SD/MA - So good

[Myrmidon]

I have this combination and I love playing it. Everyone should give it a go.

[VoidSpawn]

@Glacier Peak. Limitations include: Streak Breaker, scenarios in which opponents have auto-hit or exceedingly high to hit attributes, scenarios in which having a limited number of hit points compared to maxed-out Tankers is risky, and any combination of these that might come into play. 

 

Thus, Streak Breaker can kick in at any time and force the bad luck, two-hits-in-a-row scenario. These might be strong enough to overcome some otherwise impressive defenses due to an overall Hit Point deficit (compared to, say, a maxed Stone Tanker, or a Bio Tanker with full shields for absorbs) and effectively take the SR Tanker out. It's unlikely, and quite uncommon, however; usually the result of extremely specific conditions. 

 

However, this is why running The Cycle can be of benefit, even to a Super Tanker. High probability that you'll be at a point in The Cycle during which your cycling meta-level defenses and resistances will mitigate these unlikely events. 

 

-void

 

 

[Ukase]

This is my 2nd foray into shield armor on a tank (that I can recall). I don't have my characters organized much beyond the first two pages, so can't say. 
Humdinger is my Shield/Mace tank, and while after a few years, I'd probably change a few things, there's no pressing need to do that now. 
He's woefully behind on the latest few pages of badges, sitting somewhere over the 1600 mark, though. 

I love the name. I love the crunch of mace, particularly clobber. 

Kite or Flight (Kite refers to the Shield type, and the goofy name is explained in the character bio) is my attempt to try this new thing all the cool kids are trying (pun intended, as @Glacier Peak is undoubtedly chill being an ice/cold corruptor more often than not) 
I don't hate it. I would put it at a notch below my fondness for mace, but not by much. And, if I had opted to forgo the fold space route, I would probably like it better. But Fold Space is so convenient for bringing baddies in one spot to use Shield Charge - at least until I get all the defeat badges, or most of them, I'll keep the fold space. On teams, Fold Space is so popular now, I'm not sure it's something I need to do on every character. For the past year, every character I've made has gotten it and once I got used to it, found good utility for it. 

The one area that I tried to improve with both tanks is damage. And well, after playing blasters so long, it's just not there, and it's never going to be there. Even at damage cap, taking down a boss is slow. Taking down an elite boss is even slower. (I'm speaking of being solo. On teams, I might fold space, Shield Charge, Dragon Tail and then Taunt, but with teams, there's rarely anything left...and it's not because of the damage I did. 

When I did a damage check on a pylon, the pylon laughed and said, "DPS check bounced". 

Now, not every AT needs to do blaster damage to be fun. This combo was and is still fun. It'll just never be as fun as a blaster is for me. We have 1000 slots. Now I have one less. 

[Glacier Peak]

42 minutes ago, Ukase said:

This is my 2nd foray into shield armor on a tank (that I can recall). I don't have my characters organized much beyond the first two pages, so can't say. 
Humdinger is my Shield/Mace tank, and while after a few years, I'd probably change a few things, there's no pressing need to do that now. 
He's woefully behind on the latest few pages of badges, sitting somewhere over the 1600 mark, though. 

I love the name. I love the crunch of mace, particularly clobber. 

Kite or Flight (Kite refers to the Shield type, and the goofy name is explained in the character bio) is my attempt to try this new thing all the cool kids are trying (pun intended, as @Glacier Peak is undoubtedly chill being an ice/cold corruptor more often than not) 
I don't hate it. I would put it at a notch below my fondness for mace, but not by much. And, if I had opted to forgo the fold space route, I would probably like it better. But Fold Space is so convenient for bringing baddies in one spot to use Shield Charge - at least until I get all the defeat badges, or most of them, I'll keep the fold space. On teams, Fold Space is so popular now, I'm not sure it's something I need to do on every character. For the past year, every character I've made has gotten it and once I got used to it, found good utility for it. 

The one area that I tried to improve with both tanks is damage. And well, after playing blasters so long, it's just not there, and it's never going to be there. Even at damage cap, taking down a boss is slow. Taking down an elite boss is even slower. (I'm speaking of being solo. On teams, I might fold space, Shield Charge, Dragon Tail and then Taunt, but with teams, there's rarely anything left...and it's not because of the damage I did. 

When I did a damage check on a pylon, the pylon laughed and said, "DPS check bounced". 

Now, not every AT needs to do blaster damage to be fun. This combo was and is still fun. It'll just never be as fun as a blaster is for me. We have 1000 slots. Now I have one less. 

I actually went the Fold Space route on my first leveling build, but found I was missing out on other things at the expense of my own enjoyment. It's great on teams, but not needed solo. As for damage, it's middling in my opinion. Not great, not terrible.

[ZemX]

I want a Shield/Staff tanker!   It just needs a few alternate one-hand animations and a spear skin for the staff and boom -- THIS IS SPARTA!

[Uun]

14 minutes ago, ZemX said:

I want a Shield/Staff tanker!   It just needs a few alternate one-hand animations and a spear skin for the staff and boom -- THIS IS SPARTA!

Your best bet might be Shield/Mace. Some of the Mace customizations are sort of staff-like.

[MoonSheep]

from what i’m reading, it seems that SD/MA is strong and pretty?