Thematic but Powerful?

[hoopahnan]

I've always been most interested in tanks in MMOs and I love superheroes and roleplaying, so I want to play a tank that's both thematic but also powerful or at least viable. So what matching power combos are viable, or what power combos pair well thematically as well as gameplay wise?

[Spaghetti Betty]

You're asking a very subjective question! Not to toot my own horn, but I think I'm pretty good at making very powerful combos quite thematic!

 

I think one bit example I can give is that if I have a combo that could really use the Sorcery pool to become stronger, but I don't want to make a magician, I default to a 'magitech' sort of trope that lots and lots of classic JRPGs utilized greatly!

 

The only limit is your creativity!

[Psyonico]

If by thematic you mean using similar primary and secondaries (ie:fire/fire, ice/ice, etc). I’d make the following suggestions.

 

pair Shield with one of the weapon sets OR pick a dark shield and go Shield/Dark.  Or for a slightly more flashy combo, Shield with MA or Street Justice.

 

but really, with the right build pretty much any tank can be powerful.  Some will be a little harder than others (Shield/Rad is an awesome combo, but very end heavy) but there aren’t really any ‘bad” sets for tankers.

[hoopahnan]

10 minutes ago, Psyonico said:

If by thematic you mean using similar primary and secondaries (ie:fire/fire, ice/ice, etc). I’d make the following suggestions.

 

pair Shield with one of the weapon sets OR pick a dark shield and go Shield/Dark.  Or for a slightly more flashy combo, Shield with MA or Street Justice.

 

but really, with the right build pretty much any tank can be powerful.  Some will be a little harder than others (Shield/Rad is an awesome combo, but very end heavy) but there aren’t really any ‘bad” sets for tankers.

Does shield only appear when in combat? I’ve been avoiding it because I feel like it would be weird to be walking around unarmed then pull a weapon and shield out of thin air. Yes, I know it’s a superhero game lol. I guess I just like my superheroes weapon less but Captain America is cool.

[Warshades]

• Bio/savage - fits thematically, the blood frenzy stacks boost your recharge which is helpful for bio armor that wants high recharge to get Parasitic Aura, Ablative Carapace, and DNA Siphon up as often as possible.
• Shield/elec, shield/fire, shield/dark - all can fit thematically and I believe there are elec, fire, and dark element shields you can use. Shield/elec combo can do Shield Charge + Lightning Rod for some fun AoEs. Shield/dark is the most tanky as /dark provides a heal that shield lacks and helps with endurance recovery. Shield/fire would have high damage output with 2 AoEs in Combustion and Fire Sword Circle with Combustion being a good power to proc out.
• Radiation/SS - fits in a Hulk theme. Excellent combination for damage output if you decide to proc bomb SS and Ground Zero/Rad Therapy (rage and musculature alpha can handle buffing damage and accuracy).
• Stone/fire - another excellent combo, very tanky and high damage output. Fits in a brimstone type theme.
• SR/? - can pretty much fit around anything depending on what your character's back story is. I don't really have a theme for SR/dark, but that's my favorite pairing for SR. SR/claw and SR/MA also have some classic themes going and are both strong.
• Dark/ice - ice demon theme or similar (may not fit hero category as well). It's a tanky combination with one of the best heals in Dark Regeneration and also the ability to lay down Ice Patch to keep enemies on the ground and unable to attack. Not great for damage output though.
• Invuln/SS - classic Super Man theme, energy mastery fits perfectly for the laser beam eyes. Decent combo, do be mindful that rage crash causes -def so you will get hit more often when it happens for several seconds.
• Invuln/SJ - if you want to avoid rage rage crash.

[Psyonico]

11 hours ago, hoopahnan said:

Does shield only appear when in combat?

No, as long as you have a shield power toggled on you have the shield.

 

Also, for weapons, there is an option to “sheath” them on your character.  When you select a weapon set and go to customize it in the character creator click the little icon with the two swords next to the weapon name.  That will cause the weapon to either appear on your back (for most weapons) or your hip (for a few like Katana and Dual Pistols).

[hoopahnan]

3 hours ago, Warshades said:

• Bio/savage - fits thematically, the blood frenzy stacks boost your recharge which is helpful for bio armor that wants high recharge to get Parasitic Aura, Ablative Carapace, and DNA Siphon up as often as possible.
• Shield/elec, shield/fire, shield/dark - all can fit thematically and I believe there are elec, fire, and dark element shields you can use. Shield/elec combo can do Shield Charge + Lightning Rod for some fun AoEs. Shield/dark is the most tanky as /dark provides a heal that shield lacks and helps with endurance recovery. Shield/fire would have high damage output with 2 AoEs in Combustion and Fire Sword Circle with Combustion being a good power to proc out.
• Radiation/SS - fits in a Hulk theme. Excellent combination for damage output if you decide to proc bomb SS and Ground Zero/Rad Therapy (rage and musculature alpha can handle buffing damage and accuracy).
• Stone/fire - another excellent combo, very tanky and high damage output. Fits in a brimstone type theme.
• SR/? - can pretty much fit around anything depending on what your character's back story is. I don't really have a theme for SR/dark, but that's my favorite pairing for SR. SR/claw and SR/MA also have some classic themes going and are both strong.
• Dark/ice - ice demon theme or similar (may not fit hero category as well). It's a tanky combination with one of the best heals in Dark Regeneration and also the ability to lay down Ice Patch to keep enemies on the ground and unable to attack. Not great for damage output though.
• Invuln/SS - classic Super Man theme, energy mastery fits perfectly for the laser beam eyes. Decent combo, do be mindful that rage crash causes -def so you will get hit more often when it happens for several seconds.
• Invuln/SJ - if you want to avoid rage rage crash.

