Looking for LR Tank Build

[afarlington]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for a Lightning Reflexes type of tanking build for PvE play towards the lvl 40 range. With the new, upcoming 5-man nemises instances, I am stumped on how to tweak mine into a decent LR tank and am looking for ideas.

I'll have a retcon available for this, so please go nuts. I'd prefer no limits to the discussion, however my own personal limits for the character is that I would prefer more of a ranged tank that does not -rely- on CoPD (though I will most likely have that at lvl 38 slot because of its additional threat + goodies). I'd like to have Lead Tempest, as its sphere makes it ideal for picking up stray adds that charge healers (until Cryptic decides to ever fix this). I'd like to have a type of heal, and not rely on anything with extremely long cooldowns (1:30 up - unless there are creative solutions to this).

So please let me know your suggestions and ideas!

[ronnocthered]

Alright, I tossed this together pretty quickly on Test using a modified version of Scatha. DEX/CON super-statted with PRE and EGO as secondary focuses. She was geared pretty randomly with what I had on hand, so she ended up with enough DEX to get up to a 34% damage bonus, but only enough CON for a 28% damage bonus. I did various tests against level 40 elder worms in the Battle Station in the Power House. Without use of CoPD she could handle groups of hard enemies set for a team of three. With it, she could pretty easily handle groups of hard enemies set for a team of five.

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: Level 40 Champion

Superstats:
Level 5: Super Dexterity
Level 13: Super Constitution

Powers:
Level 1: Gunslinger
Level 1: Two-Gun Mojo -- Rank 2, Crippling Challenge
Level 5: Killer Instinct
Level 5: Swinging -- Flippin', Rank 2
Level 8: Lightning Reflexes -- Rank 2, Rank 3
Level 11: Bullet Ballet -- Not Without Incident, Rank 2
Level 14: Holdout Pistol -- Stim Pack
Level 17: Lead Tempest -- Tread Softly, Challenging Strikes, Rank 2
Level 20: Masterful Dodge
Level 23: Bountiful Chi Resurgence -- Resurgent Reiki, Rank 2
Level 26: Resurgence -- Rank 2
Level 29: Palliate -- Rank 2
Level 32: Force Shield -- Force Sheath, Rank 2
Level 35: Evasive Maneuvers -- Rank 2
Level 35: Acrobatics
Level 38: Circle Of Primal Dominion

Talents:
Level 1: The Hero
Level 6: Agile
Level 9: Enduring
Level 12: Acrobat
Level 15: Shooter
Level 18: Finesse
Level 21: Shrug It Off

I kept it in theme with Lead Tempest for my test by going all pistols for the attacks, but that's not important. The main things that I worked with while fighting was Lead Tempest w/ Tread Softly and Challenging Strikes for aggro management and a dodge boost, Bountiful Chi Resurgence for a constant minor regen, Evasive Maneuvers for a constant dodge boost, and alternating Resurgence and Palliate for big spot heals. I have Crippling Challenge on Two-Gun Mojo as another way to quickly draw aggro if you happen to lose the attention of something big.

While using Lead Tempest and with Evasive Maneuvers active, which can be kept up essentially all the time, I had a dodge chance of 108.6% with an avoidance of 75.27%. This limited incoming damage enough that I was pretty easily able to keep up with it between Bountiful Chi Resurgence and the two click heals. CoPD is essentially only needed for when things go completely south.

I've never actually played a LR at lv 40, so take everything I'm recommending with a grain of salt, since all of this is just based off Battle Station testing.

[afarlington]

Thanks for the info Ronnoc,

I took the info and tested it on the little bit I know and modified it for taste. Results are below- there is still room for 2 undecided powers and 6 adv if someone is wishing to look at these.

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: Level 40 Champion

Superstats:

Powers:
Level 1: Strafe -- Aversion
Level 1: Sonic Arrow -- Crippling Challenge
Level 5: Evasive Maneuvers
Level 5: Acrobatics
Level 8: Force Shield -- Force Sheath, Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 11: Force Eruption -- Gravitational Polarity
Level 14: Sonic Device
Level 17: Lightning Reflexes -- Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 20: Killer Instinct
Level 23: Gatling Gun -- Accelerated Metabolism, Rank 3, Rank 2
Level 26: Lead Tempest -- Challenging Strikes, Rank 2, Tread Softly
Level 32: Mindful Reinforcement -- Revitalizing Boost
Level 35: Circle Of Primal Dominion
Level 35: Swinging -- Flippin'

Talents:

I am a little unsure on the click heals, I know how incredibly useful they can be as panic buttons, but if i'm tanking a legendary and relying on 1:30 cooldowns, that's seems like a long while unless I try to turtle.

