Hello. I've tried making a tank on several occasions myself and failed miserably, so I've pulled together parts from various threads to make something decent that I can work towards gearing for cosmics. At the moment here is where it's at:
Issei - Freeform
Link to this build:
http://aesica.net/co/herocreator.htm?v=29&n=Issei&d=11370jAEPd3G0G3013J000JA00JE04JJ01K503ON01H90iJK0JFE03EN00CM00JD003G03JO0311F03T3B0CAT
v2.4.2-29
Super Stats
Level 6: Strength (Primary)
Level 10: Constitution (Secondary)
Level 15: Recovery (Secondary)
Talents
Level 1: The Rockstar (Str: 10, Con: 10, Rec: 8, End: 10)
Level 6: Physical Conditioning (Str: 5, Con: 5)
Level 9: Relentless (Str: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 12: Quick Recovery (Con: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 15: Paramilitary Training (Str: 3, Con: 3, Rec: 3, End: 3)
Level 18: Enduring (Con: 8)
Level 21: Acrobat (Dex: 5, Con: 5)
Powers
Level 1: Clobber (advantages)
Level 1: Defiance (advantages)
Level 6: Enrage (Endorphin Rush)
Level 8: Aggressor (Rank 2)
Level 11: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 14: Resurgence (Rank 2)
Level 17: Arc of Ruin (No Quarter, Wildfire, Challenge!)
Level 20: Haymaker (Rank 2, Rank 3, Challenge!)
Level 23: Telekinetic Shield (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 26: Backhand Chop (advantages)
Level 29: Masterful Dodge (advantages)
Level 32: Mighty Leap (advantages)
Level 35: Inertial Dampening Field (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 38: Unleashed Rage (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Adv. Points: 36/36
Travel Powers
Level 6: Lightspeed (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Flight (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Specializations
Strength: Physical Peak (3/3)
Strength: Aggression (2/2)
Strength: Brutality (2/2)
Strength: Juggernaut (3/3)
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: Modified Gear (2/2)
Mastery: Strength Mastery (1/1)
At the moment, he's only wearing aurum gear, so it's hard to tell how it'll actually fare in combat. I found using only defiance and enraged means I'm weak to trash dmg, whereas taking IDF I can easily tank full room of 5 man, hard difficulty. The end goal for this character is to be able to main tank and off tank where needed, so I'm struggling to come up with good build that doesn't have two forms. It might be that when geared fully with 500+ constitution etc the trash dmg wont be as much of a problem as it is now.
Any help/advice appreciated!
Comments
- Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
Thank you for the feedback flowcyto!
- Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
Having flat damage reduction is definitely nice when tanking a lot of small hits. IDF does fine for offtanking Teleios Ascendant or a Warzone OM, where you aren't trying to damage the enemies. I'd lean toward Invulnerability as a substitute, as it lets you run Enrage in content where you're trying to fight back (alerts, some events, lairs, et cetera).
For offtanking and gathering a mob's attention, I'd recommend a ranged AoE attack. Something you can tap to spread Challenge over a broad area. Arc of Ruin can suffice if you can't squeeze in another power, but a wider option makes your job a lot easier.
Running either Invuln or IDF takes away one of your energy sources (Defiance or Enrage), so picking up an energy unlock wouldn't be a bad idea for those situations. To get more utility out of Backhand Chop, you could add Chi Flame and take Chi Manipulation. Arc of Ruin's Wildfire has some nice synergy with Thermal Reverberation, but you'd need a source of Clinging Flames.
Building an all-in-one tank is bound to leave some helpful powers on the cutting room floor. I tend to shy away from lunges on my characters, though they do have merit in some situations (tanking Grond in TA is a good example, if his pathing starts to bug out). Aggressor is a nice way to stack Enrage quickly, but I wouldn't consider it a must-have. CoPD is also helpful, but I wouldn't consider it necessary either; especially with your STR stat giving you respectable knock resistance.
All together, the edits might look something like this:
v2.4.2-29
Super Stats
Level 6: Strength (Primary)
Level 10: Constitution (Secondary)
Level 15: Recovery (Secondary)
Talents
Level 1: The Rockstar (Str: 10, Con: 10, Rec: 8, End: 10)
Level 6: Physical Conditioning (Str: 5, Con: 5)
Level 9: Relentless (Str: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 12: Quick Recovery (Con: 5, Rec: 5)
Level 15: Paramilitary Training (Str: 3, Con: 3, Rec: 3, End: 3)
Level 18: Boundless Reserves (Con: 5, End: 5)
Level 21: Bodybuilder (Str: 5, End: 5)
Powers
Level 1: Clobber (advantages)
Level 1: Defiance (advantages)
Level 6: Enrage (Endorphin Rush)
Level 8: Unleashed Rage (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 14: Resurgence (Rank 2)
Level 17: Arc of Ruin (No Quarter, Wildfire, Challenge!)
Level 20: Haymaker (Rank 2, Rank 3, Challenge!)
Level 23: Telekinetic Shield (Rank 2, Rank 3, Telekinetic Reinforcement)
Level 26: Backhand Chop (Chi Flame)
Level 29: Masterful Dodge (advantages)
Level 32: Shockwave (Challenge!)
Level 35: Invulnerability (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 38: Chi Manipulation
Adv. Points: 36/36
Travel Powers
Level 6: Lightspeed (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Flight (advantages)
Specializations
Strength: Physical Peak (3/3)
Strength: Aggression (2/2)
Strength: Brutality (2/2)
Strength: Juggernaut (3/3)
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: Modified Gear (2/2)
Mastery: Strength Mastery (1/1)
Thanks for the detailed reply
I think I'll definitely remove the lunge and take shockwave, it can be hard to pull properly with just AoR. I'd assume taking double passives both of the tanking kind would be a waste, so I'd either stick with defiance or trade it out for invuln. With that in mind it wouldn't make sense to take the chi EU with advantage on backhand chop if I'm using defiance, as the energy management is fine without. Generally though I prefer using invulnerability, I've only gone with defiance for the higher overall dmg resistance - is it possible to tank cosmics etc with invuln? Because if that's the case I'd much rather take it instead of defiance and then use the EU w/t advantage.
If you're worried that your choice of passive isn't ideal, you can try shoring up your defenses using other tools. That could mean stacking a little more CON, choosing your devices to suit the situation, or picking up alternate gear with +resist mods for specific fights (Cold Tolerance is great when tanking Kigatilik, for example). Whether you're satisfied with a build depends on how high you're setting the bar for yourself, but Invuln is indeed viable for Cosmic tanking.
I used to have a dual-passive tank running either Defiance or Invulnerabilty, depending on the content I was playing. I didn't feel like having two passives was a waste, for the broad spectrum of what I wanted the character to do.
If you do drop Defiance, CoPD could be a nice addition to the build, and would help offset the loss of damage resistance a bit.