Gideon

Nice one RM. (or does this make nice two?)

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and yes, if i could do it over, i wouldn't play one in an Rp setting.

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Actually, I worked out internally consistent answers to why the particular brand of kheldianism I was using (which is an attempt to stay as close to the source material as possible) is different from everyone elses, before I started playing them in rp. It'd doable, you just have to be on the ball.

The plan worked, that should be enough to shut them up.

Great work, by the way, Jiaozy. If it'd been me leading, I'd have lost patience with all the idiots a long way back and gone "alright, you think you know whats going on, you run this thing" then stepped back and watched them faceplant. A lot.

I was just amused by the session of Chuck Norris jokes halfway through...

Just got Vanguard (Even though it doesnt help taunt, it's still shiney) and since I already have Phalanx, Jockey and Atlas, Happy day

Level 50 inv tank signing on for low pay, hazardous duty, and no perks. No epic holds, No Vanguard, unless I can dig out 100 Lost bosses in 3 hours.

Current Plans for my robots.

Battle Drones:
Helm
Gunnar
Bagman (Planned)

Protector Bots:
Friday
Venus (planned)

Assault Bot:
Rogue (planned)

if I ever make another robot mm (or even a merc mm) I'll use the other set

Tier 1:
Perkins, Hagman & Tongue

Tier 2
Harper, Hogan

Tier 3
Sharpe

Exactly. Being told to send my bots into melee... I laughed.

Swinging away to secondaries for a moment, I have a bone of contention work thinking of. Damage types. With S/L being pretty much the heaviest resisted damage type throughout the game (and especially in the late game) do we reckon that things like EnMelee and Fire (and Ice does cold, I seem to recall?) have an edge?

The usual answer is "I just told them to open up with everything, what do you THINK I'm doing?"

Because my pets ranged attacks are better, I expect to lead off with them. What most people seem to want is "send ur pets in2 mele" as one shining wit put it. The problem seems to be that when everyone thinks of tanking and drawing aggro, they think in terms of melee, because in CoH terms, tanks before epic level are more or less melee-centric. They then tend to wait till your pets have bit the dust before engaging. As someone put most succinctly above, they are not ablative armour, except in an "oh [censored], run away" kind of sense. The bottom line is that my pets (bots, in this case) are not primarily designed to run in and mix it up, they shoot from afar. They still grab aggro that way, though, so stop whining because my idea of how best to get that aggro is different. Oh and for pete's sake come and help while I still have minions left? This aint like using confuse.

I'm noticing my shade definitely feels squishier than my pb at the same level (same nova slotting), whether it's a slightly lower damage output/recharge rate from the nova blasts, or just the different bad guys I face in the pb and ws arcs, but I did notice I was faceplanting a lot more (mostly the CoT missions where a +1 void spawns next to a +1 life mage)

Ah well, life will improve.

Hardly likely, since I'm running two squids at once

Hey, gotta get you guys up to 50 after all. The GPLS is open for business.

As I have often said, the secret is being a long-term ill insomniac. Trade ya.

Thakyou very much, I'll be here all week...

I don't complain too much. Or at least I didn't until I got told that an Inv tank isn't a real tank any more.

The best part of the wedding bands is they even work on machines. Now THATs magic Mind you, machines can also get the Vahzilock wasting disease, so nothing new in random cross-genre stuff.

Omega level clearance needed the approval of the Vice-President. Thats a lot bigger than just Seraph.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that you virtually need endreds in those toggles, unless you have an empath/high level kinetic permenantly on tap, or don't mind massive downtime.

Maybe pre-ED, you could get away with it. Not any more.

One must sedulously eschew excess obfuscatory hyperverbosity in ones prose, and always, always, always remember that one should very definitely, definitively, try to be concise.

Oh, and avoid cliches as you would the plague.

Quite willing to sign up for this. Now to come up with the idea..

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Does it really matter?
Unless they somehow have ownership over the name(or the EULA prevents it) surely asking permission is not needed?



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Well for a start, it's astonishingly impolite. Downright rude, if you ask me.

As for ownership, then, personally, I'd ask if you're talking legally or morally. The two may be different in a case like this.

Put this way, who'd like a reputation for being a plagarist?

Oh, forgot the other bonus of RPD being a passive. it can't be detoggled.

Some say yes, some say no. The resist available from three-slotting it isn't as profound as something like tough, but that's counterbalanced by the fact that it's a passive, so costs no end to have.

