Laser Sword Tank, for Qliphothic Warzone and Cosmics.

cinderskyes

Doing well enough in alerts -- 95% guaranteed to be highest threat and little danger of dying -- but the Q-Warzone was another story. Took me hours to do anything. Likewise, in rampages, I tend to be one of the lower performing tanks -- I'm a little on the squish side, and my threat generation just doesn't quite keep up. I'd like to rectify this.

This is my current build:
(Unnamed Build) - Freeform

Super Stats
Level 6: Constitution (Primary)
Level 10: Intelligence (Secondary)
Level 15: Dexterity (Secondary)

Talents
Level 1: Sureshot (Dex: 12, Int: 12)
Level 6: Acrobat (Dex: 5, Con: 5)
Level 9: Coordinated (Dex: 5, Int: 5)
Level 12: Healthy Mind (Con: 5, Int: 5)
Level 15: Accurate (Dex: 5, End: 5)
Level 18: Boundless Reserves (Con: 5, End: 5)
Level 21: Investigator (Int: 5, End: 5)

Powers
Level 1: Laser Edge
Level 1: Lightspeed Strike (Rank 2, Particle Acceleration, Challenge!)
Level 6: Lightspeed Dash (Download)
Level 8: Particle Accelerator
Level 11: Particle Wave (Challenge!)
Level 14: Molecular Self-Assembly
Level 17: Defiance
Level 20: Energy Shield (Rank 2, Laser Knight)
Level 23: Chest Beam (Rank 2, Point Blank Blast)
Level 26: Masterful Dodge
Level 29: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 32: Ego Surge (Rank 2, Nimble Mind)
Level 35: Luminescent Slash (Rank 2, End of the Line, Challenge!)
Level 38: Meltdown (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Adv. Points: 36/36

Travel Powers
Level 6: Athletics
Level 35: Jet Boots (Rank 2, Rank 3)

Specializations
Constitution: Fuel My Fire (1/3)
Constitution: Tough (3/3)
Constitution: Resilient (2/2)
Constitution: Adrenaline Rush (2/2)
Constitution: Armored (2/2)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Tenacious (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Offensive Expertise (2/2)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (3/3)
Mastery: Warden Mastery (1/1)

It is very hard to get situations where I have enough energy consistently on single targets for either chest beam or lume slash without spamming conviction, lunge, or particle wave simply for the cooldown which spikes my threat generation down. I tend to just overflow with energy faster than I can spend it and then have valleys where I'm straining for anything. I also have some issues with being held.

Solutions I've theory-toyed with:
- Threat/Energy: Dropping Dex SSS, replacing with End, then replacing MSA with Unified Theory. MSA seems like an awful fit for my build since I don't have plasma cutter, but losing Dex SSS means I miss out on about 70 HP/s return via Adrenaline Rush crits and I'm not sure the higher energy return for more Lume Slashing will translate to higher TPS -- a significant chunk of my damage can't crit (plasma burn) and I have a 25.3% crit chance with 65% crit severity. By my calculations, that means on average I'm doing about 115.8% of the damage I'd do if I didn't crit at all, and replacing more Lightspeed Strikes with Lume Slashes means around 20% more damage in the same time frame (usually, and before calculating the effects of End of the Line).
- Threat/Energy: Replace Rank 2 of Lume Slash with Radiate; since Particle Accelerator form means I get energy back on PBurn applications even without swapping MSA to Unified Theory, that would let me Lume Slash more consistently (though it'd be a gamble).
- Threat/Energy: This one's incompatible with the prior two suggestions: keep MSA, and replace Lume Slash with Plasma Cutter. Plasma Cutter would fit better with MSA as it is lower cost, triggers energy return, and does spike damage. It does about 80% more DPS than Lightspeed Strike (even including the plasma burn loss) but has the downside that it can only really be used about once every 12-15 seconds, so I am not sure it would translate to any real increase in threat and might even be a downgrade.
- Survivability: Drop conviction, grab resurgence with the hold reducing advantage. This means less energy unless I drop MSA, as above.
- Survivability: I think my defense is high enough (I'm at 54%, 57% when under the effects of the Tenacious specialization) I can exchange Defiance for Invulnerability and get a survivability increase, but without the underlying math, that's just a guess. It means a significant drop in incoming energy unless I commit myself to spamming low CD abilities for MSA or switching my energy unlock.

I'm open to suggestions. I'd like to keep Meltdown, Chest Beam (I find it useful for handling groups/mobility/the debuff) and Jet Boots, and obviously I'd like to remain laser sword focused with minor dips into Power Armor, but beyond that, am fairly open.

