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Vampire tank help

I am looking to build a tanky Vampire around Bestial with some Infernal (namely Devour Essence). Any help is greatly appreciated.

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  • squirrelloidsquirrelloid Posts: 869 Arc User
    edited August 2020
    I guess the big question is... what does 'vampire' mean to you?

    If you're going with Devour Essence, you're probably looking at supernatural power for eu, and thus a rec secondary SS. You want to be a tank, so Con SS somewhere, probably secondary and stacked.

    But the first big choice you have to make as a tank is: what's your passive going to be?

    Tank passives: defiance, invulnerable, lightning reflexes, regeneration, PFF.
    -PFF is almost unplayably bad.
    -Regeneration is great for solo content, lackluster for cosmics (but can be done)
    -Invulnerability shines in mob control OTing roles
    -Lightning Reflexes is great in all content, but requires highly specific build components and stat/gear choices.
    -Defiance is great at boss tanking, including cosmics.

    Regeneration is of course in supernatural, but you could spin Invulnerability or Defiance no problem. (You could even spin lightning reflexes as a vampire, but you probably wouldn't want to use Devour Essence then).

    Going with a bestial theme, STR/con/rec (stacking Str), Aspect of the Bestial (AotB), Supernatural Power, and your choice of tank passive covers the basics. You could swap Supernatural Power for Wild Thing (and take End over Rec), but supernatural power is probably better.

    The primary problem I see is that most bestial attacks are single target, so Devour Essence doesn't fill a useful hole, and is a different damage type, so makes it harder to choose a good debuff.

    Single Target Attacks:
    -Devour Essence is single target. It has an advantage that benefits from bleeds, which bestial will provide.
    -Thrash is also a single target with a heal, whose heal scales with bleeds on target.
    -Massacre is the top DPS power in bestial.

    Area Attacks:
    -Shred is cone AoE, and has the ability to pick up the Shredded debuff on an advantage, which will benefit other bestial powers, but not Devour Essence. It also has a chance to apply bleeds, including 100% on 3rd hit with AotB.
    -Tear Down is a short lunge with a cone AoE, and a decent HoT on advantage (work up).
    -Frenzy is a PBAoE that causes bleeds. It can pick up deadly poison on advantage (helps if you want more infernal supernatural powers) or can choose an advantage to provide Furious (crit chance buff and small HoT).

    You're going to need at least one AoE to function effectively as a tank, and 'challenge' advantage on at least one single target and one AoE power. You're also going to need a way to apply bleeds or deadly poison for AotB. (You don't need all the attacks up there - choose some).

    Depending on what you consider 'vampiric', Venomous Breath could also be fun: cone AoE, advantage that stuns 'bleeding' targets, applies deadly poison.

    Post edited by squirrelloid on
  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,742 Arc User
    edited August 2020
    Well, the change to make Frenzy a pbAoE is nice for a build like this. Here's an example build, assuming you still want DE as a main attack:

    (Unnamed Build) - Freeform (Tank)
    v3.43:35

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

    Talents
    Level 1: The Chiller (Dex: 10, Con: 10, Rec: 8, End: 10)
    Level 6: Impresario (Dex: 5, Rec: 5)
    Level 9: Amazing Stamina (Rec: 5, End: 5)
    Level 12: Accurate (Dex: 5, End: 5)
    Level 15: Acrobat (Dex: 5, Con: 5)
    Level 18: Quick Recovery (Con: 5, Rec: 5)
    Level 21: Boundless Reserves (Con: 5, End: 5)

    Powers
    Level 1: Infernal Bolts
    Level 1: Devour Essence (Rank 2, Rank 3, Challenge!)
    Level 6: Supernatural Power
    Level 8: Invulnerability (Rank 2, Rank 3)
    Level 11: Form of the Tempest
    Level 14: Frenzy (Rank 2, Fear Sense, Challenge!)
    Level 17: Will-o'-the-Wisp (Guide, Ghost Fire)
    Level 20: Resurgence (Rank 2)
    Level 23: Antagonize (Rank 2, Rank 3)
    Level 26: Pounce (Nailed to the Ground)
    Level 29: Mental Leech (Challenge!)
    Level 32:
    Level 35:
    Level 38:
    Adv. Points: 27/36

    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)
    Protector: Fortified Gear (3/3)
    Protector: Bulwark (2/2)
    Protector: Debilitating Challenge (2/2)
    Protector: Defensive Expertise (3/3)
    Mastery: Protector Mastery (1/1)

    You have a good deal of extra power slots to play around with there.

    I included MLeech just to give you a much wider AoE tag for Challenge (it seemed like it could still be thematic enough), in case Frenzy is too small for scattered groups (Ego Sprites could also prob work instead). I wouldn't deem it essential to the build, but it could add some extra functionality (and Dependency is pretty nice). You could also take the Phleb adv on DE for more healing (Wisp can debuff for it anyways), though this will lower it's dmg/threat a bit. Could also take Wardicator for the specs, if you wanted to focus a bit more on dps/threat than on EHP. Gears mostly for Con, w/ some Dex and End/Rec.
    <CO stuff> .: Petco :. // A basic FF building guide (see 1st reply) // PSA on Power Activation Delay // Ayonachan's Gift Horse (misc stat data)
    - Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
  • ericrightshow82ericrightshow82 Posts: 582 Arc User
    Thank you all for your help. Bestial was a powerset that I hadn't figured out how to synergize yet, so this is very helpful
  • holloweaverholloweaver Posts: 582 Arc User
    (...)