I switched to archery because Aversion is incredible to raise the avoidance up to reduce that inc damage even further. And also picked up sonic arrow as it is 100yards instead of 50 for a faster pickup (thematically can build a tank around a 'marksman' build'.

I'm still looking to test these as I still haven't gotten to 40. But any feedback on the build or advice on the 2 remaining powers is very much appreciated. Currently I'm looking at laser sword for the debuff- but this really means moving into point blank range. Also looking at an active dmg clicky - more to grab the initial aggro and hold it - before a stray dps or even worse a heal suddenly causes me to lose aggro after the first couple of seconds.

[ronnocthered]

Yea, the switch to Archery is definitely a good one for upping the defense even more. I completely forgot about Aversion until well after I made my test build.

Laser sword is a rather vicious melee attack, and is even more awesome with it's debuff advantage so that's a perfectly reasonable pick up.

CoPD got neutered on test yesterday. It's damage resistance is still decent, so it has that going for it, but it's healing capability is pretty much non-existent, so you'll definitely want to find something to stick in there. I don't have much experience with Mindful Reinforcement, but depending on how it works with a high-dodge build that might be good for the occasional heal if the dodging helps the shield hold out. If you have decent PRE, there are a lot of options for heals, but without it the options become a lot more limited. Bountiful Chi Resurgence works rather well with Lightning Reflexes for providing a constant small heal over time. Bionic Shielding can be pretty good as well.

As for an active damage click, Sonic Device which you have in there is a good bet, and I would also look into Electric Sheathe. It'll up the damage of all your powers for 12 seconds, but that comes with a minute and a half recharge. If you have CON super-statted, Imbue might not be a bad option, either.

[Mr.Funsocks]

MR is pretty great in general. For tanking you'd have the awesome of being able to block a hit, get full energy, cast MR, and continue blocking if you're in trouble and not getting a heal. With some nice Pre, you can get a 2000-3000 hp shield at level 40, which isn't nothing.

[afarlington]

Thank you all for the responses,

I've gone back to do some testing in the real world as well as to retest some of the powers. Some work well, others not so much. There were some pitfalls though I've found which i'd like to bounce off in case anyone else wants to comment or test.

1) Lead Tempest: Tread softly, on an LR build is pretty useless... It is supposed to give 50% avoidance plus dodge - however this only truly works if you have 0 dex and no LR. With LR, the gain is pretty minimal at about 5-10% depending on your current dex (avoidance - dodge gain is under 5%). This advantage may turn out to be fantastic with an invulnerability tank however...

2) Imbue is almost as equally useless if you have invested anything into EGO. Imbue seems to be for those who have no dex and no ego in their statting strategy, it's a nice guaranteed crit with a charged power, is only 30secs cd, and is great for pvp.

3) LR as a defence against normal henchmen is not as bad as I first feared. While out questing, it is quite sufficient and you will get those trickles of Dodge-1 dmg that makes it very satisfying. Investing in a power to quickly get rid of as many henchmen in the fastest time possible or stun them really does make this build shine.

4) Having SS Con is great! But it does cut some of the options that you have off. At lvl 39, with SS con at 185ish, I had an extra +900ish hps (i forget exact numbers). This does not scale with anything, and is simply extra hps. With the now lack of healing on CoPD would this be important to give the cushion needed to heal yourself back up. Or can you swap SS Con with an extra 1k hps for say, SS PRE with an MR of 2-3k and healing and extra threat. Wow that sounds tasty if I do say so myself.
(Am now kicking myself as I've already spent my FREE retcon, and thinking about it, this SS fits in very well with my toon - a malfunctioning medical robot *kicks self*)


Would like more opinions, especially from Con/Pre Invul tanks who are kicking criminal butt and takin' names! I'll post my modified build soon, and will post a planned build for post CoPD a bit after.

[shift]

Just a few thoughts for you to consider....

1) CON is terrific if you are using imbue as the crit severity scales off CON. Therefore, a high CON gives you a massive damage crit.

2) MR can also be spammed till the cows come home. On both yourself and others. Quite useful.

3) Resurgence does benefit off a high CON, as does Palliate--which I believe is a % heal. So high CON. higher heal back. Can also advantage it to assist in hold breaking; though, my understanding is that an LR build still functions while held.

4) Nanobot Swarm from Gadgeteering reduces power cooldowns by 30 secs. at rank 1. This lets you use your active defence clickies faster.

5) Unbreakable is 15 secs. of shielded goodness if you do not attack. Can you say uninterrupted heals.

I will cogitate some more on this. Keep us posted on the b build.