Created a fire/fire tanker on test today, tinted the shields dark green and fooled my fire phobia sucessfully.
YAY for power customization!

Thank you so much, Devs. Thank you!

/em praise

( Cut for pic )

I'm thinking of rolling up a Fire/Ice/Tank specifically to take advantage of the Burn/Ice Patch/Quicksand combo. Because the idea amuses me. I would like to take Combat Jumping, Super Jump, Acrobatics, Salt Crystals, Quicksand and Stalagmites. It also looks like I want to take every power in both the primary and secondary. This leaves no room for Fitness at all.

1. Does a Fire/Ice/Earth tank need Stamina?
2. The only power I can convince myself to eliminate from the Primary or Secondary is Build Up, and even then I am hesitant. What powers from Fire/ and /Ice do you consider skippable?
3. Does a Fire/Ice/Earth tank need Acrobatics? (Dropping it would help with the end issue, and would also make more room for Stamina, but I really like that KB protection...)

Luckily it looks like I have enough SLOTS, just not enough power choices. Any help is much appreciated, thanks! :]

After 208 hours on patrol my Tanker Eternal Axis dinged 50 with the end of mish #1 in an awesome ITF.
He was the first tanker I played into the higher levels and made me totally fall in love with the Willpower set. As I mentioned often enough I was never so much into Tankers because I dind't feel talented enough for being a good one, but I adored the look of the Tech-Mace so much and I wanted a tech-based toon. Starting as a shy solo-tanker and just tanking for my best friend I realized the whole thing appeals to me... No solo anymore ^_^

I want to thank you guys who were with me on that ITF to celebrate this milestone. And here's the mandatory ding-pic, with Ladies.

( Sparcles! )

( Stone/stone tanks )

Current Mood: amused

As a relatively new player, I puzzled over what kind of archetype I would most like to play when I first started the game in February. In a lot of other games (like Magic: The Gathering, Hero Clix, Star Wars Miniatures, etc.), I focus a lot on healing powers, so at first I thought I should play a Defender. However, with the promise of high Defense and fairly good damage on the Tanker, I figured, "Hey, what's to lose? I'll give it a shot."

And I am so glad I did, after a month of playing. Running a Tanker with power pools of Willpower and Dual Blades means I can charge right into battle, take hits, and yet rarely (if ever) get defeated, because of the incredible self-healing powers available. Plus, I love being in the mix so much that a Tanker is the best option for my playing style.

Which archetype best fits you, and how did you discover it?

Current Mood: good

I tend to think of things in terms of spectrums (spectra?), instead of trying to put things into nice neat categories. Because often times things can possibly fit into multiple categories, and sometimes things don't fit neatly into any. So I got to thinking about defenders as AoE and Single Target, and as Enemy Effects versus Ally Effects. Because, you see, one day it popped into my head that in many ways Trick Arrow is the opposite of Empathy. Whereas Empathy affects only Allies and is slightly more Single Target oriented, Trick Arrow affects only foes and is mostly AoE. So I decided to actually create the spectrum and see how it went.

Yes, I realize this is further proof that I am a total and complete City geek.

Powers like Howling Twilight affect both allies and enemies (ally heal, enemy debuff). Powers like Repulsion Field and Disruption Field target allies, but only actually affect enemies. Please click the thumbnails for larger images.

DEF: // BLA: // CON: // TANK:

Please Subscribe to this post if you would like to be updated as I do more of these.

 Once again I make an intermittent post to this list at the end of my account activation, when it will do the least good.  Once again, I mooch off the info skills of others.  I can only hope that my selfless selfishness will be of some benefit to others.  Like my 'troller post from long ago, I ask that people use this as a venue to post their opinions and ideas on the subject, and please refrain from arguing over other's thoughts, as sometimes happens.  I think hashing out ideas can be a healthy thing, but I'm more interested in people's thoughts on the subject, not their disagreements over them.  I, and others, can sort through the data and opinions as we see fit.  That said, I also recognize that there is little in this world that can stop a flame war from happening on the netz *grin*. 

What are some decent ideas for a mostly soloing PVE scranker build?  Any common wisdom on this?  What are your thoughts?

Tanx *grin* n' Splosions,
Crow

I have a toon in mind and I could use some general suggestions please.

Shields/Energy Tanker
Super Speed

My desire here is to build a tanker that can solo effectively, maximizing damage. So yes, a scranker. I've never built one before though so I want to make sure my basic approach is correct.

Going in, I assume I want to maximize my Energy attacks. My thought is to focus on slotting Damage, Accuracy and Recharge Reduction (the attacks seem slow to me).

Since Shield is a pretty offensive defense I'm thinking to add a lot of damage slots as well.