Current gear is Legion's with the 5 SCR purples in my secondaries.

flowcyto

65% severity w/ Wardicator implies that you haven't geared for it. If threat is an issue then getting severity rating on gear would help w/ that. Also, if you can't rely on Lume Slash's special adv often enough, then R3 is prob the safer bet. Chest Beam's debuff is nice, but it will drain ur energy a bit anyways even w/ all the energy you can have coming in.

You can, if you want, try an FotT setup using MSA + tether or lunge w/ Download and keeping CON/Dex/Int. Its more RNG on stacks, but then Lume Slash spamming can stack ur toggle w/o giving up a normal rank, and ur overall crit would be higher. That setup would prob allow you to spam Lume Slashes the most, as long as you can keep MSA and Download rolling (via tether or the lunge) and ur still getting hit. Ideally, you would be able to spam 4-6 Lume Slashes in a row before having to refresh anything.

(Unnamed Build) - Freeform

Super Stats
Level 6: Constitution (Primary)
Level 10: Dexterity (Secondary)
Level 15: Intelligence (Secondary)

Talents
Level 1: The Glacier (Con: 10, End: 10, Dex: 8, Int: 10)
Level 6: Covert Ops Training (Str: 3, Dex: 3, Con: 3, Int: 3)
Level 9: Acrobat (Dex: 5, Con: 5)
Level 12: Healthy Mind (Con: 5, Int: 5)
Level 15: Coordinated (Dex: 5, Int: 5)
Level 18: Quick Recovery (Con: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 21: Impresario (Dex: 5, Rec: 5)

Powers
Level 1: Power Bolts
Level 1: Lightspeed Strike (Rank 2, Particle Acceleration, Challenge!)
Level 6: Lightspeed Dash (Download)
Level 8: Defiance
Level 11: Form of the Tempest
Level 14: Molecular Self-Assembly
Level 17: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 20: Particle Wave (Bad Footing, Challenge!)
Level 23: Luminescent Slash (Rank 2, Rank 3, Challenge!)
Level 26: Resurgence (Rank 2, Evanescent Emergence)
Level 29: Energy Shield (Rank 2, Laser Knight)
Level 32: Masterful Dodge
Level 35: Chest Beam (Rank 2, Point Blank Blast)
Level 38: Ego Surge (Nimble Mind)
Adv. Points: 34/36

Travel Powers
Level 6:
Level 35:

Specializations
Constitution: Unyielding (1/2)
Constitution: Fuel My Fire (3/3)
Constitution: Resilient (2/2)
Constitution: Adrenaline Rush (2/2)
Constitution: Armored (2/2)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Elusive (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (2/3)
Mastery: Constitution Mastery (1/1)

Other general option is to keep MSA + PAccelerator, consolidate on Int, and then use STR/Con/Int. You lose some crit and Adren Rush then, but do gain severity and quite more defense w/ Juggernaut.

Regardless, using Defiance and ES/NM means you want lotsa Con geared out. Also keep in mind that outside of Alerts you may be up against players that have more optimal gear/stats than you.

cinderskyes

As always, thanks for the input, flowcyto. Admittedly am not sure I want to lose Meltdown there, didn't even occur to me to say that.

Yeah, I am pretty heavily Con geared atm, but I haven't geared for Severity yet; the two utility pieces I have, have some baked in cooldown/cost redux, and then I have a cybermind's impression and another cost redux thing. Still, I feel like I should be doing better than I am when I'm having serious trouble with the Qliphoth, I have to blow consumable devices to handle Elder Worm packs with sorcerers in it, and I keep hearing I'm geared enough to handle them.

So is using Unified Theory and End for tanking not going to get me where I want to go? I noticed you didn't touch those bullet points directly. It seemed like a better way for me to maintain energy without having to waste activation times on conviction and lunge.

