With all of the tanker powersets what are they good and bad for?

[DougGraves]

Back after a break, several new powersets.  I cannot tell from reading them why I would want to choose Regen over SR.  They both describe how they prevent you from dying, but all sets do that.

 

So can someone go through each of the tanker primaries (and secondaries maybe) and say what it gives you besides stopping you from dying through resistance/def/regen/healing?  Not how you can slot them.  But what their designed strengths and limitations are.

 

For instance - shield's big thing seems to be its aoe attack, it's drawback seems to be its status effect is on click.

[twozerofoxtrot]

Shield's big thing is how much it cranks your damage when surrounded by enemies. The AOE attack TP is the cherry on top.

 

The click mez protection isn't a detractor, it's a benefit. That click has stackable Defense Debuff Reduction that can get you up to 85-90% DDR if when double stacked. That's on par with SR.

 

Shield's actual downside, besides not being able to combo certain weapons, is the high end cost.

[Championess]

Shield's biggest downside is a lack of a heal.  Other than that it's a jack of all trades.  The offensive abilities are fun, it's likely the tankiest of the offensive armors.  I fix the lack of a heal by going into presence pool for unrelenting, that's if I'll be wanting to take a taunt.  Unrelenting heal scales by hp and so on my shield tank I'm getting 125hp/s base over 30s which plays out well with your combination high defense/high resistance. Plus you get all the other goodies in that power.

Edited November 24 by Championess

[Bill Z Bubba]

On 11/24/2025 at 3:37 PM, DougGraves said:

But what their designed strengths and limitations are.

 

Best way to determine this, I think, is to load up Mids' Reborn, pick a power set, set it for respec, take all the powers, slot nothing, then look at the Totals. You'll best be able to see what a powerset provided. Example, here's a pic of the totals for a bio/axe tank with all the powers turned on but absolutely nothing slotted. Bio armor kinda tells you, slot for FCEN defense and SLT resistance, but it's got big holes to psi.
 

 

Changed to dark armor and didn't have to turn on crap. Mids already had them enabled. Appears to be amazingly well rounded.

 

 

But what Mids DOESN'T show is how Bio's three heal/absorb clicks are buffing you when you fire them off in a crowd.

 

Edited November 25 by Bill Z Bubba

[Major_Decoy]

On 11/25/2025 at 1:38 PM, Bill Z Bubba said:

But what Mids DOESN'T show is how Bio's three heal/absorb clicks are buffing you when you fire them off in a crowd.

 

 

It kind of does. Right Click on a power in the power list, you'll then have that power locked in the display when you stop hovering your cursor over it. You'll see a "Targets" option set to 0 by default. You can adjust all those up to their max if you want. Left click [Unlock] to unlock the display. The other thing to be aware of with bio armour is that adaptation gives you three options to choose from. I'm showing these with defensive active.

Edited Sunday at 10:33 PM by Major_Decoy

[Luigrein]

Quick and dirty overview:

 

Bio: Hybrid set with a mix of defense, resistance, absorb, and regen. Had some mode change variance if you want to play with it.
Pros: Well rounded and scales with enemies hit, layered defenses means you aren't as vulnerable to specific counters.
Cons: Scales with enemy count also means it is at it's weakest when doing things like tanking just an AV. Also a fairly click heavy set. Most sets are defensively pretty much toggle up and maybe hit your heal as needed, not this one.

 

Dark: Primarily resistance and self healing, with a side of defense and an abundance of control effects.
Pros: The heal is huge. Becomes extremely well rounded with an IOd build even if out of the box it is a primarily resist/heal set. No psy hole.
Cons: You're gonna want that IOd build or you'll be bleeding endurance if you try to run everything. Some of your defense is tied to a stealth effect which isn't a big deal but can be a little awkward on a tank that wants all the aggro.

 

Electric: Resistance and regen effects.
Pros: Your blue bar will be full, and sappers can't do anything about it. Has a built in +recharge effect and with a complementary powerset can viably sap enemies. No psy hole.
Cons: It's pretty all in on resists and energize for keeping you alive. You're gonna get debuffed a lot.

 

Fiery Aura: Resist and heal based.
Pros: You get an actually good damage power from the set, particularly on tanks.
Cons: Fairly squishy compared to other armor sets, there's a reason your t9 is a self rez.

