Where are all the good tanks dead? In the heart, or in the head?
In the past week of teaming up to level him from 10-20 I have teamed up with absolute worst tankers in my year of playing CoH. None of them had taunt and I usually let that slide if the tanker knows his/her stuff and can manage without, but sadly these people couldn’t keep the aggro of a baby kitten with a ball of string if their lives depended on it.
Actually I think the reason it really starts to show up in the teens as more of a problem is because the ATs max damage really starts to separate.
From levels 1 to 10, all the ATs pretty much do the same damage with thier attacks. The fact that a tank’s damage generates more aggro than other people’s is more than enough to hold aggro — it’s based on amount of damage done, after all.
But in the teens, the scrappers and blasters start to seriously demonstrate what their builds are for — damage dealing. Without Taunt, the tanks damage (anywhere from half to a quarter of the max blasters/scrapper damage) alone can’t keep aggro. HT has pulled aggro off of a tank ten levels higher… my lowest MELEE attack as a blaster does the same damage as Lee’s level-50 tanker’s best attack.
Yeah, I can see I’m going to get Taunt for Velvet, and stop worrying as much whether she can actually put down the guys she’s punching out.
Of course, I just got Super Jump (which rocks), so it will have to wait a couple of levels. And then there’s all those other powers I need to get … 🙂
Hmmm…
I guess Roben falls into this catagory because she doesn’t have taunt (Jab/Punch/Haymaker-Inv/Dull Pain-Combat Jumping). But she does have all of the Defense powers that she can have at that level. 14th is Ssuuppeerr Jjuummpp!, so 16th will be Taunt since I’m noticing I can’t Hold aggro compared to Scrappers and Blasters. Though I built Zazi in a tank like defence mode decause of this (Zazi will have 2 to 6 attackers on her at a time sometimes).
As to the defenses…I keep them up ’til they drop due to lack of power. Even then, I can stay in for quite a while taking no damage.
I’ve noticed that the fire defence tanks hold aggro the best of all. To the point that last night I watch the SS/Fire tank on Frosty 1 & 2 never attack. Not once. He just stood there and did his fire defence thing holding 8 outcasts. If Roben is attacking, and can only hold two people, and one guy doing nothing can hold eight, Something has to be very skewed game wise. Though he could not keep them held if they were attacked (thank god for Chillblain).
There may have been recent changes, but I seem to recall that the big mambo tank crowd control ability is Provoke. It’s an area-effect taunt out of the power pools.
Fire tanks all get it because it keeps the mobs in their Burn patches. Three recharges and 3 durations.
Swap taunt and provoke around and you’re up to date on the changes. 🙂