I say yes. *waits for someone else to say no*

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Unlike Gideon, I do like Build up. I like it so much I slotted it for recharge so i can use it as often as possible.


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Don't get me wrong, I like Build Up, I just didn't have room for it in the build. It happens that way, sometimes.

I think my aversion to the fighting pool really is two-fold, with the endurance issue being the major killer, as far as I'm concerned. I'm also weird in that I have a mental block about dipping into the pools for something my primary should be doing for me. Call it prejudice, maybe. It's not logical or anything, but it's my way. If it all works for you, great

I think that should be my disclaimer for the whole thing.
This is what works for me. If another way around works better with your playstyle, don't feel set in stone to use mine.

And with Energy Melee, that is always going to be a factor. It's a balancing act, and opinions will always differ as to where to strike the balance.

Oddly, I've had perfectly good results with taunt slotted with 1 recharge in the default slot. But then I do tend to whirling hands a lot.

Opening Thoughts

NB: This is a PvE build first and foremost. If you want PvP, either don't roll an inv tank (they aren't all that good at it) or, better yet, go ask someone who doesn't think PvP is a badly thought-out, pointless, bolt-on, ego-stroking, lamer-justifying, griefing device.

Invulnerability's seen some major nerfs lately. Between I5 and I6, we've seen our resistances having been gutted, and we are a shadow of our former...

Wait, lets start again. Invulnerability has met several challenges in the recent months. However, as a powerset and as an AT, the Inv Tank still stands as an example of unbreakability. Oh sure, you now have to do a little more work than you used to, but it's still fun.

Slaps and Bennies (AKA. Whats in it for me? and what sucks?)

Bennies
Survivability: Even today, you're eminently survivable. Decent S/L resists, combined with lesser resist to other types. Not exactly the golden age,but perfectly adequate.

Hitpoints: Dull Pain is Your New God. Accept it. What was merely nice to have before now becomes vital. With Dull Pain up, you can get something in the region of 3000 hit points at level 50. Not shabby.

Damage: Broadsword scrappers have massive damage at high level. I know this. Energy Melee however, at 35 and 38 has two attacks that eclipse broadsword, the twin holy grails of the EM set. Energy Transfer and Total Focus. ET can practically one-shot minions, and TF isn't far behind. ET uses comparatively low end, instead taking a certain amount of your (3000odd) hitpoints, which tends to surprise the empath that's watching your health bar (sorry Hikari ), and is a liveable side-effect of taking out the foe that quickly. TF does slightly less damage, and costs more, but is practically a one-shot mez against anything short of a boss, and even has a great chance of stunning bosses too. I've even stunned AV's with it before for a few seconds.

Slaps
Psi: Against Psi damage, you're weaker than a wet fish, and its prevelant in the 40+ game. Your only defence here is your huge hitpoints and the other thing you get in the late game, your huge single-target damage.

Endurance Use: It's a hog, never doubt that for a moment. Get stamina. You will need it. Slot those toggles with end reduction. Slot the attacks in the late game, and you'll be a happy munchkin.


The Build

Disclaimer: The travel power was as much concept as utility, and you can probably alter it to suit without pain (and make the build maybe slightly more efficient)

01) --> Resist Physical Damage==> DmgRes(1) DmgRes(17) DmgRes(23)
01) --> Barrage==> Acc(1) Dmg(13) Dmg(33) Dmg(40) Rechg(43)
02) --> Temp Invulnerability==> EndRdx(2) DmgRes(3) DmgRes(3) DmgRes(5)
04) --> Energy Punch==> Acc(4) Dmg(5) Dmg(34) Dmg(37) Rechg(43) EndRdx(48)
06) --> Dull Pain==> Heal(6) Heal(7) Heal(7) Rechg(13) Rechg(27) Rechg(29)
08) --> Unyielding==> EndRdx(8) EndRdx(9) DmgRes(9) DmgRes(11) DmgRes(11)
10) --> Taunt==> Rechg(10)
12) --> Recall Friend==> Rechg(12)
14) --> Teleport==> EndRdx(14) EndRdx(15) Range(15) Range(43)
16) --> Bone Smasher==> Acc(16) Dmg(17) Dmg(34) Dmg(37) Rechg(42) EndRdx(48)
18) --> Invincibility==> EndRdx(18) DefBuf(19) DefBuf(19) DefBuf(21) TH_Buf(21) TH_Buf(23)
20) --> Hurdle==> Jump(20)
22) --> Health==> Heal(22)
24) --> Stamina==> EndMod(24) EndMod(25) EndMod(25)
26) --> Whirling Hands==> Acc(26) Dmg(27) Dmg(34) Dmg(37) Rechg(40) EndRdx(48)
28) --> Resist Energies==> DmgRes(28) DmgRes(29) DmgRes(31)
30) --> Resist Elements==> DmgRes(30) DmgRes(31) DmgRes(31)
32) --> Unstoppable==> Rechg(32) Rechg(33) Rechg(33)
35) --> Energy Transfer==> Acc(35) Dmg(36) Dmg(36) Dmg(36) Rechg(46) EndRdx(46)
38) --> Total Focus==> Acc(38) Dmg(39) Dmg(39) Dmg(39) Rechg(40) EndRdx(46)
41) --> Conserve Power==> Rechg(41) Rechg(42) Rechg(42)
44) --> Focused Accuracy==> EndRdx(44) EndRdx(45) TH_Buf(45) TH_Buf(45)
47) --> Hover==> Fly(47)
49) --> Energy Torrent==> Acc(49) Dmg(50) Dmg(50) Dmg(50)