 

Ice armor: Defense based with a bit of heal and resist.
Pros: You will be immune to slows, you can walk right out of caltrops. Great aggro control. Built in blue bar support.
Cons: Fire damage is relatively common and a notable weakness of the set. Not particularly layered in it's defenses. Hibernate is a great reset button but you aren't doing anything to enemies while you're in it.

 

Invuln: Hybrid resist/defense set with a heal.
Pros: It's the archetypal shrug off all the things set for a reason. At first glance it's primarily resistance based but you can get a sizable amount of defense with nearby enemies.
Cons: Aside from the psy hole (which is pretty common) none. It's pretty much the "simple and effective" set.

 

Radiation: I haven't actually really played with this one so, it's got a good reputation but I can't really personally comment. At a glance it's primarily resist based, no psy hole, with some healing and a bit of resistance thrown in, coupled with some offensive support.

 

Shield: Defense, some resistance, and extra offensive power.
Pros: Built in good attack and offense support, some team buffing if you care, stackable mez protection power.
Cons: No heal means you're more vulnerable to being chipped down than most. Few tank sets excel at healing but most at least have a dull pain equivalent.

 

Stone: Can be primarily defense or a mixed defense resist set, always has some healing.
Pros: Basically has 2 modes. Normal mode you are mostly defense based, including psy defense, with a bit of resistance and damage buff on top. In granite mode you have high defense and resistance but with the typical psy hole. Granite armor is the toughest you can get out of the box.
Cons: You pay for granite's out of the box toughness with -recharge and -damage self debuffs while in it. The set as a whole wants to keep you ground bound as well, teleport is really the only travel option that plays nicely with your mez protection.

 

Super Reflexes: Primarily defense based, some resists.
Pros: You want to be dodgy? SR will get you to the defense caps with ease, and has the easiest time keeping it's defense numbers up in the face of debuffs. Also boosts your mobility.
Cons: The resistance only kicks in as you take damage, it is at it's highest when you need it most but single big hits that get through are a pain point. Like shield no built in heal so you can also get chipped down.

 

Willpower: A bit of everything defensively speaking, it's strongest point it probably the regen numbers it can hit but it's the most spread out set defensively.
Pros: Being very spread out with an emphasis on regen and recovery it's a set that's very conducive to a "no breaks it just keeps going" playstyle. No psy hole.
Cons: Without IOs it's got a bit of a master of none thing going, it's always good and reliable but it will be outshone by sets better suited to the specific situation. The spread out nature of the set does mean it IOs very well though.

[twozerofoxtrot]

Luigrein provides a great synopsis here. I don't fully agree with every point but they put the work in, so I won't nitpick. 

 

For Rad Armor, they have it right. I don't really know if Rad Armor has cons, which is why it's regarded as one of the strongest sets. I believe it has a Cold hole which is generally negligible. 

 

They didn't include Regen and Psy Armor. Both sets are new on Tanker and both work very, very well when built properly.

 

Regen is very sturdy and doesn't require the same level of reactivity/proactivity the older version did. Possibly the only set with a toggle that builds on stacks of attacks taken rather than enemies in proximity, which reduces ranged enemy effectiveness. 

 

Psy Armor is a unique beast, offering a hybrid Def/Res/CC/absorb shield approach to offset incoming damage while having an ability that boosts Regen/Endurance based on nearby enemies. Similar in clicks to Bio or Radiation. 

 

Edited 17 hours ago by twozerofoxtrot
Flubbed words

[Erratic1]

1 hour ago, Luigrein said:

Also a fairly click heavy set. Most sets are defensively pretty much toggle up and maybe hit your heal as needed, not this one.

 

Yes, it is like playing a piano organ, requiring both hands and feet to finely manipulate 3 click powers, 2 with default 90 second timers and one with 270 seconds. You'll barely be able to squeeze any other activity in. It is woefully click heavy, unlike Radiation Armor, Fiery Aura, other powersets with more click powers on shorter timers.

 

People act like Bio, which has stances, means stance dancing to a hip-hop beat. One can build around a stance and only change it in particularly challenging circumstances. 

