Call Me Awesome
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Posts
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Quote:Yeah, things are a bit out of whack there; you'd think that there would be some significant +resist bonuses to go along with the +def bonuses. To keep pace you'd have to have the +resist at double the strength of the +def.Originally Posted by Umbral
Interestingly enough, that was actually the design intent of the set: a +def set on par with */Fire for survivability. Of course, because it's defense based rather than damage recovery or resistance based, it gets a massive increase in survivability when IOs are added, allowing it to leave absolutely everything else in the dust (don't even get me started on how borked the disparity between defense power set gains from IOs, resistance power set gains, and damage recovery power set gains are).
As it is it's futile trying to build resistance via set bonuses yet it's highly effective building defense. That's partially what makes Invuln so powerful; you're starting out with good resistance and ok defense that you can turn into good resistance and outstanding defense.
You see the same thing with inspirations, purples are simply far more effective than oranges in most situations. -
Quote:Well, CMA is Inv/Stone so I've a pretty end heavy secondary to deal with as well but frankly once I have everything slotted up there's enough end reduction in the attacks and armors that it's functional... heck, frequently I forget to turn off Sprint and don't notice until a few groups. Oh, don't forget that CJ is so incredibly low endurance that it doesn't really count... 0.07 end/second.Originally Posted by Terse
Excellent guide C.M.A., with lots of good input from other. Pity some of the early builds' links don't work any more but enough info in the first post to work around it, but...
I have a L50 Invul/Energy tank and for ages I found him frustrating to play because of endurance issues and I was only dealing with the 3 toggles from Invul. Granted, this may be due to my weakness for continually trying out new alts keeping me from really mastering this tank.
Unless I'm misaken the powers recommended at the start of this thread include SIX toggles (Temp Invulnerability +Unyielding +Combat Jumping +Invincibility +Tough +Weave), how on earth to you cope with the end drain and still maintain any kind of attack chain long enough to take down the crowds of mobs trying (in vain) to kill you?
My attacks average 40-50% end reduction and most of the toggles are 50% or higher end reduction. Those are all byproducts of the sets I've slotted for defense so it's no sacrifice. There's room for a couple sets of Gift of the Ancients in Tough Hide and Weave... those are good for 3.6 bonus endurance and 4% bonus recovery. I also have all the +end accolades for another +10 endurance. Well, I think I've every stat-boosting accolade of any type; after all the character's been level 50 since issue 4
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I've been pondering adding the new Physical Perfection power to the build; the question is what to drop for it and if it's worth the change. -
You know, you can roll an Invuln and simply accentuate the sparkle and glow of the toggles with power customization. With an appropriate costume choice you could pull off a pretty good shiny, sparkling and glinting highlights look.
Something for you to consider anyway, does the look have to be an overlay of the character or would having the character shine and sparkle work? -
Holes in Shields... really there aren't any show stoppers; my 50 BS/Shield is close to the survivability level of my Invuln tanker and outputs FAR more damage.
True it requires some IO investment to reach it's potential... I think I've about $150 million in my build to soft cap and give me Regen levels of endurance recovery. (This doesn't include the three Membrane HO's in AD that I've had in storage from 3 years of Hami raids, issues 3 to 9) I've run Council, Freaks and Carnies at +4/8 man settings and been able to handle it all with some inspiration use.
The biggest problem is simply that it's a slow starter... until you get above 30% defense you'll feel pretty squishy and it doesn't really shine until you get above 40%. Once you reach the soft cap though it's a fantastic set.
Heck, I've tanked the ITF with that BS/Shield scrapper... no team buffs and no issues. The def debuffs couldn't overcome my DDR to drop my defense by a noticeable amount... I believe the lowest I got was around 42%. -
Quote:Unfortunately you're incorrect here, S/L defense will protect you from the majority of incoming damage regardless of the damage type... most attacks have a smash/lethal component. Because of the way defense works that last 5% from 40-45% actually stops as much damage as the first 1-40%. I don't have the exact figures but S/L defense will apply to over 70% of all damage you'll face. E/N comes in next and you'll want to build that as much as you can. F/C damage can for the most part be disregarded; it's quite rare. My guide will give you roughly 30% def to F/C anyway and you'll have a decent ~20-25% positional defense which will handle the extremely rare Psi baddie.
