I've been away for a while and on returning found the changes had left some of my old builds feeling very ... meh.
I've long been a fan of tanking but I find myself struggling to find some concise tips on power combinations towards making a strong tank. The threads that searching did give me seemed to deteriorate into flaming too fast for me to pick out the defensive strategies at the core of strong builds.
Primarily I want to rebuild a character or two who can survive against the toughest regular PvE content. I'm weak on gear so I don't mean to solo Gravitar or some Shadow Colossi, but stand strong enough in a team to at least serve as a reliable off-tank.
Ideally I'm looking for recommendations towards decent tank builds that identify what's important defensively, and what parts of the build I can swap out to suit whatever offensive powers concept comes to me next (as a long time altaholic I find it very hard to stick with any one concept).
Are there any up to date guides on reliable defensive power combinations/synergies?
(Preferably ones that don't leave me wading through pages of flaming arguments trying to sift out useful info ... if that's possible)
Apparently there are no good tanking guides out there -- I JUST found out that PRE no longer affects threat! Sheesh.
So obviously I'm a newb and a casual player, but I might have a few places to start, particularly since no one else has responded. I get the idea dedicated tanks aren't too popular anymore, since DPS is so strong and easy. Anyway....
First I decided which attacks to carry Crippling Challenge and Challenging Strikes. The wiki has them listed:
You can layer the threat from 2 Challenging Strikes attacks -- unless THAT's changed, too.
I was looking for attacks that provide debuffs or had other advantages, since I'm not going for DPS at all. So I found some pretty interesting stuff.
Challenging Strikes:
Condemn and Vengeance have a paralyze + stun effect
Lead Tempest has a big + to dodge and avoidance, which you can double if you get a stack of Concentration
Mini-Gun gives a -7.5% resist all
Shadow Embrace has 20% Fear and 25% knockdown
Sonic Boom Generator and Telekinetic Burst have 100% Disorient with full charge. SBG has 100' range while TB is only 50', but TB is faster and has 100% knockdown, too.
Crippling Challenge:
Ego Blast can give 100% Disorient
Experimental Blast has a 50% chance at an effect from: Knockup, Confuse, and Stun
Rebuke has a stun, and can either damage or heal
Devour Essence has a huge heal
Two-Gun Mojo can supply a stack of Concentration for Lead Tempest
I was almost entirely looking at ranged attacks because I wanted to use CoPD; there are plenty of good melee attacks, too. I ended up picking TGM + Lead Tempest for the dodge and avoidance, and Telekinetic Burst for the Disorient.
Other thoughts:
Void Shift is way the best Lunge for a tank, because it applies an AoE Fear.
Miniaturization Drive gives the best debuff I could find, period.
Radiance is the fastest energy builder, and it's ranged, so best to apply Exhausting Strikes.
Ice Cage looks like the best interrupt -- it's ranged and has no cooldown unlike, say, Backhand Chop.
Sentry Tree looks great because you can pick up 3 damage-reduction abilities -- Sentry Aura, Fortify, and Reinforce
So anyway, my plan was to pick the 1 CC and the 2 CS attacks and then go to town. CoPD for the tankiness, Defiance for mega-tanking, IDF for minions, Ebon Void block, MSA energy unlock, some heals, and voila! GTG. I hope.
And so, with those not-terribly-high levels of thought, my tank is off and going. He's an engaging build to play because of trying to keep all those debuffs stacked. A Disoriented, Feared, Exhausted, Miniaturized boss just isn't doing much damage. It's just my first character, but that's the way I'm thinking, and it might give you some place to start, too.
I would suggest Invuln as it gives you what you're looking for in a defensive passive without any strings attached.
For single target attacks the goto tank power is Devour Essence (with firesnake for resistance debuff) as it provides decent damage, high threat and a solid heal.
While Epidemic lacks challenging strikes, its damage, range, and mobility make it a great aoe threat power. Mental Leech is also quite nice as it provides a decent heal and has challenging strikes. (the telepathy dots in general are powers to take a look at as they provide nice effects and come with CC/CS)
Hand Clap is also very good due to its instant cc.
You want to build somewhat offensively, a mistake I see a lot of tanks make is they drop everything into defense and let their damage go to the gutter. Tanking is an active role, and you should be dishing out fair damage to keep up your threat.
Conviction/BCR are the typical goto heals. Ascension is also a decent choice as it provides a decent heal for you and people nearby.
Enrage is a good form for a tank, although NOT particularly necessary for a ranged tank.
I've recently found Vicious Cyclone to be a ferociously useful tanking power.
Refreshes enrage, poisons (dot), does knockdown and knockto which also refresh enrage... groups enemies for AOE melting...
You're absolutely on a track I've often taken with Void Shift, Mini Drive, etc. Stacking debuffs is quite useful.
