Rerolling my Tank

[JKCarrier]

Getting ready to do my first respec, so I thought I'd get some advice from the experts. Here's my current build:

[spoiler]
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(pauses while hysterical laughter dies down)

I know I put too many slots into Resist Physical Damage and Resist Energies (before I found out about ED). What else did I screw up?

[GhostMachine]

Yeah, you definitely overdid it on RPD and RE, but I see a few things wrong:

First of all....2 slots in Brawl?! Ummm.....no. Its so weak you shouldn't have anything in it other than a single slot, and that should be Acc or Dmg.

The extra slots you have in RPD should be in Temporary Invulnerability.

You probably don't need recharges in your attacks. Toss a Taunt enhancer in Taunt and an Accuracy in Hand Clap (Hand Clap has a -20% Accuracy penalty, so I bet it misses a lot when you use it?)

If you're only going to have one slot in Dull Pain (and you shouldn't), it should be a recharge.

You don't have Unyielding.

Stamina should be 3-slotted. Then you won't need the endurance reducers (you really don't need one in Super Jump to begin with......) you have slotted.

[Adamence]

I'm certain there are oodles of invulnerable/SS tank builds here on the boards as there are so many of them in the community.  Just a few things from my experience with my invulnerable/energy tank...

First an opening assumption, that this is a tank who mostly teams...

1)  You need unyielding.  There is no question about that.  It has all your mez resistance which as a tank you definitely want.  Nothing sucks worse than getting held and having all your toggles fall and the team wipes because you couldn't hold aggro anymore.

2)  As you pointed out, you have too many damage resist enhancements in resist physical damage and resist energies, ED is just chewing those up and making those slots (which can be used more effectively elsewhere) useless.

3)  Rest should just have the recharge reduction.  If you're resting, you're probably doing it from somewhere safe and getting your health all the way up a few seconds earlier isn't going to make a big difference. 

4)  My tank has the vast majority of his attacks with just four slots, 2 acc/2 dmg because it helps make sure he hits often, and gives him a bit extra damage.  Recharges shouldn't really be needed because you're on the team to soak up damage, not deal it out like blasters and scrappers.  You don't need to speed up your attacks, just make sure they hit and with taunt and gauntlet, you'll fulfill your duties easily.

5)  Brawl sucks.  Plain and simple.  An extra attack is nice while you're levelling up until you get a few attacks, but once you have a few, you don't really need it anymore.  Leave it unslotted and don't really worry about it since you have 4 other attacks.

6)  Dull pain is such a sweet heal.  Nice big chunk of your HP and adds to your maximum for a while.  Lots of heals and lots of recharges.

7)  I found resist elements wasn't that important until a bit later in the game.  It all depends on which secondaries you take where you can fit it in.  I don't think I got it until 28 or 30.

8)  Super jump doesn't really need two slots.  It isn't that big of an end hog, just remember to switch to combat jumping when it comes to fighting and you should be fine.

9)  3-slot your stamina with end mod and don't worry about slotting attacks with end redux. 

I can't really offer much of an opinion on super strength, but I think you'd probably want to swap punch for haymaker.  Someone else can definitely give you a better idea though.

Hopefully that gives you at least a bit of help.

-Adamence

[Verfall]

http://freedomreborn.net/archive/index.php?topic=41703.0

http://freedomreborn.net/archive/index.php?topic=43019.0


The first one is my guide, the second is a generic build I came up with that gives you all the basic functionality you need. The only thing I don't really cover is IO's since those are basically up to the player and his funds.

[JKCarrier]

Thanks, guys, this is all very helpful!

[Tortuga]

What they said, plus get rid of Handclap.  Unless you want to keep it for the fun factor -- cause conceptually it's neat, in practice it's kinda lousy.

[BlueBard]

In regards to Handclap, I've never had it on any toon so far and it's never been all that attractive a power.   No damage at all AND it has an accuracy penalty?  But it's also the only multi-target attack available to an SS tank until Foot Stomp.

Seems to me that you need either that or take Taunt as a power (not the inherent taunt) to draw the most aggro in a big mob.  Or am I mis-reading the situation?  (I don't play tanks much and only have two at or over level 20.  Only one of those is Invuln/SS.  So I'm looking to cure my ignorance.)

[JKCarrier]

In regards to Handclap, I've never had it on any toon so far and it's never been all that attractive a power.   No damage at all AND it has an accuracy penalty?  But it's also the only multi-target attack available to an SS tank until Foot Stomp

Yeah, that's why I took it originally: "Oh cool! An area attack!" But Tort is right, once I'd tried it a few times it became obvious that it wasn't very useful. Away it goes!

[Adamence]

Handclap may be the only multi-target attack for a while, but for an invulnerable tank, you should have invincibility which with its built in taunt aura will help you draw all that juicy aggro in big mobs.  On top of that, gauntlet not only taunts the target, but also other mobs around the target, so a multi-target attack isn't really that critical. 

[Verfall]

Handclap causes the mobs to scatter thanks to it's knockback. If it had knockdown, it'd be equivalent to Fault in the stone set. But, as it it currently is, the disorient, while useful, is overshadowed by the knockback. On an Invul tank the knockback is even more of a threat since your main defense to non-s/l damage is Invincibility. Handclap would cause the mobs, that are at the moment probably keeping you alive, to fall out of Invinc's range.

As for aggro, the cap is 17 mobs. That is all you can ever have focused on you at once. Taunt itself can hit 5 mobs, Invincibility will taunt five mobs every time it pulses, I believe it's around a second a tic, might be 1.6 seconds, and every time you attack you will also taunt 5 random mobs near you. With Invinc and attacking, as well as clever use of terrain like crates and corners, you can effectively hold your 17 mobs worth of aggro fairly easily. Taunt is just gravy at this point. In fact, until the late 20's you have a better chance of dying from the aggro you do grab than you do have not being able to hold it.

[BlueBard]

That clears it up!  Thanks!  :)