Soft-capped to s/l with 1 foe in range. I'm not convinced I need to do this, especially with 87.4% s/l resistance. I'm thinking I should rework some to move some s/l bonuses to get more energy/neg def. Right now that's 40% def (with 1 foe in range). I do get capped to that type with 4 foes. With only 30% resists, Energy's gonna hurt and Recluse certainly has that. Also, I do a fair number of LGTFs so energy and psi are types I can't just avoid.
Looking over your build there are some changes to make. For one, you really don't need that KB IO in CJ and SJ; it's a VERY expensive waste. Remember as an Invuln you're interested in TYPED defense, not positional.
Check out my soft cap guide for suggestions on how to reach the soft cap without breaking the bank... you won't need Maneuvers either. One of the keys is Reactive Armor in your resists. It ends up a fairly tight build but you should have room for a couple of APP powers... and if you want to tank the STF a ranged attack comes in very handy for Ghost Widow. A ranged attack is also a good place for a Thunderstrike set; 3 of them gives you a 2.5% E/N defense bonus. -
I don't know how you're fixed for cash but here's what I did with my BS/Shield scrapper to completely solve my end issues:
- 5 sets of 4 Gift of the Ancients giving me 2% recovery and 1.8 additional endurance per set totaling 10% recovery bonus and 9 points of bonus endurance
- Miracle recovery unique for another 15% recovery - I bought that with merits from running a bunch of TF's.
- Via IO slotting my attacks I ended up with roughly 50% endurance reduction in each one.
- Getting all the +end accolades for another 10 points of endurance.
- Slotting 4 Impervium Armor into Tough for another 2% recovery and 2.25 points of endurance.
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Quote:Been there, done that I hate to sayOriginally Posted by Local_Man
My most frequent /facepalm moment lately . . .
Playing my Stone/Fire tank, I like to stay in Rock Armor until Granite is needed. So I run into the group of Malta to fire off my AoEs and gather aggro . . . forgetting, of course, to toggle on Rooted for my mez protection. I'm immediately stunned . . . and stunned . . . . and stunned . . . until faceplanted.
I've actually done that one a few times.
There's also the toggle rooted + rock armor and TP into a mob thinking you can handle it without Granite... then instantly ending up red and frantically hitting the Granite button just a bit too late. I've done that one more often than I care to think about.
Local, you're not supposed to copy EVERYTHING I do when tanking
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Quote:I confess to being clueless to what one IR can accomplish for a Stone tanker... it won't get you off the ground if you have Granite or Rooted up. Care to share what the trick is?Originally Posted by LostHalo
It's not Speed Boost that does what I'm doing and it only takes a single IR.
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Quote:Speed Boost is very useful of course, but the parlor trick I was referring to was allowing a Granite to jump... that takes a BUNCH of kinetics to stack enough Inertial Reduction to overcome the -jump of Granite. No way a single Kin will get a Granite airborne.Originally Posted by LostHalo
Of course my method just uses a single Kinetics but hey. And it's surprisingly easy to make use of if you know what to look for.
Before anyone jumps in <so to speak> and comments, the experiment in stacking Inertial Reduction on a Granite to allow him to jump was just a "I wonder if it's possible" thing and it took lots of work and a bunch of kins to pull off... it's nothing that applies to actual teaming. -
Quote:I don't think anyone's disputing that he had the authority on his team, everyone's agreeing however that he's an idiot who doesn't know what he's doing. In my experience the best response to idiots like that is to simply quit team at the first opportunity and flag them so you know to avoid them in the future.Originally Posted by Nihilii
I'd rather play with the leader of that team than with some of the folks in this topic, and I say this as someone who actually likes Illusion and knockback.