I know this is pretty wide open but I'll take any quick bits of advice you all are willing to dispense!

Thanks

After putting the pedal to the metal and burnin' rubber through the Praetorians, the Interstellar Trucker (Ice/Energy Tank, Triumph) ran a convoy over the Malta Group's attempt to establish World Wide Red, resulting in his hitting 50.

I missed the ding pic, but got a decent poster shot of him, later...

( Just A Quick Pit Stop... )

If you see him in the hammer lane, give a lil' pull on the cord and shout your 10-20. This hand is back out!

Hi!

I'm ... utterly new! I signed up for the 14 day trial and am hooked! (PlayNC's website seems to be fouling up, I can't buy the retail version quite yet)

Anyway, I'd love some advice. I've played World of Warcraft for about a year, so orienting myself to the new interface/new systems of powers is a bit confusing...

I'm on Virtue server, a mutant Tanker with rock defense and rock melee powers. Level 6! Haha.
Named "Planetologist".

Specific questions:

Explain this 'debt' thing? I've died once or twice but I didn't notice a 'death penalty' in my stats or damage.

A friend of mine rolled a Defender -- but he read somewhere on the internets that the "golden triangle" of tank-healer-dps isn't as absolutely essential on CoH as on other MMOs. What's the reality of the situation?

I'm hoping that I picked a pretty 'foolproof' combination(ROCK SMASH). Are there any must-have powers or some good looking but terrible-in-reality powers I should avoid?

:P Feel free to share your own nub moments for everyone's amusement :)

So. Velvet Bonebreaker (my level 21 Inv/EM tanker on Union) is fun to play (when she's not getting her blue hosed away by the Clockwork), but whenever I try to plan how her build should develop, I can't quite work out how to widget in Stamina, Tough, an appropriate subset of Invulnerability, Taunt, a travel power, and some vaguely-decent attacks.

Would any of you fine folk have any advice for me?

Oh glorious Tankers... how do you feel about controller powers hold/immobilizes and such. I teamed with a tanker named Mikey Malone yesterday who said he disliked my controls because it made it hard for him to do AOE damage... I have never heard of this before... I thought the tankers job was to take damage and support damage output. Am I wrong?

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/3/feature/2384/Beginners-Guide-to-Tanks-and-Brutes

Found this in my email today, all I can say is, at least it's press. Have to hope, any press is good press, even the not so good stuff.

I've got a lvl 9 ice/ice tank who is extremely squishy, even more so than his team mate who is a defender. As you can imagine he's just not really fun to play as he dies in nearly every pack he encounters. I'm honestly ready to scrap him, as he's still low level and it's easy to get back up to lvl 9. But my question was, any advice about which powers are best for ice tanks? Or any recommendations for the strongest tank combinations?

Thanks in advance!

This weekend was a series of great task forces for my Stone/Energy Tanker, Seventy-Stone, with some iffy team-ups.
( Read here for all the details. Includes a modest amount of complaining about other people. )

I haven't been that loyal a player, really -- my phobia of interacting with strangers online has kept me from logging in more often -- but I recently put my player account on hiatus to save some money and now have until September 27 to do as much playing as I can before I no longer log in.

That said, I've been working on interacting with more people in the LiveJournal channel, accepting more team invites (scary!), and today I joined a Super Group! If you see me online and are on Virtue, please don't hesitate to say hello or invite me to play tank with your team. I am rather proud of myself that my first attempt at an unassisted respec did wonders for my gameplay, AND that I'm putting myself out there socially.

I know a lot of you out there play MMOs often and have done so for a long time, so I appreciate your patience with all my n00b-like questions. I really am trying my best to get the most out of what CoX has to offer and have a lot of catching up to do. There are so many acronyms I am still figuring out...

Say hi -- I'm in power-level mode until 9/27!

My global: @Brawler Barbie

Kelly's post about her Dark/Dark tank got me to actually sit down and plan my build for my WP/DM tanker, currently level 38. I knew it was a tight build, but I had no idea just how tight till now. This is worse than my stalkers. this is the first character I've played where I took EVERY POWER in my primary AND secondary. Though granted, I waited till 49 to take the rez.

