Tankers.

[Janx]

Has anyone tried playing a tanker in beta?

Looking at their skills they dont seem all that bad considering how early they get decent knockdown/back/disorient skills + taunt.

Having never played one, but seeing how rare they were in beta, I was considering rolling one up when the game goes live.

Thoughts?

[Drem]

One big disadvantage for tankers/scrappers is that they are close range melee. For most criminals, once they reach low hp, they start running. Its a real hassle to chase after them cause they can jump walls and climb up buildings. Thats one reason why over half of the beta population was a blaster. Although if you plan to be grouping most of the time, tankers work just fine when other people can root/snare for you.

[Drolgin Steingrinder]

I played a rock armor / battle axe mutant tanker to lvl 12 in beta. As Drem said, chasing bad guys gets annoying real quick - I'd definitely go for some sort of super speed / jump power real quick. Huge chance of you effectively training yourself when soloing, too.

Damage output at lower levels isn't really that great, and it seems most tankers don't *really* start to shine until around level 20 - when npcs begin to dish out very very large amounts of damage.

I've heard good things about the fire armor / ice armor primary power coupled with ice melee / fire melee; you have a means of slowing mobs easily, your defense is fairly high and you have some minor way of damaging mobs from a distance. How good they are in a group setting compared to invuln / super strength or rock armor / broadsword I can't say.

[Janx]

Why not get teleport foe?

[Drolgin Steingrinder]

Heh, hadn't thought about that option. Depending on how endurance intensive it is, it could work pretty well - but I know in most multi-mob fights I ended up being low or out of endurance pretty fast.

[Ogbar]

I got to lvl 20 with Blue Hammer, science tanker, invuln/ super strength

It takes practice, but you can get good at chasing down pussies, er fleers. Some tricks:

1) Turn off follow. You can't swing in melee while you're feet are moving, and if you have follow on, you are lock step with the baddie, moving until he decides to stop.

2) Turn on sprint. No, you shouldnt have it on during any fight (end drain) but turn it on when the flee - you will run faster than them.

3) Anticipate where they will run. Get to a spot along their path, have your punch buffered, and come to a complete stop. If he gets in your range, your punch will fly.

4) Dont try to block his path, though. Lag still works against you, and if you actually get in their path, it is possible they will nudge you out of the way (ie, move you, nullifying your attack opportunity) before your attack can fire. Try instead to stop alongside their projected path.

It takes practice, but it can work.

Of course, rumor has it that now taunt will stop them/pull them back, but I have yet to try this. The above may all be moot.

Tanks are fun, though, and I am quite happy with how the invuln power set ended up. BH does lose end fast, though, and I might have to think about enhancing end drain on his powers until I can get stamina.

[Janx]

Wow. I was actually looking at doing an invul/Superstrength tanker. Whats your take on it Og?

[Ogbar]

Wow. I was actually looking at doing an invul/Superstrength tanker. Whats your take on it Og?

Bah .. been away, Janx. Sorry for the late reply.

Well, I love it, as evidenced by the fact I am sticking with it now that the game is live. Invuln went through some major perturbations in beta, and it wound up as a solid, physical defense. The resist energies and elements powers are also very very nice. If offers little in protection against stuns, etc, though, with it's only power to combat that, Unyielding Stance, being self rooting. This power is simply not an option for BH, as jumping around, being active, is his livlihood: he never just stands in one place. Other tankers can play it that way, though, so in that regard it is quite the complete power set.

Super strength is nice, too. It NEVER gets old smacking a thug in the head and watching him fly a few feet. Never. The set incluces a hand clap, which is an AE knockdown, which could be useful, but will not be taken, a hurl power, which is a sort of ranged ability, but I dont have budgeted at this time, and a Footstomp AE attack, which I will take at lvl 38. Aside from those, and the taunt (and another that I am likely forgetting), it adds up to a variety of punches that have different repeat rates, damages, and stun/knockback effectivenesses. As as set, it seems to do fairly nice damage, but then again, I tend to double/triple enhance damage my attacks, so your milage may vary. Now that I am running with some real damage dealers (several scrappers and blasters) I may rethink those enhancements this build. But who knows.

I also invested in the leap attack, so I have the leap kick, which I love. At level 10, I have jab/punch/kick that I cycle through, so, if I want, I always have a good attack ready to use (note that this will drain end quickly, especially with all or some combination of temp invuln, combat leaping and (once gotten) Invincibility active at once).

I had this idea of powers long before the game came out, but it seems to have evolved into quite a common way to go for a tanker. I hardly feel like the product of a cookie cutter, though, and I dont try to compare myself against others of the same build. It's fun to play, and it seems like you can play this build (like most builds) any number of ways, depending on the powers/enhancements you choose.

Hope this helps

[Letania]

I just realized this forum was here

Tankers... are rare as hell. Which is sad really because as a Scrapper they are *nice* to have in your group. They burn through endurance wicked fast, fastest of all the classes usually.

edit: looked at their primary abilities, each has a way to recover stamina, Ice/Fire Drains, invuln's final ability increases stamina regen, and stone can root themselves. Fire and Invuln has a large recharge though

[Krimson Klaw]

My stone/stone tanker has a self regen called Rooted, makes him ummune to hold, knockback, and disorient, regens endurance hella fast, but the drawback is he is rooted until I disable the effect. I imagine that works well with an AE taunt.

[Letania]

Thanks, Krim. 'Fixed' my post.

Root looks like it owns - 10 second cooldown, could fill up between fights easily?

[Krimson Klaw]

Yea I summon Root several times in fight as I move about. I'd say I cast it 2 times per fight in a large group. It refreshes fast enough to just unclick it, move a few feet, and cast again. I want to get the AE taunt with it, it would make a great combo I think, being able to call the mobs to my rooted position to get hammered down.

[masteen]

I had a lot of fun with my invuln/ice tank. Ice sword is a powerful weapon with the built-in slow, and the cone of cold is really nice for snaring runners.