4 Star Tanker Build Help

[WuTang]

So I tanked my first 4 star ITF, this is after I tanked a 3 start ITF and a 4 star Aeon without much issue, did drop once on the Aeon though. The 4*ITF humbled me a bit. Everything was smooth until the last Rom fight. In this fight Rom floored me 3 times from full health, as luck would have it my Particle Shield was also depleted at these times.

 

So I was wondering if this was just bum luck or if there are adjustments I could make to better handle the big shots Rom lays out. Me dropping did not cause a wipe, solid team, but I really didn't like my showing.

 

My build is a Rad/MA/EM. We were Barrier cycling, the one thing I can't say is what % my defenses where at these times, like if there was a gap in the cycling just long enough for Rom to line up on me. My guess is my HP needs some love. The build is solid as is for everything I've put it through ('cept this one thing), this is just me wondering what went wrong or if there is anything I should change.

 

My HP is 2335 with a 1593 absorb. Particle shield will be up every ~30 sec on a team.

 

Thanks!

-WT

Tanker (Radiation Armor - Martial Arts)Final-1.2.mbd

Edited yesterday at 02:52 PM by WuTang

[Spaghetti Betty]

Hullabaloo and howdy doo!

 

So, I took a look at your build, and I'm just going to cut to the chase. Your build isn't geared for 4-star optimization at all!

 

The reason being is that the mindset you need to get in for that kind of stuff is not individual toughness. You'll generally want to stray away from speccing into things like the Fighting pool or Focused Accuracy since those don't do anything for your team. If everyone on the team is taking things like Leadership instead, then you all get to share 8 times the benefit! This also coincides with the fact that a coordinated team will be doing Barrier cycling, keeping your DEF and RES at a suitable level for mitigation (for the number freaks, this is ~125% DEF minimum and whatever your AT's RES hardcap is). You should also be looking at what other offensive utility you can bring that will provide benefit to everyone during the fight, such as debuffs (every little bit helps!) or Epic Holds (no need for a Controller if everyone is throwing a mag3-7 Hold)!

 

Yes, Max HP is generally your biggest priority when building for 4-star, because you are going to get hit and it is going to hurt. Rad Armor gets around this by having a huge Absorb layer (your team should also ideally have a Nature or Elec Affinity to do most of the heavy lifting), so it's not as important!

 

6 hours ago, WuTang said:

Everything was smooth until the last Rom fight. In this fight Rom floored me 3 times from full health, as luck would have it my Particle Shield was also depleted at these times.

 

So I was wondering if this was just bum luck or if there are adjustments I could make to better handle the big shots Rom lays out. Me dropping did not cause a wipe, solid team, but I really didn't like my showing.

 

Nictus Rom absolutely does hit insanely hard at 4-star and also does irresistible damage, so it kind of is what it is if you end up getting chunked! But, once again, if you're positioning yourself like you need to and clicking your own mitigation where applicable, then it's up to the support on your team (and Barrier cycles) to keep you standing! Remember that there's no point in facetanking Rom during his invulnerability period while the rest of the team steps away to neutralize the Barrier Novas. Just run around and keep him taunted! The staircase at the ambush door is great for providing LoS breaks to keep yourself safe while doing so.

 

As for a build, I quickly whipped up this example of what a pure 4-star Rad/MA Tank would look like for your perusal!

RadMA4starEX.mbd

 

I'm sure it's not a surprise at all that this thing would absolutely crumple without some outside help, but that's the whole point! You're there to provide Taunt and damage, first and foremost! You also want to have high mobility so you can move on a dime, and also so you can reliably get to each objective without having to be TP'd around.

 

I hope this helps!

[Guardian Rhykon]

Awesome. I rarely do 4 stars with you guys (Mainly because compared to you killers, I feel like a kid y'all let play in your backyard lol), but I'm definitely gonna give this build a shot

Edited 19 hours ago by Guardian Rhykon

[WuTang]

@Spaghetti Betty Yeah I knew it wasn't optimized for 4 star. I was just wandering if it was a lack of something (HP - res - def) or just bum luck. I've got the tactics down and kite well (have for decades from WoW), it was just getting dropped 3 times from 100% got me to thinking. I talked to one of the players that was on the team and she thinks maybe I missed a barrier when they got back from smoking the squids. It's funny because if I get dropped and I'm anything other than the tank I don't give it a second thought, but when I'm the meat shield it bugs me.

 

Something else I do with this build is I don't pop Particle Shield unless it's completely depleted. Should I be popping it on CD?

[Spaghetti Betty]

6 hours ago, WuTang said:

Something else I do with this build is I don't pop Particle Shield unless it's completely depleted. Should I be popping it on CD?

That's what I do! I just treat it like perma-DP. I also use Radiation Therapy on cool down since I'm popping it for AoE damage.

 

The way I see it, if Rom can still clip you for ~1k even after resistances, then there's only so much you can do. It's totally possible you did miss a Barrier during the Nova phase, because that happens to me all the time! Try monitoring your Ranged DEF specifically, as it's the one least likely to have any investment in a 4-star focused build. This will tell you exactly if you missed a Barrier, and you can communicate that to your team!