His team, his choice ; your character, your choice to leave the team and join another one or make your own (note I'm not targetting the OP here who handled the situation perfectly in my opinion). The tanker was (relatively) polite and explained his reasons when prompted to do so by the OP, namecalling and insults are completely uncalled for.
The irony of someone getting called a dictator because he's playing differently than the one and only way forumites think the game should be played is funny, though.
Most of us are pretty tolerant of newcomer mistakes and willing to invest the time to help people learn provided that the person in question is at all willing to listen. -
Quote:Ah, I am enlightened. Seriously I'd never noticed that happening before so I was unaware of that potential, very minor, problem.Originally Posted by Local_Man
The single target Terrorize includes a Mag 3 "Afraid" for 2.98 seconds. The mechanics of "Afraid" mean that it really depends on what the foe is doing at the time it hits to determine whether he runs, so he doesn't run all that often. The single target Terrorize has a range of 50 feet, while the Cloak of Fear is only 20 feet. Foes who come into the area after the Cloak of Fear hits and don't come within 20 feet are more likely to run away, but they only run for less than 3 seconds so they don't go far.
It is my belief that the main benefit of slotting Spooky for Fear Duration is that it extends the time that a foe who ran away cowers in fear before he is ready to run back into the fight.
Many issues ago, Spectral Terror used to cause a lot of foes to run for a lot longer than 3 seconds, and that was complained about so much that the general recommendation was to not take Spectral Terror. That was changed around Issue 4 or 5 or so.
And I certainly want to stress to any newer players here that a competent tanker will have very little difficulty dealing with anything in an Illusionist's toolbox. The only problems I've had tanking are with bad Stormies who are indiscriminate with their knockback powers and even then I can keep things more or less under control. The only time I've had significant problems was with one stormie who had Hurricane on all the time and insisted on being next to me. It took half a TF to convince him to either stay back or turn off Hurricane. -
Quote:The latter, Hover makes life much easier when you're traveling with TP.Originally Posted by munecaroon
Thank you Awesome!
Yes, that was what I expected: TP and nothing but TP .. lol
That's where Lightning Rod would have come into play, but guess it's on a way too long timer and not enough range to be of any use on a good team.
Granite, the restrictions will really bite me since I'm a damage and recharge freak.
You say Hover, does that mean Hover allows to keep Rooted and/or Granite on?
Or just to prevent falling between TP applications?
There's no way you're going to be able to fly with Rooted or Granite... it just isn't possible. Also, you will not be able to jump at all, not even over a 2' curb. Well, someone did get together ~14 kinetics to all hit Inertial Reduction on a Granite tank and he was able to jump... but that's a parlor trick, not something that's useful. It took way more than a full team worth of kinetics to pull it off.Quote:I'd really like to have a flying stone - or diamond in this case - tank, but guess it's not going to happen, unless Hover does work wit Granite on.
Thanks for the template, looks like an all-out Granite (respec?) build.
On the template, that's what I would run as a leveling build... Brimstone and Crystal are, for the most part, pointless to have as the S/L defense of Rock will function against the majority of exotic damage and the regen in Rooted is enough to handle the occasional attack that doesn't have an S/L component. I've leveled two stone tanks to 50 and have never had Brimstone or Crystal armor and have never missed them.
Minerals is only good vs Psionic damage; and Psi is very rare... below level 40 it's almost non-existent. Off the top of my head I can think of 4 AV's and a half dozen missions where Psi damage predominates and all of them are in the 40-50 range. Even for those rare situations Minerals isn't required by any stretch, my Invuln who had zero protection to Psi didn't have any significant problem with those enemies when I was leveling him back in issue 3 long before IO's came into the game.
I've had Minerals in and out of my Stone builds; for those very few situations where Psi predominates (remember, you can't have Granite running while Minerals is up) I'm not sure it isn't better to just carry a different inspiration load or count on your teammate's buffs.