I will point out that against most non-jackrabbit bosses (looking at you, Mr. The Undying) - Circles work VERY well for a tank, even in melee, especially if you can actually hold threat against high-powered DPSers. Several of my Gravitar-tanking characters have CoPD, although one actually has Arcane Power instead.
A power that I keep meaning to try on a tank is Circle of Radiant Glory - one thread I read had a character with it, who was already virtually unkillable.
Once every 6 seconds, tap to move to you, AOE heal. If you die in the circle, reborn, bam.
Some of my tanks are Str/Con, with Guardicator or Wardicator for the huge boost to offense and defense, others are Con primary with Protector spec. There are a number of ways to build a good tank in this game.
Having enough defense (of whatever sort - dodge, dr, defense - using this generically), healing, and CC/CS are the basics, though.
Also - turn the boss away from everyone else! That works in most games, works here too.
Not always particularly necessary - or even always useful (looking at YOU Gravitar with your random force cascades...).
If you don't mind spending a bit of Q (and I don't mean a lot) - the Armadillo secondaries are pretty useful for tanks pre-40.
Comments
So obviously I'm a newb and a casual player, but I might have a few places to start, particularly since no one else has responded. I get the idea dedicated tanks aren't too popular anymore, since DPS is so strong and easy. Anyway....
First I decided which attacks to carry Crippling Challenge and Challenging Strikes. The wiki has them listed:
http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/Crippling_Challenge
http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/Challenging_Strikes
You can layer the threat from 2 Challenging Strikes attacks -- unless THAT's changed, too.
I was looking for attacks that provide debuffs or had other advantages, since I'm not going for DPS at all. So I found some pretty interesting stuff.
Challenging Strikes:
Crippling Challenge:
I was almost entirely looking at ranged attacks because I wanted to use CoPD; there are plenty of good melee attacks, too. I ended up picking TGM + Lead Tempest for the dodge and avoidance, and Telekinetic Burst for the Disorient.
Other thoughts:
So anyway, my plan was to pick the 1 CC and the 2 CS attacks and then go to town. CoPD for the tankiness, Defiance for mega-tanking, IDF for minions, Ebon Void block, MSA energy unlock, some heals, and voila! GTG. I hope.
And so, with those not-terribly-high levels of thought, my tank is off and going. He's an engaging build to play because of trying to keep all those debuffs stacked. A Disoriented, Feared, Exhausted, Miniaturized boss just isn't doing much damage. It's just my first character, but that's the way I'm thinking, and it might give you some place to start, too.
I would suggest Invuln as it gives you what you're looking for in a defensive passive without any strings attached.
For single target attacks the goto tank power is Devour Essence (with firesnake for resistance debuff) as it provides decent damage, high threat and a solid heal.
While Epidemic lacks challenging strikes, its damage, range, and mobility make it a great aoe threat power. Mental Leech is also quite nice as it provides a decent heal and has challenging strikes. (the telepathy dots in general are powers to take a look at as they provide nice effects and come with CC/CS)
Hand Clap is also very good due to its instant cc.
You want to build somewhat offensively, a mistake I see a lot of tanks make is they drop everything into defense and let their damage go to the gutter. Tanking is an active role, and you should be dishing out fair damage to keep up your threat.
Conviction/BCR are the typical goto heals. Ascension is also a decent choice as it provides a decent heal for you and people nearby.
I've recently found Vicious Cyclone to be a ferociously useful tanking power.
Refreshes enrage, poisons (dot), does knockdown and knockto which also refresh enrage... groups enemies for AOE melting...
You're absolutely on a track I've often taken with Void Shift, Mini Drive, etc. Stacking debuffs is quite useful.
I will point out that against most non-jackrabbit bosses (looking at you, Mr. The Undying) - Circles work VERY well for a tank, even in melee, especially if you can actually hold threat against high-powered DPSers. Several of my Gravitar-tanking characters have CoPD, although one actually has Arcane Power instead.
A power that I keep meaning to try on a tank is Circle of Radiant Glory - one thread I read had a character with it, who was already virtually unkillable.
Once every 6 seconds, tap to move to you, AOE heal. If you die in the circle, reborn, bam.
Some of my tanks are Str/Con, with Guardicator or Wardicator for the huge boost to offense and defense, others are Con primary with Protector spec. There are a number of ways to build a good tank in this game.
Having enough defense (of whatever sort - dodge, dr, defense - using this generically), healing, and CC/CS are the basics, though.
Also - turn the boss away from everyone else! That works in most games, works here too.
Not always particularly necessary - or even always useful (looking at YOU Gravitar with your random force cascades...).
If you don't mind spending a bit of Q (and I don't mean a lot) - the Armadillo secondaries are pretty useful for tanks pre-40.