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Staff/SR tanks are heckin' good fun!


Gauntlet_Prime

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So I made a staff/SR tank as a little old kung fu master.  He has been an absolute treat.

 

The already high def of primary tanker SR with the third staff attack (Guardian sweep?) which gives a healthy melee/lethal def has been great.  Also the animations have been great fun.  Dodging and weaving through enemies untouched hearing that bo-staff smacking off of heads just makes me smile.

 

If you want a tank that isn't the usual big tough person but instead is just too good to get hit give it a try.  It feels good as this sort of martial master that laughs at the skulls pathetic swings.

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  • 2 weeks later
  • 2 weeks later

I've switched to maining my SR/SF tank, and have her up to 46 now, so elements of this build (mainly the sets) are conceptual, but I'm pretty happy with the powers.

 

The main things I'm on the fence about right now:

  • Trading off SJ/Spring attack for some elements of Energy Mastery, as end is still a problem, even using Form of the Soul exclusively. Having leveled to 44 with just Ninja Run+Sprint for travel, I feel confident at this point that a no-travel powers build is totally workable.
  • From an attack rotation standpoint, you could drop one of the single-target attacks. Also, Staff Fighting doesn't have a no-redraw option, so if like me you like to use your fighting power as a midgame rotation filler, be aware.

 

The main upsides:

  • If you use IOs and update every 10 levels or so you should hit perma-defense softcap in your low-mid 30s and defense debuff resist softcap in your low-mid 40s. Guarded Spin will temporarily push melee defense above softcap as early as in the 20s. If you team with +def buffers or players with maneuvers, you can hit softcap as a lowbie with DOs, which is pretty fun.
  • Staff is, IMO, by far the most fun I've had with a tanker secondary. The sounds are amazing, the anims are satisfying. I get a lot of positive comments from teammates admiring the sound and visuals. It does fantastic for holding aggro because it can pull off a great all-AoE attack rotation with Guarded Spin, Innocuous Strikes, and Eye of the Storm. The forms combo mechanic gives you access to some very nice self buffs and enemy debuffs.

 

The main downsides:

  • The scaling resist is functionally useless in my experience so far. Once your defenses are capped, the only significant damage that makes it through typically comes from high-acc enemies (as an aside, for this reason I believe SR would synergize nicely with Dark Melee). This means that usually the hits that make it through will be very high damage ones, so for example you'll take a 1k damage hit from full health where your resist doesn't come into play. I imagine you probably get more mileage out of it once you get your innate resists higher, which leads to...
  • No significant resists outside of set bonuses. Sure, you can get around 20% S/L out of Tough, but you're playing a tanker! It's significantly easier to build up defense with set bonuses than it is to build up resists. The build below gets you to 43% S/L, 18% E/N, 33% F/C, and 30% T/P. You could pump those numbers up a little more by swapping one of the LotG full sets for a Shield Wall full set, and the 5% resist all is big there. I'm unfamiliar with Incarnate content, but Pines thinks that Resilient Alpha does apply to set bonuses. Probably still better to go Cardiac though.
  • No self heal. Again though, due to the nature of how you take damage when you do take it, this might have limited utility. In my experience the only things that kill you are end drains and very sudden 1-2HKOs that win on RNG.

 

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962

http://www.cohplanner.com/

 

Click this DataLink to open the build!

 

Artful Dodger: Level 50 Natural Tanker

Primary Power Set: Super Reflexes

Secondary Power Set: Staff Fighting

Power Pool: Leaping

Power Pool: Fighting

 

Hero Profile:

Level 1: Focused Fighting

  • (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
  • (3) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
  • (11) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Recharge
  • (13) Luck of the Gambler - Endurance/Recharge
  • (17) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
  • (27) Luck of the Gambler - Defense

Level 1: Mercurial Blow

  • (A) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Accuracy/Damage
  • (7) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Damage/RechargeTime
  • (15) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime
  • (31) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime
  • (31) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime
  • (31) Superior Gauntleted Fist - RechargeTime/+Absorb

Level 2: Focused Senses

  • (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
  • (3) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
  • (11) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Recharge
  • (13) Luck of the Gambler - Endurance/Recharge
  • (42) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
  • (45) Luck of the Gambler - Defense

Level 4: Agile

  • (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
  • (17) Luck of the Gambler - Defense

Level 6: Guarded Spin

  • (A) Obliteration - Damage
  • (7) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge
  • (15) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge
  • (33) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  • (34) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage

Level 8: Practiced Brawler

  • (A) Recharge Reduction IO
  • (9) Recharge Reduction IO
  • (9) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 10: Dodge

  • (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

Level 12: Evasion

  • (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
  • (19) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
  • (19) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
  • (48) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Recharge
  • (50) Luck of the Gambler - Endurance/Recharge
  • (50) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge

Level 14: Combat Jumping

  • (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
  • (40) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance

Level 16: Eye of the Storm

  • (A) Armageddon - Damage
  • (27) Armageddon - Damage/Recharge
  • (29) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  • (29) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge
  • (37) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance
  • (37) Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage

Level 18: Precise Strike

  • (A) Hecatomb - Damage
  • (25) Hecatomb - Damage/Recharge
  • (25) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  • (37) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Recharge
  • (42) Hecatomb - Damage/Endurance
  • (43) Hecatomb - Chance of Damage(Negative)

Level 20: Lucky

  • (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
  • (23) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
  • (23) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance

Level 22: Staff Mastery

Level 24: Taunt

  • (A) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 26: Boxing

  • (A) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative)
  • (34) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage

Level 28: Quickness

  • (A) Run Speed IO

Level 30: Tough

  • (A) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP
  • (40) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance
  • (40) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance
  • (42) Unbreakable Guard - RechargeTime/Resistance
  • (43) Unbreakable Guard - Endurance/RechargeTime
  • (43) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime

Level 32: Weave

  • (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
  • (33) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
  • (33) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
  • (34) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge

Level 35: Innocuous Strikes

  • (A) Scirocco's Dervish - Chance of Damage(Lethal)
  • (36) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage
  • (36) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Recharge
  • (36) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Endurance

Level 38: Sky Splitter

  • (A) Force Feedback - Damage/Knockback
  • (39) Force Feedback - Accuracy/Knockback
  • (39) Force Feedback - Recharge/Knockback
  • (39) Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal)
  • (46) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage
  • (46) Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge

Level 41: Serpent's Reach

  • (A) Superior Winter's Bite - Accuracy/Damage
  • (45) Superior Winter's Bite - Damage/RechargeTime
  • (45) Force Feedback - Damage/Knockback
  • (46) Force Feedback - Recharge/Endurance
  • (48) Force Feedback - Damage/Endurance/Knockback

Level 44: Super Jump

  • (A) Winter's Gift - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance
  • (48) Winter's Gift - Slow Resistance (20%)

Level 47: Spring Attack

  • (A) Recharge Reduction IO
  • (50) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 49: Elude

  • (A) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 1: Brawl

  • (A) Empty

Level 1: Gauntlet

Level 2: Swift

  • (A) Run Speed IO

Level 2: Health

  • (A) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
  • (5) Numina's Convalesence - Heal
  • (5) Miracle - +Recovery

Level 2: Hurdle

  • (A) Jumping IO

Level 2: Stamina

  • (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End
  • (21) Performance Shifter - EndMod
  • (21) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Recharge

Level 1: Combo Level 1

Level 1: Combo Level 2

Level 1: Combo Level 3

Level 22: Form of the Body

Level 22: Form of the Mind

Level 22: Form of the Soul

------------

 

 

 

 

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