My First Tank

[namgara]

Hello tank friends. Normally I build dominators, controllers, defenders and corruptors. I feel pretty comfortable on those archetypes. But I'd like to try being unkillable as a change of pace. I've come up with a cool concept for a bio / battle axe character, and I've been told that isn't a bad combo.

 

The problem is that a few minutes of playing around on Mids has made it clear I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to building tankers. I don't want to just give up, but I really need some help. What powers are skippable? What should I be slotting for? I really have no idea with this archetype.

 

If anyone has any advice, or would like to link a proper Mids tank build for me to look at, I'd sincerely appreciate it.

[Uun]

I don't have a tank build but I'm currently leveling a Battle Axe/Bio brute. Bio has a lot of moving parts. It's a hybrid set that relies on layered mitigation - resistance for S/L/T and defense for F/C/E/N/P, topped with an absorb shield, targeted heal, hp and regen buffs and foe damage debuffs. It's got one of the better T9s in the game, with a short recharge and no crash. On top of that the set allows you to choose between 3 different adaptations (Offensive, Defensive and Efficient). None of the powers are skippable, but many of them don't require more than 3 slots.

 

Battle Axe is pretty straight forward. It's got 2 AoEs and every power does knockdown or knockup. You can skip one of the T1 powers and potentially Build Up and/or Cleave (targeted AoE with 40 ft range and 3 ft radius). I don't recommend it, but you could also skip Taunt.

[hakurr]

i can share my Bio/Savage tank you may be able to convert it to EM it is very survivable and chews threw the mob's also check out this guide it will help you to understand what the powers do. as far as skippable powers in Bio you really need all of them.

 

Tanker - Bio Armor - Savage Melee.mbd

Edited March 7 by hakurr

[Lusiphur Malache]

I have a Bio/Titan that doesn't have all his primaries and if I can do it anybody can. I skipped t8 and t9 and 6 slotted Ablative Carapace for health and recharge also put it on auto. That way I could either take an alpha on absorb or HP.

[Maltese_Knight]

I'm old. So take everything I say with a grain of salt because my experience tanking, and running an Axe tank as my main, is ancient.

 

Consider building with the full intent to respec in your late 30s, early 40s. END burn is painful at times, even with slotted stamina. If you're planning on scranking,  soloing much, or considering passing on Taunt, you'll want those low tier, low END burning attacks in your chain as the KB/KD still shines in Beheader and Gash and whacking a mob in the face still works great to keep aggro through Gauntlet. As you get Swoop, Cleave, and some AoE in your chain in the higher levels, you've started managing END burn better and started to find some recharge love which relegates those low tier attacks to borderline useless. But they ARE useful in those early stages unless you like standing around spamming Brawl and Tranq Dart. Hence building to a respec, so you can be active in your aggro management and damage output in those low levels.

 

There's an argument to be had for Beheader if you plan to be aggressive in aggro management, even into late game. It fires FAST, so it's a great power for an active tank to "hop and pop" loose mobs. Aura maintains your herd, Taunt grabs your shooters/ranged mobs, and you can target a remote leaker or mob not within your Taunt range by targeting your leaker, "hopping" out of the pile with Beheader queued, "popping" that mob as soon as you're in range, them "hopping" back in the pile. 1 to 1.5 seconds, you clean up loose mobs, and your movement alone will often shifts shooters into melee, tightening the herd that much more.

 

Welcome to the best dang secondary in tanking! Good luck out there!

[namgara]

Just checking back in to say I really do appreciate the links and advice. It'll definitely take a bit longer for me to click with Tanker, but at least I feel like I have a vague idea of what I'm shooting for now. That's all I really needed to begin with.

 

I've rolled the character and hit level 10. And while that's much too early to have any meaningful thoughts, I can say that I really like my power set combo. Bio is making me want to stick with this build for a while.

[Warboss]

A bit late to the dance, but I'd say try a Rad/Fire Tank.