With Granite a stone tanker is, by far, the most durable character in the game. Without Granite the set drops way down below almost all other sets. If you're dead set on fly then I highly recommend a different primary... don't forget you will have to turn off your mez protection in order to fly!Quote:I just opened Mid's and the -RECH from Granite totally wreck havoc on all other powers.
Lightning Rod is now totally out of the equation for combat zapping.
Was looking forward to a around 30 second timer with Hasten and global -RECH.
Okay simple question:
Is Stone playable without Granite at all? The other shields seem to work together, then adding Weave (and Tough) to work towards defense soft-cap.
Reason I ask is because I really like to fly, especially on that toon. If Granite is a must-have, I might be better off with Ice/ and then try to get the looks right.
It seems pointless to me to play a stone tanker and not have Granite available; the supreme durability of Granite is most of the reason to play the Stone set.
The second most durable tank, counting moderate IO investment, is Invulnerability and it has none of the drawbacks of Stone. Another good choice would be Shield... slow starting but once it matures it will be a phenomenal tanking and damage dealing machine. Once again, no real restrictions on travel.
I have a level bumped Shield/Electric at 50 on Test (from the closed beta testing) and that's a mighty impressive combination. Light on the single target damage but very strong AOE and highly survivable even on a straight SO build. -
Ok, first I strongly recommend teleport for a stone tank; any other travel power forces you to turn off your mez protection in order to move at more than a crawl. I'm not a big fan of TP either but it really is the best choice for combat mobility on a stoner.
Primary powers you'll want:
- Rock Armor - slot to ED cap defense
- Earth's Embrace - ideally ED cap recharge & heal
- Rooted - slot to ED cap heal
- Mud Pots - this is an oddball, I slot a mix of Multi-strike & Scirocco's to ED cap damage & end reduction with decent accuracy but there's lots of other options. It will likely be your #1 damage power over time.
- Stone Skin - this is fine with one resist in the base slot, that caps you out with Granite.
- Granite Armor - ED cap resistance then ED cap defense.
Pool powers
- Swift - 3 runspeed, Health, Stamina - 3 endmod (I'm sure you already know this part)
- Recall/TP - no other travel power works with Rooted or Granite... you won't be able to even hop over a curb without it unless you detoggle first.
- Hasten is useful
- I've found Hover makes a HUGE difference with using TP for zone travel... you don't have to worry about falling out of the sky.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 37 Natural Tanker
Primary Power Set: Stone Armor
Secondary Power Set: Electrical Melee
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Flight
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Rock Armor -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Charged Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Earth's Embrace -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Jacobs Ladder -- Empty(A)
Level 6: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 8: Rooted -- Empty(A)
Level 10: Taunt -- Empty(A)
Level 12: Recall Friend -- Empty(A)
Level 14: Teleport Foe -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Health -- Empty(A)
Level 18: Mud Pots -- Empty(A)
Level 20: Stamina -- Empty(A)
Level 22: Stone Skin -- Empty(A)
Level 24: Thunder Strike -- Empty(A)
Level 26: Havoc Punch -- Empty(A)
Level 28: Chain Induction -- Empty(A)
Level 30: Hasten -- Empty(A)
Level 32: Granite Armor -- Empty(A)
Level 35: Hover -- Empty(A)
Level 38: Lightning Rod -- Empty(A)
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet -
Quote:Interesting, I've never seen that behavior from Spectral Terror either from my 39 Ill/Rad or teaming with several friends' Illusionists. I see mobs cower from the terror but I've never seen them run unless something else affects them like a rain of ice/fire power.Originally Posted by EricHough
While I agree that the tank was just being stupid, I think I should point out that spectral terror DOES indeed cause mobs to flee. The spectral terror pet has 2 powers - Cloak of Fear and terrify.
Cloak of fear is a 20 foot radius, mag 3, 7.35 second terrorize(which is the fear power that causes mobs to cower in place) and -15% to hit, this power pulses every 5 seconds
Terrify is a single target power that does a 3 second afraid (flee) and a 22 second terrorize after a 2 second delay (and an additional -15% to hit), this power fires every 6 seconds.