[Uncle Shags]

I think in order to get a grasp of the individual sets, you also have to have a bigger picture understanding of mitigation types and how they sit within each set. Specifically, the broad categories of defensive, resistance, and healing armors.

 

They each have their pros and cons that apply differently depending on the enemy type and the situation.

 

Very briefly, defense can avoid all sorts of nastiness completely, but when stuff sneaks through it can be large and dangerous.  Resistance can turn big damage into small damage, but getting hit means you're also getting hit by other things like debuffs and mezz.  Healing means no matter what happens you can just heal it back, but it shares the weaknesses of both of the other armor types. 

 

Most of the above can be dealt with through purposeful build craft, but it can get complicated. Most times, you just can't have it all. I feel like this is good game design. 

 

Here is a specific example.  I've been thinking of rolling a new Psionic Armor tank. I've tried it out on test first and found that it did much better when I focused on its strengths (resistance, absorb, and healing) and completely ignored its weakness (very low defense). Usually a balance of mitigation is best, but in this case I found that chasing defense numbers wasn't doing much and it lead to build sacrifices elsewhere. Some of the biggest challenges, slow and to hit debuffs, that are a problem with low defense can be overcome with set bonuses and focused accuracy. Long story short, I found myself rocking it hard on my test server psi tank, other than two specific weaknesses: end drain and stacked mezz. Arachnos in mass will destroy my end bar. Carnies at +4 are fine, but at +5 their mezz duration increases and can hold me through my status protection.

 

I think every tank has their Kryptonite. It can be humbling if you're not prepared. But I think that's working as intended! 

 

 

Edited 12 hours ago by Uncle Shags
grammar

[ZemX]

11 hours ago, twozerofoxtrot said:

For Rad Armor, they have it right. I don't really know if Rad Armor has cons, which is why it's regarded as one of the strongest sets. I believe it has a Cold hole which is generally negligible. 

 

No defense and thus no defense debuff resistance (DDR).   This makes any defense you add via other means fragile.  That works fine if you're a blaster dodging the stray bullet but not when everyone in the room is attacking you and especially not if they have defense debuffs.    So you get hit... a lot.   The damage isn't a concern but the debuffs can stack on you.  Particularly bad are slow and -toHit debuffs since they directly inhibit your Accurate Heal and Absorb clickies.  Rad Armor has some slow resistance but one should build on it to achieve at or near 100% slow resistance.  Similarly, Focused Accuracy is one I rarely skip on Rad Armor too for the -toHit debuff resistance.  

 

Beyond that, lack of Repel, Confuse, or Fear protection are occasionally annoying depending on what you face, but not crippling usually.

[ZemX]

12 hours ago, Luigrein said:

Radiation: I haven't actually really played with this one so, it's got a good reputation but I can't really personally comment. At a glance it's primarily resist based, no psy hole, with some healing and a bit of resistance thrown in, coupled with some offensive support.

 

It's kind of like Bio without the defense and switchable modes.  That is, it's a bit of a hybrid, just not as much as Bio.   Its layers are Resistance, Absorb, Healing, and Regen in more or less that order.  It used to have two proc-bombs but they pretty much destroyed the proc-chances in Rad Therapy with the change to adaptive refresh.  So there's just Ground Zero.  Which is still great, but less so than it used to be when it was a giant 22.5ft radius bomb that proc'd like it was 15ft radius.  I suppose that was too good to last forever.

[Major_Decoy]

1 hour ago, ZemX said:

 

It's kind of like Bio without the defense and switchable modes.  That is, it's a bit of a hybrid, just not as much as Bio.   Its layers are Resistance, Absorb, Healing, and Regen in more or less that order.  It used to have two proc-bombs but they pretty much destroyed the proc-chances in Rad Therapy with the change to adaptive refresh.  So there's just Ground Zero.  Which is still great, but less so than it used to be when it was a giant 22.5ft radius bomb that proc'd like it was 15ft radius.  I suppose that was too good to last forever.

But Radiation Therapy does have have a -150% regeneration debuff with a thirty second duration, and it's absolutely trivial to get that permanent against a single target.

 

And the Endurance resistance means I can start fighting a sapper, tab out to type this sentence, and not have lost any endurance by the time I tab back to the game. (the sapper was dead too)