Thoughts on Making a Good Shield/ SJ Tank?

[Arnabas]

I have been trying to make a good Shield/ Street Justice Tank, but it just isn't working for me. I have 2 main issues: 

1. Even with Tough and Weave, Shield Defence feels squisher than almost any other defence set, and

2. This combo burns through Endurance much too fast, even with End reduction in every attack.

 

So, effectively, this combo is more "expensive" for less effect. At least in my experience.

I'm thinking about switching to a Brute or Scrapper, but that would probably be worse.

I'd appreciate some feedback on making this viable.

Edited yesterday at 03:13 AM by Arnabas

[Erratic1]

This should probably be in the Tanker forum but...

 

1. Shield is considered one of the top performing Defense sets, particularly for Scrappers, but defense works for any AT regardless, so it should be working plenty well on a Tanker. It has good DDR, boosts damage, but in exchange does not help you with endurance or healing as is the case with some other protection sets.
2. You will need to slot for endurance recovery, particularly if you are using IO sets. If not, you will definitely want to slot endurance cost reduction in your larger attacks. Short of IO sets, you will not be able to do much in the healing department.
3.  As a Tanker, you should be able to make some nice inroads on Resistance, particularly using the class ATO.

 

[Arnabas]

I admit to not being a numbers person and playing mostly by feel, but just in terms of gameplay, I have a Blaster (Psi/ Martial) who I take into melee on a regular basis, who is more survivable than my Shield tank, which seems odd.

I have End Reduction in all my attacks and some Shield powers. I have Stamina 3-slotted and I have Miracle: + Recovery in Health, but I still burn through Endurance and pop inspirations throughout every battle to keep from running out.

 

I am currently doing Pathogen's Warehouse with this character and struggling, but I can get through it easily with other characters, including Blasters and Controllers, who should be less durable.

Edited yesterday at 03:50 AM by Arnabas

[Riverdusk]

Shield is top tier....once you get your defense with it to softcaps (45+).  It also has very good DDR (especially if you double stack  active defense), so your defense tends to stay there, even through defense debuffs.  It also has a moderate amount of resistances (typically 30-60% to most everything on my scrappers).  I've played shield on a scrapper plenty and once I get the build done or even mostly done, it didn't feel squishy at all, and that's with a scrapper.  A tank should have much better numbers and better DDR.

 

However, before you get some good IO sets and get that defense where it needs to be, I can see it feeling squishy.  Don't see that as much different than any other defense set though, except maybe super reflexes where you can cap defense very early.

 

As to endurance there are a lot of ways to fix that issue.  The usual IO's (miracle, numina, panacea, performance shifter), end reduction slotting, SG base buff +recovery, epic pool +recovery powers, START temp powers, +end accolades, incarnates, etc.  Some of those are temps and some come late, but the trick is to use the temps early, and then you can drop the temps once you get the end powers.

 

One idea is to try it with dark melee, it synergizes very well and that combo is a bit of a known classic.

 

[Erratic1]

37 minutes ago, Arnabas said:

I admit to not being a numbers person and playing mostly by feel, but just in terms of gameplay, I have a Blaster (Psi/ Martial) who I take into melee on a regular basis, who is more survivable than my Shield tank, which seems odd.

 

Once you push towards 35+ Defense, you should start feeling increasingly safe. Deflection and Battle Agility slotted with 3 SOs, Toughness with Steadfast Protection: +3% Def, and Gladiator's Armor: +3% Def, and Weave with 3 SOs, you can reach 37% Defense, which should be pretty solid survivability unless you are upping your difficulty. Obviously, you can go a lot further with set IOs. 

[Biff Pow]

Do you have attacks slotted? I find sometimes when people complain about endurance on Tanks it's because they're barely doing any damage with their attacks. Or they're running Hasten when they don't really need it.