So what the pet does is immediately fear everything in a 20' radius then it starts hitting individual targets with terrify - which causes them to flee for 2 seconds then stop and cower for another 20 seconds.
So, depending on the speed of a mob they may be able to cover a considerable distance during the flee portion of the terrify power - but not ALL of them will do this, only 1 every 6 seconds, and they will stop after 2 seconds and cower for quite a while.
As a side note - the to hit debuff is not enhanceable and cloak of fears to hit debuff will not stack with itself but you still get up to -30% to hit on multiple targets over time, which is another reason spectral terror is so nice.
I'm not disputing you, but it's not something I've noticed happen from Spectral Terror. -
The issue is the tanker's being a jerk and not doing his job to boot; a competent tanker would have had that boss off of you very quickly. Yes, indiscriminate knockback can be annoying for a melee character but it's by no means impossible to compensate for. PA is a signature power of Illusion; it's a distraction and a significant damage source that an Illusionist would be a fool not to take advantage of.
I mainly play tanks and scrappers myself although I do have several high level controllers. Any tanker who's complaining about anything in an Illusionist's toolbox is a fool. Yes, Phantasm can sometimes be problematic when he decides to use his energy torrent power on a group but it's nothing a competent tank shouldn't have under control almost immediately. PA doesn't have any real downsides other than possibly loose aggro when they expire.
By the way, Spectral Terror does NOT make the enemies run away, it simply makes them cower in fear. I also agree that Deceive is a fantastic power and one of the staples of your control repertoire; a no-aggro hard control that can take a mob completely out of the fight. I tend to use it on a boss (it takes two applications) and then toss RI and EF on him. -
I have a level-bumped 50 Shield/Electric on Test from closed beta and even on SO's it's a beast; I've been sorely tempted to roll one on Live. On the other hand I have a mid-20's Shield/Fire that is just starting to really shine; I'll probably end up taking him to 50 before rolling another shield tank.
I've really been sold on Shield ever since my BS/Shield scrapper got to around 35; at 50 it's almost as durable as my Invuln tanker. Naturally it took a sizeable IO investment to get to that level... around $150 million as I recall.
On the other hand I should be able to soft cap my shield tanker for very little, opening up the build for other IO bonuses. Hmm, I really have way too many alts and thanks to issue 16 I end up playing 50's more than anything else now.
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Quote:It's taunt SETS, not taunt enhancements that you can't slot into auras anymore. That common Taunt IO? Sure, it's fine in there. That Perfect Zinger Taunt/End IO? Sorry, that doesn't work anymore.Originally Posted by taekoUSA
I think I saw that my tanker still had a taunt enhancer in invincibilty last night. Sooo the question is do I leave it in or not? Did the devs just change the code so you can't slot it. So, if you are already slotted, you are still getting the extra Taunt aura...hmmmm
If you DO have a taunt set in an aura it will still work; you just won't be able to put it back in if you respec or if you add slots. -
Quote:I'd be curious also... I know which rooms make my top (bottom) ten listOriginally Posted by Morbid Star
could you link to any of these multiple voteing polls ? i'm curious to see what other nominees there were
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Quote:[hayseed]Originally Posted by Main_Battle_Tank
Hmmm, accidental Self-destruct ... Once in a blue moon, but still fun.
Thet thar's why thet self destruct ain't on mah tray no more. Ah jist het gittin' stupid an killin' meself.
[/hayseed]
In all seriousness I just don't see much point in SD anyway... the few times I've intentionally used it it either didn't hit anything or didn't do much damage to what it did hit.
Getting back to the topic at hand
Facepalm moments... uh, yeah... I guess I've had a few.
- The forgotten toggle has come to visit me on occasion
- Jumping from a scrapper to a defender and doing something silly
- Moving from a level 50 controller to a level 20 controller and forgetting that THIS character can't solo that group
- The famous firing a ranged attack on something that dies JUST before you hit the button and watching your blaster/defender/whatever turn and shoot a mob way over there...