Thank you for this post! I think after looking at animations I want to make a Street Justice tanker. Either Invuln, Shield, or Reflexes

Edited May 8 by hoopahnan

[Psyonico]

This is an older build and I have no idea what it looks like because I’m on my phone, but at the bare minimum this can get you started.

Sock 'Em - Tanker (Invulnerability).mbd

[skoryy]

Any power combo is viable around here.  Its a matter of if you'll have fun playing it.

[Warboss]

Rad/Fire, come up with a reason for having them and don't look back. 

[Skyhawke]

For a SR/Dark theme, my new guy's origin is he was trapped in the Netherrealm, hunted by a monster and over the course of his time there learned to be super agile and when he finally defeated the monster, he took it's dark powers. 

[Sovera]

Stone Armor with the lava skin and fire melee as.. fire 😄

[hoopahnan]

Just now, Sovera said:

Stone Armor with the lava skin and fire melee as.. fire 😄

I actually just made a stone fire tanker this morning and like it so far. She’s the daughter of Satan, but also a ray of sunshine

[Heatstroke]

IMO theme is only limited by your imagination. You can make any theme, create a backstory or origin that fits for you. This is pretty much the foundation for almost everything I make. Who are you/ What do you do? Why do you do the things you do? which leads ( at least for me) why you have the powers you have. 

One such example

 

Apex

Willpower/SS Tank 

Science Origin

In my head cannon. " The FIST " is an military organization ( First Infantry Shock Troopers ) whose roles is to defend Earth from various different kinds of threats. The specialize in crafting technology and weapons. Then they started experimenting with nanotech and genome projects. My characer Apex was a create of the META project. 

 

Origin:

 The META project. It started as a line item in the FIST project budget listed under advanced engineering. The FIST had good success with their exoskelton project yet, the time need to design, develop a battle suit, and train a pilot would never allow them to create a fighting force large enough to deal with situations like the Rikti and Rularuu invasions. META (Military Engineered Tactically Advanced) started a genome project utilizing nanomachines to attempt to create super soldiers. Apex is the pinnacle of that project. The nanomachines in his system have altered his endocrine, nervous and skeletal system granting him increased strength and endurance. His bones are the hardness of graphene giving him improved resistance. Most importantly his ability to heal damage is tied into his endocrine system. Essentially the harder he fights, the faster he regenerates. In addition when he is enraged his endocrine system pushes his already increased strength to superhuman levels.

 

So Willpwer/SS made the best combination of powers for this character for me. 


Another  example 

Excalibur

Inv/Nrg Tank

Technology Origin 

Dr. Jonas Markum was recruited into the FIST project by Colonel Joseph Magnum early in the project development phase. An expert in the fields of robotics, cybernetics and metallugry, Dr. Markum is crucial to the success of the FIST Project. He designed the Airhammer and Taser exoskeletons and assisted Dr. Franklin Deveraux with the construction of the Prime exosuit. His latest construct is "Excalibur" named after the famed unbreaklable sword of legend. A very large and powerful exosuit it is designed to withstand tremendous damage. WIth the help of Dr. Dane Hammond (aka Neutron), Dr Markum was able sythesize a rare Ritki Alloy and fuse it with Impervium. Utilizing the kinetic enegy field technology developed by Dr. Hammond, the Excalbur in conjuction with Airhammer are an extremely effective Ground-Air fighting combo.

 

Invulnerability reflects the unique alloy the suit is made from and it is reinforced with a internal kinetic force field (making is extremely tough and durable). That same energy can be utilized for attacks.. so.. Energy Melee

etc etc and so on and so on.. since there is no limit to the imagination.. there is no limit t what you can make both Thematic AND Powerful.. 
 

 

[Snarky]

in my opinion Dark Melee / Invulnerability is the most powerful TANK.  Not the most damage, but the flat out toughest, with a very solid ST damage chain, some AoE.  Not great.  Dark Melee provides a tool kit of Heal, End Recovery, and defense (to hit debuffs) to Make Invul much stronger.  I suggest an undead creature for theme. And a Hyperstrike Invul build.

 

 

invul Dark tank durable 4.2.mxd

[biostem]

On 5/7/2025 at 8:06 PM, hoopahnan said:

what matching power combos are viable, or what power combos pair well thematically as well as gameplay wise?

This is a difficult question to answer.  If you want "classic", go with something like invulnerability and super strength.  If you want something that feels more powerful, give radiation armor and electrical melee a try.  If you want something that's more "out there", I highly recommend bio armor and savage melee...