    But the first big choice you have to make as a tank is: what's your passive going to be?

    Tank passives: defiance, invulnerable, lightning reflexes, regeneration, PFF.
    -PFF is almost unplayably bad.
    -Regeneration is great for solo content, lackluster for cosmics (but can be done)
    -Invulnerability shines in mob control OTing roles
    -Lightning Reflexes is great in all content, but requires highly specific build components and stat/gear choices.
    -Defiance is great at boss tanking, including cosmics.
    (...)

    A few things that are not exactly correct :
    -Invulnerability is good for everything even cosmics (actually the best MT on cosmics I've seen were all Invuln).
    -Defiance is only good for cosmics and bad for solo content (series are full of DoT that can and will kill a Defiance tank).
    -LR is restricted to rich vets who can afford a full 15x R9 mods on Distinguished gears (before rework with 400 Dex+Con PSS, I could reach 100% dodge, after rework with 600 Dex+Con PSS I'm capped at 82% dodge).
  • jaazaniah1jaazaniah1 Posts: 5,429 Arc User
    As is usually stated Invulnerability is great against lots of small hits, but weaker against big hits, while Defiance (once all its stacks are up) is stronger against big hits but lets a certain amount of small damage through. That being said, I really have no trouble in the QWZ using either of those passives.
    (...)
    -Defiance is only good for cosmics and bad for solo content (series are full of DoT that can and will kill a Defiance tank).
    JwLmWoa.png
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  • holloweaverholloweaver Posts: 582 Arc User
    Alright, I don't do QWZ so you got me on that one. ;)
  • pantagruel01pantagruel01 Posts: 7,091 Arc User
    (...)

    But the first big choice you have to make as a tank is: what's your passive going to be?

    Tank passives: defiance, invulnerable, lightning reflexes, regeneration, PFF.
    -PFF is almost unplayably bad.
    -Regeneration is great for solo content, lackluster for cosmics (but can be done)
    -Invulnerability shines in mob control OTing roles
    -Lightning Reflexes is great in all content, but requires highly specific build components and stat/gear choices.
    -Defiance is great at boss tanking, including cosmics.
    (...)

    A few things that are not exactly correct :
    -Invulnerability is good for everything even cosmics (actually the best MT on cosmics I've seen were all Invuln).
    -Defiance is only good for cosmics and bad for solo content (series are full of DoT that can and will kill a Defiance tank).
    -LR is restricted to rich vets who can afford a full 15x R9 mods on Distinguished gears (before rework with 400 Dex+Con PSS, I could reach 100% dodge, after rework with 600 Dex+Con PSS I'm capped at 82% dodge).
    Hm. Between Squirrel's statements and yours, I'll take Squirrels. My comments on defensive passives:
    • Defiance is fine for solo content, except why are you using a defensive passive for solo content at all? No-one using any defensive passive should ever die to anything in solo content. Against high end content, defiance will let you survive around 20-25% bigger hits than invulnerability and 40-50% more than regeneration.
    • Invulnerability is the best for tanking large numbers of small hits.
    • LR is an odd case. Its problem is that it provides very good average mitigation, but unless you have 100% dodge, there's a chance it won't do anything for you, and against really hard hitting stuff that means you sometimes just die to that unlucky hit, unless you can manage 100% dodge. You can get 100% dodge with rank 7s, though, or rank 5s and some builds that are quite annoying to use.
    • PFF can be thought of as regeneration's weaker cousin; it's usable for offtanking but not generally as good as other options.
    • Regeneration is nice for soloing, I can tank baby dino without external heals, but not great in situations where external heals are expected.
  • squirrelloidsquirrelloid Posts: 869 Arc User
    -LR is restricted to rich vets who can afford a full 15x R9 mods on Distinguished gears (before rework with 400 Dex+Con PSS, I could reach 100% dodge, after rework with 600 Dex+Con PSS I'm capped at 82% dodge).

    LR requires some wealth, but not *that* much. R7s is fine (and the difference between R7 and R9 stat mods is pretty small for the severe diminishing returns at those high dodge ratings). (And you can't use more than 12 R9s anyway! Only 8 of them are potentially relevant for your dodge chances.) 18% from kicks + almost 10% from elusive monk = ~+27% right there, so you only need to hit ~73% base for all content that isn't Kigatilik (and ~76% for kiga, or pick up a little extra dodge from specs like twisted fate or other sources). You can definitely hit 73% base off Dex primary, too; while it's highly specific, it's not quite a straight jacket.

    I mean, yes, it does want full distinguished gear + cosmic defense secondary, but that's not really wealth, since you can't pass GCR/SCR between characters.
  • holloweaverholloweaver Posts: 582 Arc User
    Tbh, I don't know. They disabled my dodge build and I would pay them for R9 mods to get it back?!?
    I simply retcon, reset and don't play dodge tank anymore.
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