Including IO sets, since she has about 80% of these anyway. For the purple enhancements, if i even have the power yet, the slots they occupy are either generic IO's currently or in the case of Soul Drain currently occupied by 'Cleaving Blow'. I realize they are hellishly expensive, but then again, as I said I do currently have nearly all the enhancements listed up until Midnight Grasp, so I don't have a lot to spend my inf on until 50, and I am content to wait till I13 and run all the TF's she's missing for TF tokens to get the Luck of the Gambler, Gift of the Ancients and Numina uniques. At the moment Quick Recovery is 3 slotted, but I figure I can respec into 2 once i get all the +recovery bonuses. Still, I'd dearly love to have just 3 more slots, if anyone could see a way to shuffle slots so i could keep QR 3 slotted, add another slot to Dark Consumption, or Fireball.... For anyone wondering at my choice of sets, since I skipped Fitness, I'm after runspeed bonuses, and am also after recharge and defense bonuses. I'm also wondering what people's thoughts are on Rise to the Challenge. right now, I'm focusing on regen with it, but I could go 3/3 Dark Watcher's Despair/Miracle which would cut the regen a bit but increase the tohit debuff, (and lose the heal set bonus and add another recovery bonus) or I could go 2/3/1 adding in a taunt IO. I am not sure which way to go on this. Dropping to 3 pieces of Miracle would give me just under 85% heal. Oh yeah. and since this is a respec build, pay no mind to slot levels, I wasn't.

The build:
( Read more... )

First, I have to say that you guys are amazing. I got so much great feedback today!

Below is a test build for my Dark/Dark Tank (named Shadow-Ram, if anyone cares :D). I'd love to hear your feedback on the slotting. I tried to keep everyone's comments in mind, but still tried to implement the things I wanted most.

- Obviously I had to drop the fighting pool. There was just no way to fit it in.
- I assume that slotting Acrobatics with KB enhancements increases (part of) the KB mag protection. In Mids, there appears to be 7 mags unenhanceable, and 2 mags that are. Dropping three KB IOs in there gives an additional 3.48, for a total protection of 12.48. Nothing to sneeze at!
- I really wanted to put those three slots into my three main attacks for tohit debuff, but I thought the KB protection would be more useful. I realize three slots is overkill, but it's be funny if I could laugh right back at those Nemmies. (Because someone said they'll be laughing at Cloak of Fear.)
- I think this build is the tightest I've ever done, even moreso than my mind/emp controller. I wish I could slot several powers with more than six slots, and I wish I had half again as many slots to go around. I tried to spread the love, but if you guys see something that I'm doing wrong, please let me know.
- I'm treating Siphon Life as a slightly-expensive attack (it does only a little less damage than Shadow Punch) that also heals me (for 20%). Not necessarily part of the regular attack chain, but nice to have (since I can't have tough/weave)!
- I am also working on the assumption that when dark regeneration rolls to hit, each enemy gets its own hit roll. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
- I really want more taunt aura, but I can't figure out where to put it. :( I am hoping that I have annoying powers that I will be able to keep aggro anyway.
- I know it was mentioned that I could get away with only one end reducer per defensive/resist toggle, but that really just boggles my mind. If you guys really think I could pull those slots out of there, I will, but... Let's just say I'm very doubtful.
- Oh, and I slot for IOs first, and then create a set build off of that. Once I have the slots in place, I'll work on getting sets for +recovery and possibly +recharge, as well as procs. But I need the IO build as a baseline.
EDIT: - Don't put too much faith in the order of the powers. I definitely won't be selecting them in that order, since I can make it to my 30s before actually taking my travel power. (And then I respec to have my travel power at 14.) But if there's something you see that I really must have before other powers, please let me know! (First comment makes some suggestions to that effect.)

Click for larger, and thanks again for the help everyone!

I have a wee Dark/Dark tank, and I'm finally at the point where I want to work on a build for him. It kindof looks like I want to take every power from the primary and secondary. The only thing that looks like I could skip would be Touch of Fear, since that is a single target fear, whereas I will already have Cloak of Fear, a PBAoE fear.

However, if I skip Touch of Fear and take everything else from the primary and secondary, that doesn't leave me enough slots for the power pools I want to take. I can already tell he's going to be an end hog, and others have told me the same. So I definitely need to take hurdle/health/stamina. I'm also going to take combat jumping and super jump. But that leaves me with only two power slots left, and I'd really like to be able to take kick/tough/weave as well.

So who has played Dark Armor and/or Dark Melee? Which powers are skippable? How do you slot your toggles? (Obviously the regular defend/resist toggles usually get two end redux and two res/def, but what about the disorients? Fears? Life and end siphons?)

Any help is much appreciated. Thanks in advance! ^_^

In considering respeccing my Tank, I was trying to figure out a way to get the Superspeeder away from the Leaping power pool. I really relied on Acrobatics, so was looking for an alternate Knockback protection.

Everywhere I went... the forums, the web, everywhere, told me that a Karma IO was sufficient against most everyone, with the exception of perhaps Katie or Fake Nemeses and up. Thinking "awesome," I spent a bunch of money getting the IO recipe, building a set, and respecced.

Now I'm fighting Crey, and Voltaic Tank Lieutenants are taking me down easily, both knockdown and knockback. What gives? Did I waste my money and only freespec under a false impression?