[Jacke]

10 hours ago, Snarky said:

in my opinion Dark Melee / Invulnerability is the most powerful TANK.  Not the most damage, but the flat out toughest, with a very solid ST damage chain, some AoE.  Not great.  Dark Melee provides a tool kit of Heal, End Recovery, and defense (to hit debuffs) to Make Invul much stronger.  I suggest an undead creature for theme. And a Hyperstrike Invul build.

 

My anchor Toons (the one Toon I make on every Shard who never moves from the Shard, Red Star in the Jacke Supergroup there) are Dark/Inv Scrappers.  They're a homage to the Scrappers I made when I first was shown City of Heroes by a good friend, making Toons on her account.  No idea what I actually made in the Summer of 2005, but they were Scrappers.

 

And of course, I have a Inv/Dark Tanker, Jacke Obsidian.  Went with a hardboiled detective theme.  😺

 

I'll have to have a look at your build, @Snarky, see if I can take things to tweak my build.

 

 

[Snarky]

6 minutes ago, Jacke said:

 

My anchor Toons (the one Toon I make on every Shard who never moves from the Shard, Red Star in the Jacke Supergroup there) are Dark/Inv Scrappers.  They're a homage to the Scrappers I made when I first was shown City of Heroes by a good friend, making Toons on her account.  No idea what I actually made in the Summer of 2005, but they were Scrappers.

 

And of course, I have a Inv/Dark Tanker, Jacke Obsidian.  Went with a hardboiled detective theme.  😺

 

I'll have to have a look at your build, @Snarky, see if I can take things to tweak my build.

 

 

It is a derivative of Hyperstrike’s work, if not an exact copy.  I cannot remember.  I always use @Hyperstrike to build my Invulnerability toons. A legend

Edited Sunday at 12:44 PM by Snarky

[Psyonico]

I really need to sit down at some point and compare Hyperstrike’s builds to my own and see if either of us have room for improvement.

[Warshades]

Invuln/dark was a build I've been fiddling with for a bit now, this is an extreme tankiness attempt at it. It should probably work fine with resilience core alpha if you want to get a bit more resistance on it, but as it is, it hits soft cap s/l/e/n/f/c with 1 foe in range and near resist cap with 1 SMoT proc. There are certain trades that can be made depending on if you want more psi or psi/tox resist. Version 5 attempts to get all the resists as close to hard cap as possible and nearly get there with 1 SMoT proc. You could swap out ageless radial for barrier core and it would hit 90% resist to all with barrier core + 1 SMoT proc.

 

V4

 

V5

 

 

Tanker (Invulnerability - Dark Melee)4.mbd Tanker (Invulnerability - Dark Melee)5.mbd

[hoopahnan]

I’m noticing a lot of talk about /dark as a good powerset and it sounds good but I’m having trouble thinking of a character concept I like- even my devil character is a “good” devil. What are SR/MA builds like? Good old kung fu! (I may be becoming an altaholic)

[Psyonico]

SR/MA is kind of overkill… SR can already reach the incarnate defense cap fairly easily, so Storm Kick’s +defense is wasted.  It’s not a bad combo, per se, just wouldn’t be my first pick.  MA only gets 1 AoE, but it takes a FF proc and there’s lots of room for +recharge, so you can get it up pretty fast.

[BZRKR]

2 hours ago, hoopahnan said:

I’m noticing a lot of talk about /dark as a good powerset and it sounds good but I’m having trouble thinking of a character concept I like- even my devil character is a “good” devil. What are SR/MA builds like? Good old kung fu! (I may be becoming an altaholic)

One idea I've used in the past is to think about Dark Melee as using interdimensional energies from a science/ technology standpoint. Or maybe it's some kind of manipulation of "Dark" Matter. Or other sci-fi words like "Quantum Inversion". Since none of the attacks have big screaming skulls like Terrorize or Gloom, you can reimagine the fluffy clouds of darkness as whatever you like. And for Midnight Grasp, punching a hole into some parallel reality to let eldritch beings reach in with their tentacles can be as magic or religion free as you like.

 

Remember:

"Any sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic." and also:

"Any sufficiently researched magic is indistinguishable from science!"

[hoopahnan]

Is Rage crash from Super Strength really that bad? Is there a way to mitigate it?

[Erratic1]

On 5/10/2025 at 8:39 PM, Snarky said:

in my opinion Dark Melee / Invulnerability is the most powerful TANK.  Not the most damage, but the flat out toughest, with a very solid ST damage chain, some AoE.  Not great.  Dark Melee provides a tool kit of Heal, End Recovery, and defense (to hit debuffs) to Make Invul much stronger.  I suggest an undead creature for theme. And a Hyperstrike Invul  build.

 

My first scrapper back in live (well, first I took to max level) was DM/Inv. He was stupidly tough for the time and I always wondered what it would be like to play an Inv/Dark tanker, because the scrapper lived through stuff he should not have. Oddly, I've never done it. Don't know why.

 

Right now, trying to figure out how to reconfigure my Rad/StJ Tanker....