Options, thoughts and customisations.
Teleport: I like teleport. Many don't. The hover eventually comes necessary to protect against lag, but you can drop that if you need to. Or you could go SJ or fly with equal utility. I use teleport in combat for sneaking up on sappers, and getting out of quicksand/caltrops, if you get annoyed with Knives of Artemis or Earth Thorn Casters.

Unstoppable: Divided Opinions. 50% hate it, 50% love it. Massive resist boost, tasty endurance regen and health regen boost and extra mez protection for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes, however, you crash to minimal health and end, which usually ends up dropping all your toggles and leaving you vulnerable, if it happens. This tends to really surprise empaths who haven't seen it before (again, sorry Hikari ) This can be mitigated with planning, and sometimes, if the drop times right, you don't lose all your end or toggles (not sure how to make it consistent, though) What is sure is that unstoppable is an "oh poot" power par excellence, and, anyone who has seen an unstoppable inv tank running away, with a mob of about 20 or 30 bad guys all throwing huge attacks at it, with the rest of the team wiped on the floor, is unlikely to forget it. When you hit that button, you have three minutes of virtual godhood. Remember the drop, factor it in, and unstoppable will love you and hug you call you george. If you're still taking huge damage through it, either you're facing an AV, something throwing psi at you, or you're in so much trouble that nothing's going to save you.
Invulnerability: Not as grand as it once was, but still, a defence boost per enemy in melee is not to be sneezed at, increases your survival time a fair whack, and is generally a good thing. It's an open debate as to whether slotting with To Hit buffs does enough good. I like it, so I do it. You don't have to.
Epic: I chose energy mastery for conserve power and focussed accuracy. feel free to choose another if you think the hold will do you more good than the end help or acuracy/perception boost.
Taunt: The most hotly debated point. I put 1 recharge into it, and called it golden, between that and punchvoke, I can handle most things, and it recharges fast enough for my play-style. YMMV, so see what works for you.

This build is balanced between decent soloability (especially in the late game) and decent team play. You could tip the balance one way or the other if you wanted, with things like health pool. I don't recommend fighting pool, if only because I don't believe the extra boost from tough/weave is enough to justofy the extra power/enhancement slots and end use (and the fact that every attack you get, including the first, are still better than boxing or kick, so there's a wasted power right there.) I suppose you could get concealment pool, but you're a tank, and with your autotaunt aura up, it kind of defeats the object somewhat. I don't believe it useful enugh to take. People used to as the pre-req's for phase-shift, but with the nerfing of that, the concealment pool became an expensive liability for a tank.
Stun and Build Up. If you were a scrapper, I;d say get build up. But you aren't, and there are far more useful powers to get. Same with Stun, in PvE there are far more useful powers to get and you don't have the power slots to justify it. Again, YMMV.

Final Words
To summarise. A fully solo-capable team-tank, with decent survivability, and a whole slew of decent damage powers. Treated right, and played with a little intelligence as to what you do, how you do it, and where you do it (ie. not just mashing buttons, mmkay?) and you'll get years of happy play from your inv tank. That is, until they decide they're overpowered again.

I'd say play up culture, play down politics. More Mother Russia, less Party. Place of music, of art, of architecture. A proud people who hail from a country that is somewhat inhospitable in several parts. Although I'd say you could key into the sense of decayed empire a bit. Ignoring communism and such, Russia was once a great world power, now it's a country in debt and trying to grope its way forward.

Just thematic ideas.