- The Regen scrapper death of "I can fire off this attack before I need Dull Pain"
- The "I didn't see that <insert special problem mob> in the group I just jumped into"
- Many others that aren't coming to mind at the moment... I've found lots of silly mistakes to make in 5 years of playing.
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Quote:Layer Cake is what that room's commonly been called at least on Guardian & Pinnacle... I've heard many teammates refer to it. So descriptive yet ironic that something so hideous reminds people of desertOriginally Posted by je_saist
Sooo agreed. I thought the change to Numina's last mish was random, but the last 4 times I've run it, it's been that nice BIG cave that makes more sense for a Giant Monster to be in. All it needs now is a big Door in the back so it's obviously Jurrasik's little den that you busted in the back door on.
Also: I thought I was the only one that called that 5 level disaster "layer-cake" ... Glad I'm not the only one. It's the most annoying Blue-Cave room, followed by one I just call "the toilet bowl" ... you know, where you go up a hill that's atop a large cave, over and around above the large cave, then down and across under hill top.
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Quote:Heavens yes, the new end map for Numina is a VAST improvement over that never-to-be-sufficiently-cursed layer cake room. Anytime I'm running a mission in a blue cave map I'm always praying it isn't one of the cake room maps. That and the Council Bass-Hatchery room are my most-hated maps in the game.Originally Posted by Mr. DJ
indeed, I hope it was intentional and I rather keep it how it is now.
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I don't have any interest in or knowledge of PvP so I'll address my answer strictly to the PvE aspect.
You're looking for melee first; that does mean Scrapper or Tanker heroside. Now deciding between the two you'll need to make the call:1. Do you want to be the wall that protects the team and survive? Are you willing to have a bit less damage output in exchange for great defenses? In that case you'll want a Tanker... looking for AOE damage I'd put Fire Melee as your secondary of choice... possibly Electric Melee as it looks good on paper.
- Now your primary choice is more open; for raw survivability nothing matches Stone Armor. Invuln can, with good building and IO choices, nearly match that level.
- Shield would be another good choice... slightly weaker defensively than a well built Invuln but with significantly greater damage output and the awesome Shield Charge attack.
- For pure damage with much lower durability Fire Armor is another choice. Be aware that you're going to be fairly squishy as tankers go... without major IO bonuses Fire Armor struggles to survive tanking situations other primaries take in stride.
2. Do you want to kill things fast and have enough durability to survive but you aren't really interested in tanking for a team? Then you probably want a Scrapper. Good AOE primaries would be Spines, Broadsword, Katana and Fire. Spines offers the most AOE of the bunch at the expense of a good single target attack chain.
- Now secondaries... Regeneration is a good choice and it's certainly the earliest maturing set... most of the good stuff comes by level 16. It tends to be weaker in the late game than some of the others though. Still a potent choice but it's strongest in the early to mid game. It doesn't have anything to help with your damage output though. I have two Regen scrappers at 50, one a Broadsword/Regen and the other Spine/Regen... they're effective but they can go from full health to dead in literally 3 seconds if you're not on your game and ready with the click heals.
- Shield has recently become my favorite Scrapper secondary, it's a bit late maturing but when it does it's an awesome engine of destruction. One caveat is that it limits you on your primaries... Spines, Katana, Claws and Dual Blades cannot be paired with Shield. Once you reach the defense soft cap of 45% a Shield scrapper actually has Tanker level defenses. You're not going to see that happen until the mid 30's though.
Most any scrapper secondary can be quite effective if you build it right; Regen and Shield are simply the ones I've played to 50. Of the two, my Broadsword/Shield is by far the best AOE killing machine, he's nearly unkillable unless I do something really, REALLY stupid. The Spine/Regen can kill lots of weak mobs faster but it runs into problems with tougher mobs and is always only one mistake away from death... the BS/Shield doesn't care about tough or weak.
Again, everything I've said pertains to the PvE game... PvP is very much a niche thing in this game with only a small percentage of the playerbase participating. The figures I've seen (I can't swear to the accuracy but anecdotal experience seems to bear it out) show less than 5% of the players ever PvP to any extent.
