Any good non-passive power for tanking heavy hitters?

williamkony

I can do alright against lots of little hits thanks to Inertial Dampening Field, but I need something to help out against heavy hitters.

Damage-reduction-wise, I'm using Defiance, 20% resistance per stack, 82% resistance from my Defense stat, default 10/20 dodge/avoidance.

For recovering health, I have Conviction healing 1527 HP, with a critical rate of 14.6% and a severity of 75%. I also have Rebuke that will heal 418 to 1485, but which requires a significant time investment.

I also currently have rank 3 Circle of Primal Dominion, but that's what I was considering replacing with whatever suggestion I might get here. It's not enough to keep me alive against Gravitar, or the Finkle Foundry giant toy soldiers when they get overzealous with their bombs, and certainly not in PvP when being dogpiled by a dozen people at once.

So, what are one or two powers that can help me take the bigger hits? Can I reliably keep up stacks of Ebon Void's Voracious Darkness for survivability against fickle bosses like Gravitar? Would the healing of Support Drones do the trick? Could Electric Sheath's Matter-Energy Union advantage be an unexpected savior? Would taking back Devour Essence fix this problem? Is Circle of Primal Dominion really the best best I have?

Unfortunately, my specializations are basically set (Presence/Warden/Vindicator) as they give me the balance I need to play trinity-style. I could potentially switch my Breastplate of Defense out for the dodge gear of old if it'd still be more potent than the 30% damage reduction I'm currently getting. Perhaps it's time to save up for that Necrullitic Elixir, though the cooldown is pretty daunting.

spinnytop

Defiance...

Or Lightning Reflexes, especially if you use other powers to push the dodge chance really high.

williamkony

Non-passives are what I need. :P I'm already using Defiance, which certainly does help with big hits. I'd love to use Lightning Reflexes, but sadly, the energy from Defiance is how I keep my powers going, so I couldn't switch it out if I wanted to.

(Your signature always makes me grin, by the way.)

spinnytop

Oooooh, not passive stuff...

Well there's blocks, but you knew about that already. Ebon Void is a good choice; keeping the buff up can be tricky, but you'll be able to keep it up when it matters.


Protective Field and Mindful Reinforcement can help you with big hits, since they pad your hit points.

Any of the martial arts attacks that increase your dodge or avoidance; thundering kicks, dragon kick, crashing wave kicks. That can randomly fail you though, since dodge is random unless you push it really high. Also might not fit your theme.

You already have Conviction, so there's that.

Bionic Shielding is pretty good at making that incoming damage seem softer as well.

Probably one of the big things holding you back is your specs, but those are set in stone.

monsterdaddy

Since the dodge nerf it's definitely more challenging to take on high DPS villains.

I have a new Claws build that can tank Gravitar in Melee role. She's basically a mix of every defensive power/setup that somehow works just enough and still puts out 5K+ DPS.

She is DEX/CON/INT and the key powers are:

1) Laser Knight from Energy Shield (well worth the dmg debuff)
2) High Cooldown gear for Masterful Dodge
3) Legion BP of Defense w/2 Impact Cores plus Heroic Offense Glove with a DUC. Then spec for Wardicator for 75% dmg resist
4) Way of the Warrior for about 30%/50% dodge avoid
5) Necrullitic Elixir with Ascension for passive healing plus Conviction/Block spam when in trouble
6) Circle of Primal Dominion for knock protection/heals/dmg resist

So on paper, it really looks like nothing special but the entire combination makes it very durable. I've pulled agg from many dedicated tanks.

Laser Knight can be timed to activate just before her bubble pops so not only do you get the block but the 33% dmg mitigation of LK. Makes her 80K yellow bubble hit for 7.5K if undodged.