I had imagined something like this:

(Unnamed Build) - Freeform

Super Stats
Level 6: Constitution (Primary)
Level 10: Intelligence (Secondary)
Level 15: Endurance (Secondary)

Talents
Level 1: The Glacier (Con: 10, End: 10, Dex: 8, Int: 10)
Level 6: Healthy Mind (Con: 5, Int: 5)
Level 9: Boundless Reserves (Con: 5, End: 5)
Level 12: Investigator (Int: 5, End: 5)
Level 15: Accurate (Dex: 5, End: 5)
Level 18: Acrobat (Dex: 5, Con: 5)
Level 21: Coordinated (Dex: 5, Int: 5)

Powers
Level 1: Power Bolts
Level 1: Lightspeed Strike (Particle Acceleration, Challenge!)
Level 6: Lightspeed Dash (Download)
Level 8: Particle Accelerator
Level 11: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 14: Energy Shield (Laser Knight)
Level 17: Chest Beam (Rank 2, Point Blank Blast, Challenge!)
Level 20: Luminescent Slash (Rank 2, End of the Line, Challenge!)
Level 23: Resurgence (Evanescent Emergence)
Level 26: Masterful Dodge
Level 29: Ego Surge (Nimble Mind)
Level 32: Invulnerability (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Meltdown (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 38: Unified Theory
Adv. Points: 36/36

Travel Powers
Level 6: Jet Boots (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35:

Specializations
Constitution: Fuel My Fire (3/3)
Constitution: Tough (3/3)
Constitution: Resilient (2/2)
Constitution: Armored (2/2)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Slaughter (2/3)
Warden: Tenacious (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Mastery: Warden Mastery (1/1)

flowcyto

Well, considering the lunge keeps Download up anyways, its not really a big deal to throw it in every ~6 sec for MSA (esp since Download only lasts 8 sec, iirc). Problem w/the Int + End approach is losing some crit, and w/o Defiance losing some energy.

cinderskyes

I played around on the PTS for a few hours and... I don't know how well it'll keep serving me as I get better gear but I came away with a huge improvement keeping my superstats, losing Chest Beam (that one hurt, it's so cool), switching out Defiance for Invuln, and exchanging Warden for Guardian so I could get Locus. I changed End of the Line to simple Rank 3. Too early to say how I'm doing on threat exactly, but being introduced to Confront mods certainly helped. It does mean my AoE threat/damage is down since I got resurgence instead.

Laser Sword Tank 8 - Freeform

Super Stats
Level 6: Constitution (Primary)
Level 10: Intelligence (Secondary)
Level 15: Dexterity (Secondary)

Talents
Level 1: Sureshot (Dex: 12, Int: 12)
Level 6: Acrobat (Dex: 5, Con: 5)
Level 9: Coordinated (Dex: 5, Int: 5)
Level 12: Healthy Mind (Con: 5, Int: 5)
Level 15: Accurate (Dex: 5, End: 5)
Level 18: Boundless Reserves (Con: 5, End: 5)
Level 21: Investigator (Int: 5, End: 5)

Powers
Level 1: Laser Edge
Level 1: Lightspeed Strike (Rank 2, Particle Acceleration, Challenge!)
Level 6: Lightspeed Dash (Download)
Level 8: Particle Accelerator
Level 11: Particle Wave (Challenge!)
Level 14: Molecular Self-Assembly
Level 17: Invulnerability (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 20: Energy Shield (Laser Knight)
Level 23: Resurgence (Rank 2, Evanescent Emergence)
Level 26: Masterful Dodge
Level 29: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 32: Ego Surge (Nimble Mind)
Level 35: Luminescent Slash (Rank 2, End of the Line, Challenge!)
Level 38: Meltdown (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Adv. Points: 36/36

Travel Powers
Level 6: Athletics
Level 35: Jet Boots (Rank 2, Rank 3)

Specializations
Constitution: Fuel My Fire (3/3)
Constitution: Tough (3/3)
Constitution: Adrenaline Rush (2/2)
Constitution: Armored (2/2)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Locus (2/2)
Guardian: Tenacious (2/2)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Mastery: Constitution Mastery (1/1)

flowcyto

Yea, I prob would have dropped Chest Beam first too- esp if you wanted to use Invuln instead. Its debuff is nice, but its costly and you could use that power slot for something else. You still have End of the Line listed for Lume, but I guess that's R3 now. The build looks pretty solid now, regardless.

One main thing, though- Tough's scaling is pretty weak atm. You def want to get Resilient in Con PSS instead for the knock resist, and you can also put one point in Unyielding for some hold resist. I would also stick w/ Warden over Guardian and get Elusive since it helps vs. AoE attacks (which you can face many of).

Specializations
Constitution: Unyielding (1/2)
Constitution: Fuel My Fire (3/3)
Constitution: Resilient (2/2)
Constitution: Adrenaline Rush (2/2)
Constitution: Armored (2/2)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Elusive (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (2/3)
Mastery: Constitution Mastery (1/1)

cinderskyes

Thanks, I'll give that a try in a day or two with some cash!