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Quote:You know you can toss the Steadfast into either Deflection or True Grit? There's no need to wait and put it into Tough. In fact, I definitely recommend slotting Deflection with resistance... my BS/Shield has 4 GotA and 2 common resist.Originally Posted by MutantX_7
I don't plan on running tough early on until I can spend some slots on it, it will be a mule for the Std Fst unique, at that point. then I will have the 3 toggles (Deflection, Battle Agility, and Weave slotted with lvl 25 LoTG's (I already have them purchased def/end, def/rech, def/end/rech, and def). Which give me +30% regen and +45 HP.
This is all still a work in progress, and my plans are everchanging, who knows what I'll think to do, I'm only at lvl 15 right now so, plenty of time to change plans.
True Grit has the Steadfast unique, 3 Miracle (including the unique) and a common heal and resist. I won't say that's the only way to slot those powers, but it's worked out very well for me. -
Quote:I'm not sure just how to advise you here, there's not a lot of similarity in the playstyle of a controller, defender and tank. I think you need to ask yourself what kind of character you like playing and then choose the AT that best fills that purpose.Originally Posted by Serve and Protect
Hey all, I'm looking for some comparative guides on different hero classes. particularly controller, defender, and tanker. That way I can see how, say, a defender's powers compare so I can better choose which one i awnt for my choice of gameplay. Thanks!
Based on your forum registration date I assume you just joined us here on City? In that case welcome to the game and enjoy your time here, most of us are friendly and willing to help new players who want to learn.
I generally suggest a new player roll a Scrapper as a first, "learning", character as they're the most straightforward to play... you basically run up and smack the bad guys upside the head. Scrappers combine good damage with adequate defenses to be very forgiving of new player mistakes.
Getting more into specifics of the three AT's you listed, Defenders are mainly a buff/debuff character with moderate damage ranged attacks. The different primaries obviously play much differently but one thing to remember is that in this game our buffs and debuffs are very powerful and far more useful than simple healing. Yes, the Empathy set has some heals but it also has very powerful ally buffs. A defender is NOT a healer; even if he has heals his other powers are more important. As a FYI the defenders who are most sought after by experienced players are not empathy, they're Kinetic, Radiation and Dark. Of course all of the primaries can be useful.
Controllers primarily focus on, well, controlling the mobs by immobilizing them, holding them so they can't attack or otherwise preventing them from hurting the team. Their secondaries are slightly reduced strength Defender primaries so most anything a Defender can do a Controller can also. Most Controllers mature fairly late in their career becoming quite powerful in the 30's and beyond. Many of them struggle early in their careers.
A Tanker's primary purpose is managing the aggro of the bad guys, he wants all of the enemies shooting at him instead of the "squishy" members of the team. To this purpose the Tank has the best defenses and most hit points of any AT in the game and has several powers that attract the baddie's attention and keep them focused on him. His secondary contains melee attacks with moderate damage. Tanks are somewhat similar to Scrappers and they share many sets... the tank has better defense and less offense while the Scrapper is the opposite. Most teams will expect a tank to pay attention to everything going on and protect the members of the team so a tanker has more responsibility than a scrapper.
I'd suggest looking in the various AT boards for more specific advice about powersets once you decide what kind of character you want to play.
Once again welcome to the game! -
Quote:Interesting, that was precisely my thoughts when I rolled my BS/Shield scrapper; I saved the Fire Melee combo for a Shield/Fire tanker. I know on my Fire/WP brute I've really been missing Combustion... the ST replacement attack just doesn't make up for the lost AOE.Originally Posted by Windenergy21
Fire/Shield is a great combo as well. More aoe damage than dark melee, less than elec, but more single target damage than elec. Its definitely a good viable build. No mitigation makes it somewhat painful to level up though. If you decide on a fire/shield, you will be pleased. I personally though would prefer a shield/fire tanker instead though, i hate not having combustion on the scrapper version when paired with something like shield.