on the ground to activate it, but once activated we can Fly and everything and its effects are still on.

[Psyonico]

2 hours ago, WuTang said:

Rooted does impede movement and de-toggle travel powers?

It used to, and it still does while in Granite, but in the patch that buffed Stone Armor, they removed that part from non-granite use.

 

Also, Crystal Armor grants +recovery, so it isn't that bad on endurance either.

[Snarky]

my ice tanker holds agro like nothing i ever seen